Bastrop State Park Trainer Course, Texas

Trainer courses with state park employees always bring years of experience and knowledge to every discussion.  The Texas Park and Wildlife Department is embracing the Leave No Trace skills and ethics throughout all of their state parks. They are incorporating the principles of Leave No Trace in the successful Texas Outdoor Family program.  We just completed our first of two trainings with staff from a variety of parks at the beautiful Bastrop State Park.  With 13 participants, we were able share many ideas about ways they can address impacts that are seen throughout their parks.  We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with TPWD at next weeks course in Lake Mineral Wells State Park!  We would like to thank Chris Holmes for all his hard work in getting these courses organized.

Safe Travels.....Kate and Tracy

Life's Better Outside...

Texas has the right idea...Life is better outside!  We are a third of the way through our whirlwind tour of Texas and we have found adventure in a variety of 'nooks and crannies' all over this great state.  Today we spent the day at Enchanted Rock State Park/Natural Area.  Although the day started off cloudy and cool, that Texas sun came out and brightened our day!  We hiked up and down the rock formations throughout the park, a natural playground for kids and adults alike. With more than 350,000 visitors annually at Enchanted Rock alone, it is so important to protect the resources at the park.

We are excited to have the Texas State Parks be a partner of Leave No Trace.  The Center is offering a free one year membership to any state park that joins Leave No Trace as a partner in the year 2009!  So if you are finding this message outside of Texas and you want to protect your local state park, contact the Center at 800-332-4100!

Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center Trainer Course

This week we headed to Mansfield, Georgia for a Leave No Trace Trainer Course at Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center. Managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources this 6,400-acre area offers many recreational opportunities including hiking, fishing, hunting, and many educational programs. Here are some photos from the course.

See you out there, JD and Emily

UTSA Trainer Course

Government Canyon State Natural Area (GCSNA),  near San Antonio Texas, provided a fantastic arena for our trainer course this past weekend.  GCSNA is a Natural Area that lies on the Balcones Escarpment, an area of deeply entrenched canyons that defines the eastern boundary of the Edwards Plateau.  Approximately 88% of the Natural Area overlays the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.  This area is great for hiking, biking, bird watching, and exploration.  One of our favorite spots along the Joe Johnson route was passing through trees draped with Spanish Moss.  

During the course, we discussed the importance of practicing the Leave No Trace skills and ethics while at GCSNA.  Since this area is over an aquifer recharge zone, contamination of water sources is a major concern.  Also, this area was home to many Native American tribes throughout centuries past and it is important to "Leave What You Find" to protect the many historical and cultural resources that lie within the area.   John Koepke, an interpreter at GCSNA, was especially helpful to have on the course, as he was a wealth of knowledge specific to the site.  Thanks John!

Safe travels...Kate and Tracy

"The Vision is Green"

Sarah Jo Lambert, a 15 year old girl from Lubbock, Texas, is working towards her Gold Medal Award in Girl Scouts through her project "The Vision is Green".  Her vision is to build green environmental center at the Rio Blanco Girl Scout camp in Crosbyton, Texas.  The center will be a place that students from the Texas South Plains can come to learn about environmental issues and ways that they can be more environmentally friendly.  Sarah has been working on this project since last fall and she hopes to have the building complete by this May.  Through her project, Sarah has brought her community together and has inspired girls all over the country to realize that one seedling of an idea, when given proper care and attention, can blossom into a garden for future generations to enjoy!

To help Sarah kick off the building of the environmental center, we traveled to Lubbock to provide a workshop on Leave No Trace and the PEAK program.  Sarah was awarded the "Packing With PEAK" grant and will be using the PEAK pack as a basis for the educational curriculum as well as an interpretive trail guide at the environmental center. Sarah hopes to encourage young children to start thinking about ways that they can help take care of our planet and make a difference for the future.  To learn more about Sarah's project, visit her website at www.visionisgreen.org! 

A special thanks goes out to the Lambert family for their warmth and hospitality!!!

Safe travels...Kate and Tracy

AEE Trainer Course

We were a part of the Association of Experiential Education Conference over the past week in Albuquerque, NM.  The conference provides quality professional development workshops, networking, and other resources for teachers, college professors, students, group and challenge course facilitators, counselors, outdoor and camp professionals, program administrators, and environmental educators.  As part of the conference, we offered a trainer course that was held at Bear Canyon, which is owned by Albuquerque Academy.  

The course went extremely well.  We had 8 participants from a variety of backgrounds including the New Mexico Audubon Society, GOES (a new youth program in Western CO), WinGate Wilderness Therapy, and local public schools.  The diversity of the participants made for great discussions that focused on protecting our public lands and making a spiritual connection to nature.  One participant played a Native American flute for the group as part of her presentation on Minimize Campfire Impacts.  She gave the group goosebumps as she showed her passion for the spirit of the outdoors.  We were reminded the importance of making a connection to the outdoors and developing a sense of pride in caring for the special places we love to visit.  Thank you to all the participants for sharing so many wonderful and inspiring stories!

We are wrapping up our time in New Mexico, then it is off to Texas!  Yee-ha!

Safe travels...Kate and Tracy

The Sunshine State

We recently had the chance to stop in at a few places in sunny Florida. First, we hit up a Powderhorn scouting event near Paisely , FL, where the armadillo above was kind enough to pose for a few pictures. Afterwards, we headed down to Orlando for the American Camping Association National Conference. At the conference we spent some time chatting with folks about how the PEAK Program can be easily implemented into their curriculum.