Eye Opening Experience

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a brief hour-long presentation about the concept of getting the stories of American Public lands into schools at the annual Montana Educators Association/Montana Federation of Teachers Career Development Conference. While I didn't draw a particularly large group due to an unfortunate scheduling reality, I did get a chance to talk to some teachers about this project. The primary thing that I brought home after that conference is the general lack of knowledge about American Public lands among the people that attended. This got me to thinking about that fact even if we can get rolling and start producing resources for teachers if they simply aren't looking for them our work will be for naught. My idea to respond to this is to work to create something of a "teach the teachers" program to make teachers aware of the public lands and their ties to American History.

History of Recreation

Recreational use of forests I believe is closely connected with the standard of living, leisure time etc. What are the opportunities to develop lesson plans for different age group with this topic?

Here is some information on the Emergence of of Outdoor Recreation:

In the late 19th century, industrial development and urban growth transformed the US. With increasing numbers living in urban areas, the benefits associated with the natural environment achieved greater recognition. National publications highlighted the numerous outdoor sites and natural landscape available and promoted tourism for those desiring to escape city life.

By 1910, Forest Service began to give recreation greater priority. Between 1901 and 1910, a dramatic increase in Forest Service's landholdings occurred, many near large population centers. As a result city dwellers increasingly turned to nearby forests for recreation. Equally important the workers had more leisure time (because of reduced hours of work), the popularity of the automobile and increased road access and trails to forest areas were soon used as recreational roadways for fishing, hunting and camping.

OK Lets See If We Can Get Going

First off a quick thank you to those who have posted thier introductions.

Now I'd like to see if we can get a discussion going. Some of you may know that here in a couple of weeks I am doing a 50 minute presentation and workshop for social studies teachers at the annual Montana Educators Association conference in Helena, Montana. I would like to see If we can generate at least one fruitful discussion on this blog that I can show them as a way to recruit a few into this effort.

On that note, the first thing I though we could do is knock some ideas around about what kinds of products a museum education program could provide to teachers (History, Government, English, Art, ect.) beyond the typical lesson plans.

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Profile/Introduction

I'm a 68-year old retired English teacher and children's summer camp owner/director living in Windham, Vermont, living with my wife on 100 acres of forest, fields, ledge, and swamp. We're getting ready to harvest about 90,000 board feet of northern white pine, a project which makes us somewhat nervous because we're mighty inexperienced with logging. I have a part-time day job driving our town's school bus, and we both sing in a community chorus in Brattleboro, 45 minutes away. We have a son (Boulder, CO) and twin daughters (Martha's Vineyard, MA, and Santa Rosa, CA) as well as five grandchildren.

I'm a Vietnam vet discharged in 1969 from the Navy as a LT(jg). Since then I've been in education in one form or another: community college teaching in California (Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, Mt. Shasta) as well as Humboldt State; school administration and fund raising in New Hampshire and Vermont; and eight years teaching abroad in Turkey, South Korea, Japan, and Oman. For eleven years during the '70s, my wife and I owned and directed Plantation Camp which educated 180 children on 500 acres in northern California for nine weeks each summer.

We both have a special interest in this project because we've known Matt Bacon since birth: he's my wife's nephew.

Jane Westenberger

Hi, I finally figured out how to get to the place where I could post a short bio as seems to be the custom. I'm exceedingly new to the whole internet thing so it has taken me longer than it should have. One of my reasons for joining is that I'm the chairperson of the Museum's Forest Service Cnservation Legacy Education Committee. We are building the overall conservation education program for the Museum. Before retiring I worked for the F.S .desigining and implemening conservation education programs regionally and then nationally. (And then back to a Region in Public Affairs.) Before all of that I was a teacher and school administrator most of the time as a conservation ed specialist. The Committee is very interested in what the BLOG can do and we are anxious to see how things are going. We want to help with the BLOG if at all possible

We are still struggling to get people signed up to be authors. Thank you to those who have introduced themselves. I would ask that those of you who have signed up, but who have not introduced themselves to go ahead and do so that we can start working amongst ourselves to start generating some ideas. -Matt

Erin O'Reilly

Hey all,
My name is Erin O'Reilly and I am a History/Political Science major working towards my Comprehensive Social Science teaching license.  I plan to teach History/Government/Geography at the High School level, once I graduate. 
I have lived in Missoula my whole life.  I am currently working for the Forest Service in the Regional Office.  Everyday I am a witness to how vital and beneficial the FS is to the community.  'Caring for the land and serving the people' is obtained through the hard work and dedication of the FS employees.  I think that educating the public on the history of the Forest Service is an excellent idea.  People should be aware of how and why things came to be, especially in a place with so many outdoor wonders. 
I love to do anything outdoors, which is why am still living in Missoula.  There are so many opportunities and activities that the utilization of land and resources has to offer.  This makes the FS so important to a place like Montana which is why I think this project is a wonderful idea!!