๐ง What are potential use cases?
At this stage, we're hoping to experiment around use cases across both supply and demand sides of the labor marketโincluding training, recruitment, hiring, delivery, workforce development, and more. That includes (but of course isn't limited to):
๐ Identifying current or emergent gaps in workforce capacity
โ๏ธ Guiding training and up-skilling programs across sectors
๐ Informing hiring, job classification, role descriptions, and recruitment efforts
๐ Supporting curriculum development and credentialing efforts
๐ค Anticipating and preparing for technological transformations (AI impacts, data systems)
โ๏ธ Shaping policy discussions and informing workforce-relevant legislation or executive initiatives
๐ Serving as a core learning asset and basis for derivative products (playbooks, white papers)
๐ฆInforming recommendations for cross-sector partnerships to improve stewardship outcomes
We also hope to discover and refine use cases in collaboration with a wide-range of partners interested in our mission. If that's you, or if you're interested in piloting resources, strategies, or collaborations around this work, please reach out.
๐ฎ For example...
Clarity around the skillsets a modern environmental workforce actually needs is hard to come byโand those changes are tough to navigate in any sector. That's why we're designing this taxonomy to help leaders, partners, and career planners across fields map that changeโand then work to close skills and other key planning gaps. Scroll down to explore an example (in forestry) of what we hope to create and test with partners.
๐ Who should use it?
Short answer: almost anyone working directly on environmental stewardship issues or in adjacent fields and policy settings. That means:
๐๏ธ Government Agencies
Federal environmental and natural resource agencies, human capital planners, interagency teams, and policymakers (e.g., USFS, FWS, EPA, NOAA, OPM, GSA)
State and local environmental and natural resource teams (e.g., cities, municipalities, counties, and regional planning organizations), human capital planners and policymakers
Tribal nations and indigenous organizations
๐ Non-Governmental Partners:ย
Environmental NGOs and advocacy organizations
Land trusts and conservation groups
Academic institutions and extension programs
Research organizations and think tanks
Private timber companies (and other industry organizations)ย
๐๏ธCross-Sector Initiatives:
Public-private partnerships
Community-based collaboratives and organizations
Workforce development and training organizations
Technology companies serving environmental markets and/or supporting government environmental program deliveryย
Industrial or professional groups
Longer answer: This toolkit is meant to be a living resource subject to validation, refinement, and change based not only on implementation experience, but also shifting technology and policy landscapes. We anticipate regular updatesโwith input from experts and users across sectorsโas factors like AI, climate adaptation needs, political trends, and workforce demographics continue to evolve.
๐ How is it structured?
Our taxonomy organizes the full spectrum of skills and competencies we see as key to effective environmental stewardship now and in the future. Which is why we built it around three classification levels: Domains, Sub-Domains, and Skills. To see how they organize skills across work areas, check out the Skills Explorer (beta). In practice, the hierarchy looks like this:
ย ๐บ๏ธ 1. Domain โ ๐ 2. Sub-Domain โ ๐ ๏ธ 3. Specific Skill
๐บ๏ธ How do Skill Domains work?
These are major work families representing broad but distinguishable areas of expertise. Domains naturally cut across disciplinary, training, and delivery boundaries and contexts. There are six domains in this taxonomy. Think about Domains as functional areas that knit together related work activities and knowledge requirements.
They contain the major categories of expertise needed to evolve the work of environmental stewardship, andโ we thinkโto do that work better today and tomorrow.
๐Examples from this framework include:
๐ โ Ecological and Scientific Knowledge Skills
๐ โ Technology and Data Science Skills
๐ก โ Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Skills
๐ ๏ธ Skillsets are so dynamic and nebulous. How are we thinking about them?
These are discrete abilities anchored in sub-domains and which can be learned, practiced, and measured. For illustrative purposes, several examples of skillsets are included in each sub-domain of this framework.Think about skills as the fundamental building blocks of competence* across the many domains and fields that make up stewardship work.
Examples of skills from this taxonomy include:
๐ Within Technology and Data Science sub-domains:
โ Skills building or using Geographic Information System (GIS) applications
โ Skills analyzing Environmental DNA (eDNA) and/or Genomics data
๐ก Within Communication and Stakeholder Engagement sub-domains:
โ Skills in Cross-Cultural Communication with partner or constituent groups
โ Skills in Cultural or Natural Resource Interpretation
โ Skills in and/or analysis of Environmental Justice issues or shifting policy/political dynamics
Note: While not yet a formal feature of this taxonomy, we see "competency" as the integrated application of multiple skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to perform work in real-world situations. Competency encompasses not only a skill in itself, but also the ability to apply that skill appropriately in various working contexts.