Dear OBFS Community,

The OBFS Collaborations Committee is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new station exchange program (SXP). The intent of this program is to provide mini travel awards to facilitate field station staff travel to other field stations in the OBFS network for shadowing, cross-training and mentoring opportunities. Recipients should seek to learn more about specific aspects of station management (i.e., programmatic offerings, infrastructure, land management, research coordination) that are applicable to the needs of their home station. To this end, OBFS is offering five travel awards of up to $1,000 each that will facilitate 2-3 day shadowing experiences with host staff.

Applicants should submit a letter of support from the field station they are visiting along with a short, written statement outlining specific needs that includes:

1.     Short written description describing need for cross training/shadowing experience.

2.     Person/people they will be shadowing.

3.     Proposed travel dates and logistics.

Rules and Regulations:

1.     Both the awardee and the host station must be members of OBFS in good standing.

2.     Awards are provided on a reimbursement basis only (i.e., no funds will be provided ahead of expenses).

3.     Allowable travel expenses include economy airfare to host station, meals, lodging, car rental, host station fees.

4.     Original receipts will be required for reimbursement of allowed expenses.

5.     Legible scanned copies of receipts can be emailed to the OBFS treasurer for reimbursement.

6.     This opportunity is intended to provide shadowing opportunities across field stations and is not intended to support travel to conferences or formal workshops.

7.     Award recipients will be required to submit a short final report and evaluation upon completion of their exchange experience.

Timeline:

1.     August 15, 2022 Applications due

2.     August 15-31 OBFS collaborations committee reviews the applications.

3.     Early September- Awardees will be notified on the status of their application.

Please submit written statement and letter of support to [email protected]

Thank you,

The Collaborations Committee