A great day for a ramble

On two occasions since my last posting, I was sharply reminded of the fact that I do not get outside enough.  Or, more importantly, I don't take my daughter outside enough.

The first was a short and, what I suspect was, an off-the-cuff speech at the Statewide Leave No Child Inside Call to Action Rally on September 24th by the Director of Ohio's EPA.  Chris Korleski stood up and lamented not spending enough time outdoors with his own children and openly wondered how much he was missing.  Director Korleski then advised us all to "get off our butts" and get outside with our children before too much time has passed.  It was an informal and funny pronouncement, but it hit home with a lot people.  Shortly afterwards, ODNR Director Sean Logan introduced a Proclamation from Governor Strickland that reads that all Ohio children shall have the opportunity to by physically active, have access to nature, discover plants and animals, and learn how to give back to nature.  These two speeches gave me pause about my own efforts with my daughter.  And, I know I wasn't the only one in the room looking in the mirror as it was one of the primary discussions at the end of the event. 

The other was a small, seemingly insignificant act that my daughter did the other night.  I'd had a bit of a rough day at work and, while I normally am pretty good about not bringing work home, either in my hands or in my head, I had gotten on the computer to check and see the progression of a discussion that was ongoing on emails at work.  My daughter, who is not quite two, came up and physically pulled my hand off the computer mouse and repeated "Outside!!" over and over again as she pulled.  At first, I tried to put her off, but she is a pretty persistent little girl and kept pulling and yelling "Outside!"  Then it hit me...she's right!  And off we went. 

I put her in the car and we went down the road to the new Natural Play Area I'd read about at Prairie Ridge Metropark.  It was a beautiful fall evening and I was surprised that there weren't other people there.  But, I was also glad.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  So, we took a walk, she got filthy dirty in her pink bibs as she stumbled and bumbled around down the paths.  It put me to mind of one of her books where Piglet tells Pooh "It's a great day for a ramble."  These natural play areas are really a great way to let kids explore off trail the way we used to when we were kids.  I'm glad that parks are starting to add these to their offerings.  And, I know my daughter loved it too. 

Have you rambled with your kids today?

National Public Lands Day

September 25, 2010

National Public Lands Day (NPLD) -- the nation's largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance America's public lands -- is just a week away. It provides an invaluable service-learning opportunity for students this fall. NPLD engages a diverse audience of adult and youth volunteers, whether at a national park, nature center or school garden. Go online to find an existing project or register your own.

NPLD is also a great opportunity to bring learning outdoors and educate students of all ages about environmental stewardship. For ideas, check out NPLD's educational resource library, which includes lesson plans, project ideas, recreational opportunities and more.




NPLD and EE Week are programs of the National Environmental Education Foundation.

Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp

With a multi-billion dollar deficit looming in Ohio's state budget, some of you may wonder how the Ohio Division of Wildlife can afford to create and offer all of our great field guides, posters, Wild Ohio for Kids magazine, and Project WILD workshops for free.  It has a lot to do with our Wildlife Diversity Fund.  And now this fund has a new tool in its toolbox for raising additional funds for these projects and programs.

Today was the Annual Wildlife Diversity Partners meeting, which took place at the Mohican State Park Resort.  This annual gathering brings together key stakeholders and partners of the Ohio Division of Wildlife in the promotion of Ohio's Wildlife Diversity Fund.  The Wildlife Diversity Fund pays for research and conservation projects for non-game animals, threatened and endangered species, critical habitats, and our educational resources.  Our partners include many of the state's birding clubs and organizations, university research partners, park districts, and many other groups and organizations who have like-minded missions to conserve Ohio's wildlife and wildlife habitats. 

This past year's subject was a beautiful
Baltimore Oriole.
Photo taken by Russell Reynolds of Lima.

The past two days spent at Mohican were primarily to reveal the winner of the 2011 Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp Photo Contest Winner, which will be announced later today.  You can check out our website, look us up and become a fan on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter to see the results of the contest.  This year's subject was Dragonflies and Damselflies.  The Division received 280 photos this year from 125 Ohio residents in hopes of being selected for the 2011 stamp. 

Stamps can be purchased for $15 online, by mail, at one of the Division of Wildlife's offices, and from many of our outstanding partners.  Learn more about Ohio's Wildlife Legacy Stamp and the many projects and programs that your purchase will support.  And don't forget to thank a Cardinal License plate owner for their contribution as well!

School's Out for Summer!! But not for long, Parents! Some end of summer fun with the kids...

Being a parent of a toddler, I haven't quite experienced the "Back to School" anticipation that parents have.  But I have many friends that are parents of school-aged children and I can tell that they are aching for school to start.  The complaints I'm hearing and that I'm seeing posted on Facebook and Twitter are that they have run out of things to do with their kids.  So here are a couple of suggestions on things to do outside with your kids for the few remaining weeks of summer:

• Make a bug terrarium!  A small glass aquarium with a screen lid can be purchased fairly cheaply from pet stores and larger retail stores.  Small butter tubs with holes in the lids can be used to collect bugs found outside.  Place sticks with leaves, some soil and grass in the tank and go on a bug safari.  You can do this at different times of the day to see what different kinds of bugs are out.  An after-breakfast bug hunt will yield very different finds than an after-dinner hunt.  Beetles, worms, lighting bugs, sow bugs (rollie polies), cicadas, grasshoppers, all make great residents for your terrarium.  Just be sure to let them go after a day or so.
• Take a hike!  There are lots of city, metro and state parks in Ohio that provide great views and new challenges if you want to burn some of your kids' energy off for a day.  Take a backpack with some water, bug spray, sunscreen, and some snacks for a short hike.  You'll find lots to see and do and you'll be amazed at how fast the day passes.  And it's free!
• Catch a fish!  Kids under 16 fish for free! Larger retail stores have beginner fishing kits that include the rods, reels, line and tackle already geared up and fairly cheap.  For more beginning fishing tips, check out the Ohio Division of Wildlife's "New to Fishing?" page for more information and suggestions.  And take lots of pictures!! You can submit your kid's fishing pictures on the Division of Wildlife's Photo Gallery for everyone to see.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife's Wild Kids page has lots of additional activities, including outside activities, rainy day activities, things for the "Junior Biologist" in the house, and other ideas for your little wildlife lovers.  So don't stress out when you hear "I'm Bored!" for the 100th time.  And take a break from the back to school shopping grind and get outside with your kids! Before you know it, they'll be back in school and you'll be finding that you actually miss them....maybe? ;-)

No Child Left Inside!

You may or may not know that there is a current push for the inclusion of environmental education into the National Elementary and Secondary Education Act through an amendment called No Child Left Inside (NCLI).  You can find out more about this grassroots effort online.  For Ohio's part, the Environmental Education Council of Ohio is working with ODNR, ODE, Ohio EPA, Ohio Parks and Recreation Association, and the Leave No Child Inside Coalition to develop a state Environmental Literacy Plan (ELP).  This ELP has to be in place to capture funding should the NCLI amendment pass as there are significant dollars that will be distributed to states to help in including environmental, conservation and outdoor education into the regular school curriculum.  This includes the creation of schoolyard habitats, field investigation opportunities, and professional development for teachers in this type of education.  Check out the Children and Nature Network to find extensive research on the advantages and benefits of spending time outdoors and using the outdoors as a context for learning.  And, you can feel free to contact any of the partnering agencies for additional information about the status of Ohio's ELP.

Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day!  Did you do something for the planet today? That seems to be the theme of the day on all the Facebook pages and Twitter tweets and email advertisements that have flooded my inbox.  Thank goodness we don't do this all by junk mail anymore, imagine the trees that would have died for the sake of Earth Day, ironic as that is.

I took my daughter for a walk today in celebration of Earth Day.  She's only 16 months old, but she loves the outdoors already.  I suppose she gets that from me, at least I hope she does.  She thoroughly enjoyed her walk, even if it was just around the neighborhood.  She learned what a stop sign was, she picked up several pine cones, she filled her little pockets with rocks from the neighbor's driveway, and she stopped to watch a pair of mallards waddle through a field, proclaiming at the top of her lungs "Ucks!"  She is fascinated with all things outdoors, from the tiniest leaf on the deck, to the pile of mulch in the driveway.  It's so much fun for me to see these things again, but through her eyes.  And we literally have to drag her kicking and screaming into the house to get her into the tub before bed.  That's my girl.

If you ever wonder how you make an outdoors person, don't discount these little moments.  Ask anyone in the field of outdoor or environmental education and most will tell you that they chose this career because of their memories of the outdoors.  Mine are with my uncle.  He was, and still is, and avid outdoor enthusiast.  He is an amazing photographer and, even now in his 60's, can still hike miles and miles in a day with his dog.  He used to "kidnap" me and my brothers and sister and take us on day-long hikes in the parks around our hometown.  It was fun, we felt like we were escaping.  He made us feel like we were sneaking off to some far away land that only we knew about.  I now know all the same parks and natural areas that we went to as kids and they are very well known and well used.  But, as a kid, I don't ever remember seeing anyone else out on those trails with us.  We always felt like we were so far away from everyone and everything.  It was great.

So, in celebration of Earth Day, don't just do something for the environment, let the environment do something for you.  Get outdoors! That's always the first step toward being an environmental steward.  Take a walk, catch a fish, spy on a bird, photograph a sunset.  Do whatever you can that will recharge your batteries.  Enjoy the outdoors!  And take a child with you.  You'll never see things the same again.

Birdfeeding in Wintertime...Memories in the Making.

I just got back from a nice, albeit short, vacation in Florida.  I'm always struck by the diversity of birds that I see at my mom's verses my own home, especially in winter.  For goodness sake, she has Painted Buntings at her feeders all winter long!! And, on a trip to the grocery store, you will likely see Sandhill Cranes in the parking lot! Lucky! 

My first exposure to bird feeding was actually through her parents, with whom I was very close, and who my daughter is named after.  My grandfather was the avid bird feeder.  He had feeders on his back porch all winter long and he'd sit and eat breakfast at the kitchen window and watch the many visitors.  He had an old Golden Guide to Birds, which I inherited when he passed away.  I've kept it in a special place because it has wonderful little handwritten notes and newspaper clippings in it that he kept, all related to birds.  It wasn't until I went to college and took my first ornithology class that I realized that my grandfather was a bona fide bird nerd, just like the rest of us.  I smile when I think of that because I believe he would have loved that title.  My grandmother was not as interested, but she continued to feed the birds long after he passed.  I think she had just as many fond memories of him sitting at that window with his cup of coffee as the rest of us did and probably couldn't bear to stop. 

My daughter now has a feeding station outside her bedroom window.  And, even though she's a toddler, she gets excited when the downy woodpecker comes to the suet feeder.  She loves the little goldfinches and chickadees too.  I keep a list of our visitors hanging on a tack next to her window, kind of a house list so to speak.  And Grandpa's bird guide is in the top drawer of her dresser waiting for her to be old enough to carefully flip through the worn pages and pick out what birds are at her feeders now as compared to what he was seeing way back when. 

We'll probably always feed birds at our house.  And I hope my daughter has just as many fond memories of those birds and our time together as I do of my mom and my grandparents.

February is National Birdfeeding Month. 

February 12-15th is the Great Backyard Bird Count. 

Fall and Winter Outdoor Education Ideas

It's getting to be that time of year again.  Our calendars here at the Division of Wildlife are jam-packed with requests for Project WILD and WILD School Site workshops at schools all over the state. We finished workshops this fall in Reynoldsburg, Mogadore, Greenville, Xenia, Maysville and Worthington, to name a few. These schools are looking to start their school year with a fresh new look at education, from the outdoor perspective.

One thing we always talk about in these workshops is the struggle we find in just getting teachers to take kids outside...period! Our mantra is that if you don't get used to taking them outside now, no manner of gardens, woods or ponds that may be in the works will get you out later. Taking kids outside for a class lesson can be a real struggle for some teachers. If you're not an outdoorsy person, it never occurs to you to nurture that perspective in your students. However, if you think about it, it takes a teacher 4 to 6 years to develop their own teaching style. We don't expect you to change it all in a 6 hour workshop. And neither should you. It will take some creativity, patience, and an adjustment in mindset in many cases for your outdoor education experiences to be a success.

So, if you are someone who is about to venture into the world of outdoor and environmental education this year, take it slow. Try a lesson here or there. Don't try to do it all at once. It will be too intimidating and overwhelming and you'll end up getting frustrated. And the last thing you should appear to your students is frustrated. Outdoor education is supposed to be fun, an adventure! You want your students to enjoy the outdoors, not look at it as a chore. One of the best learning experiences a student can have is when they don't even realize they are learning.

If you're thinking that you need to wait until spring, now that our lovely Ohio winter has set in, you're underestimating the potential for great winter outdoor experiences.  Here are a few tips and activities to help make your winter outdoor adventures a success:

       Winter Outdoor Education Safety Tips:

• Make sure the students are properly dressed for the weather.  That means no flip flops for older kids and definitely gloves and hats for the little ones.
• Make short trips outdoors if it's really cold, and be sure to keep moving.  Standing still in the cold just makes you colder.
• Be careful around large water features, especially moving water.  Stepping through the ice can turn a fun experience into a dangerous one very quickly.  Never walk on ice that's less than 4 inches thick and never trust ice over moving water.

       Winter Outdoor Education Activity Ideas:

• Have students view features of the school during the winter and compare to how they looked in other seasons.  Have students keep a sketch or photo journal of different features, i.e. trees, flower beds, streams, fields, etc. for a seasonal comparison study.
• Try to find animal tracks in heavy snow or muddy areas.  Setting up bait piles of corn, bird seed or other beneficial food to encourage wild visitors is a good way to find tracks.  Look around pond edges, muddy areas along parking lots and playgrounds, and along streams for tracks as well.
• If you have a bluebird box trail, take a peek in the boxes to see if any mice have taken up residence for the winter.  You can leave them be for now, but be sure to clean out your boxes and make any necessary repairs by March 1st so they'll be ready for any early returning cavity nesting birds such as bluebirds and house wrens.
• Keep bird feeders as full as possible during any significant snow or ice events.  If you have enough warning, fill them up the days before a big weather event.  Your feathered neighbors will be much appreciative of the food during these difficult times.  If possible, keeping a source of water open will really draw in a lot of visitors.  This can be accomplished by keeping a waterproof heating coil in a bird bath all winter long.
• Keep a list of what species of wildlife visit your site during the winter versus other seasons. Have students speculate on why some animals are here only certain times of the year.

If you have other ideas or have had great experiences outdoors, please share them here! Happy Holidays and get outdoors!!

The Power of Environmental Education

When you write for a living, sometimes it is a struggle to come up with a topic, a theme, even an inspiration for posting on blogs such as these. Sometimes you're too busy to put down your thoughts. But then, every once in awhile, something makes you stop and remember why you do what you do. And sometimes, it's better to let someone else tell the story.

Below, you will find an essay from friend, volunteer and fellow educator, Mike Sustin. His essay is about how environmental education can truly inspire, not just our students, but even ourselves. Thanks Mike, for reminding me of why I love my job.

In 2006 I was given the green light to develop an Environmental Science course at West Geauga High School, my alma mater and my place of employment for the past eleven years. While developing the course, I spent an enormous amount of time reaching out to resource people at other schools and at the Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District, Geauga Park District, Ohio Division of Wildlife, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Environmental Education Council of Ohio. Everyone I spoke with was incredibly encouraging, but everyone had a different perspective on how Environmental Education (EE) ought to be offered and on what it should be focused. Environmental Science is interdisciplinary by nature (no pun intended) and requires students to really wrap their minds around complicated issues and to draw upon prior knowledge and skills from other courses. I chose a textbook, I planned some laboratory experiences and field trips, but ultimately, I decided to keep an open mind and let my students’ interests drive the direction of the course.

After working with the first two groups of students through the first year, I became acutely aware of two problems that so many Environmental Education professionals had been lamenting for years. First, our kids are indeed suffering from “nature deficit disorder,” a phrase coined by author Richard Louv in his best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods. The second problem needing addressed can be summed up by an often used quote from author and naturalist Robert Michael Pyle, “What is the extinction of a condor to a child who has never seen a wren?” Both problems are diagnosed by the observations that my students know everything about polar bears, every species of penguin, bleaching of the coral reefs, the importance of recycling and energy conservation, but they can’t identify a single tree or bird’s song in their own backyard. These wonderful students, all of them seniors, most of them voting for the first time during their final year of high school, know so much and yet don’t know enough to really care about what they can personally embrace and purposefully impact.

Three days that changed my life were spent on summer vacation in 2008 with Annie Rzepka and Nancy Speck of the Geauga SWCD, Jen White of the Portage SWCD, and over a dozen other teachers on a three day road trip called the Advanced Wonders of Watersheds Workshop. We piled into vans and explored EE opportunities all across the north coast from beautiful Burton all the way to the Oak Openings Region near Toledo. On the long ride home I decided that a trip like this needed to be offered to my high school students. How better to help them understand than to get them out there in the diverse environments of their home state and let them connect the dots on their own?

On June 23, 2009, the first ever Summer Ecology Experience Across Ohio was ready to hit the road. At 6:30 am in the parking lot of West Geauga High School a group of nine students and their three chaperones loaded the vans for what would be an eight day and seven night road trip across Ohio. The itinerary included programs at Black Swamp Bird Observatory and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge near Oak Harbor, Ohio State University’s Stone Lab at Put- In-Bay, the Army Corps of Engineers office at Caesar Creek State Park and The Museum at Fort Ancient near Wilmington, the outdoor drama, “Tecumseh!” in Chillicothe, Hocking Hills State Park and concluded at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron.

The entire program was intended to address big picture topics such as conservation and preservation of habitat, human history of land use, and geology. Students were also engaged in activities on edible and medicinal plants, water quality monitoring, watershed management, wildlife identification, and rock climbing and rappelling. Moreover, all of this education was accomplished outdoors and outside each student’s comfort zone away from their families, camping in tents, cooking their own food, caring for each other and learning to deal with fears.

Student learning was assessed through daily journal assignments and other entries including poetry and artwork. An assessment strategy I had adopted from the Wonders of Watersheds workshops was the use of haiku. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that uses only three lines, the first and third lines contain only five syllables and the second line contains seven syllables. The brevity of this form of poetry requires students to focus on key elements of a lesson and how they have internalized the material. Here are some examples:

Epilimnion
Lake Erie can stratify
Hypolimnion
-Heather Wilcox, after a lesson on limnology at Stone Lab

Dragon or Damsel?
Eyes on top or at head’s side?
Wings tall or spread wide?
-Hanna Wilson, on the boardwalk at Ottawa NWR

The students’ journals reflected exactly the kind of learning I had envisioned for them. Each of them made the obvious connections I had planned, and all of them made the connections I had hoped they would catch. After reading their journals, I was pleasantly surprised, time after time, with the quality of the introspective entries the students had made. Each of them commenting on how one experience or another changed them, or brought a sudden clarity to their place in the world. In the heart of this teacher, I had only privately hoped that a student or two might have reached this level of informed understanding. Reading these journal entries made the months of planning worth every minute.

In closing I would offer teachers the challenge to do something with students outside. All the hurdles that you can think of are just excuses. All you need is an imagination. Pay attention to your students. Take them outside and you will find your lesson plans under that rotten log or in the stream or mud puddle or at the birdfeeder. The Ohio Academic Content Standards should not be viewed as an anchor around your neck, and pointing to that thick green book as an excuse is exactly that. Taking kids outside provides for boundless integration opportunities for science, math, language arts, social studies and more. Get on the phone or the internet and contact your SWCD, your park district, the Ohio Division of Wildlife, or the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and you will be amazed at the resources waiting for you to use for free and in your own schoolyard. Lastly, I will share a quote from Rachel Carson that has inspired me in my growing career as an environmental educator, hopefully it strikes a chord. “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

Summer Education Opportunities--Keep those Kids Outside!

Hey folks!


I hope everyone is ready to jump into summer! My daughter turns 6 months old this weekend and her daycare asked if I had a swimsuit to bring so she could enjoy the kiddie pool! I can't believe it! I think I've mentioned this before, but one of the reasons I love her daycare is because they take the kids outside ALL THE TIME! As long as it's not raining, they go out.

If you're looking for things to do with kids this summer, here are a few suggestions:

• Look to your local, county and state parks. Many, if not most, offer summer day camps for weeks at a time. It's a great way to keep your kids occupied and out from in front of the computer or television. And many of them are wildlife-themed, which obviously we encourage. :-)
• You can also check out your local zoos. All of the 5 Ohio zoos have summer camps for kids of all ages.
• Check out your local arboretums, plant conservatories, and science museums for similar offerings.
• Setting up play areas in your backyard where your kids can dig, plant, and dig some more can go a long way towards keeping them occupied and interested in the outdoors. Allowing them to build forts and tree houses, supervised of course, gives kids a place to hang out in nature on their own.
• Helping them create a nature journal by taking a few pieces of paper, folding them in half and wrapping a string through the middle for binding, is an easy way to give them a creative outlet for writing and drawing outside. And best of all, they don't have to worry about it being graded!
• Using a similar technique as the above journal, have your kids make a backyard field guide of all the plants and animals they find, either by drawing or collecting plants and drawing animals or signs of animals that they might find. You all might be surprised by what lives there. If you need help identifying some of the critters, check out the A to Z Species Guide on our Web site.
• Camping in the backyard is a great experience for kids. All you need is a small, inexpensive tent, a pillow and some blankets, and a flash light and you've got the makings of an outdoor adventure. Hearing the sounds of the backyard at night opens up a whole new world to kids. If you're really adventurous, you can invite the neighborhood kids and have a big group camp out.
• Fishing is an excellent way for kids to explore the outdoors. And it's free for kids under 16. Depending on the age of the child, plan on having other things to do if the fish aren't biting. Bring along some collecting boxes and small nets for insect collecting. Check out our Web site for good places to fish near you.

Outdoor exploration opportunities are endless in the summertime! Whether it's something as simple as splashing through the local creek or taking a canoe trip, kids love the opportunity to explore the outdoors. You're limited only by your imagination.

Please feel free to post any other suggestions you may have. Or if you know of any local events this summer, feel free to post them here.

In the meantime, GET OUTDOORS!!