Fabulous food, wonderful people, libations, dancing and candlelight strolls. A great way to celebration our natural heritage.
Walking up to Garfield High School in Seattle last week, I was greeted by at least 10 welcoming students. I was there attending the "Listening Session" for the Great Outdoor Initiative, one of the stops in this countrywide tour by the Department of the Interior.
Talking to folks before the introduction began I was delighted to hear about the youth summit earlier that day. The highlights for me in the introductory remarks were the Native American blessing given by a local tribe (including a very articulate princess!) and the hilarious welcoming speech by an Garfield senior.
It felt a little different than the typical public hearing. And there was a great diversity of people there from old to young, dark to light. Nice to see our natural world has a good looking fan base.
The high school auditorium was filled with a few hundred conservation supporters, government officials of all levels, environmental groups and I don't know who else. We were divided into groups according to numbers on our name tags and that's when I exited stage left. I just wanted to see if this was going to be anything different. I'd love to hear how those break out groups went, I was just glad to see the introduction and hear some great positive news out of the mouths of high school students.
You can participate by sharing your ideas, commenting on other peoples, promoting and demoting causes online at the Idea Jam:
http://ideas.usda.gov/ago/ideas.nsf/
Yes, there's some trash-talk going on as well. But at least it's refreshing to see real conservation issues being discussed at this level. I see no word how long this site is going to be up but I would imagine until the end of August. The first report by the Initiative is due November 15.
Comments can be emailed to: ago@ios.doi.gov.
Or go analog and submit by hand: Department of the Interior, America's Great Outdoors, 1849 C Street NW, Mailstop 3156, Washington DC 20240.
Talking to folks before the introduction began I was delighted to hear about the youth summit earlier that day. The highlights for me in the introductory remarks were the Native American blessing given by a local tribe (including a very articulate princess!) and the hilarious welcoming speech by an Garfield senior.
It felt a little different than the typical public hearing. And there was a great diversity of people there from old to young, dark to light. Nice to see our natural world has a good looking fan base.
The high school auditorium was filled with a few hundred conservation supporters, government officials of all levels, environmental groups and I don't know who else. We were divided into groups according to numbers on our name tags and that's when I exited stage left. I just wanted to see if this was going to be anything different. I'd love to hear how those break out groups went, I was just glad to see the introduction and hear some great positive news out of the mouths of high school students.
You can participate by sharing your ideas, commenting on other peoples, promoting and demoting causes online at the Idea Jam:
http://ideas.usda.gov/ago/ideas.nsf/
Yes, there's some trash-talk going on as well. But at least it's refreshing to see real conservation issues being discussed at this level. I see no word how long this site is going to be up but I would imagine until the end of August. The first report by the Initiative is due November 15.
Comments can be emailed to: ago@ios.doi.gov.
Or go analog and submit by hand: Department of the Interior, America's Great Outdoors, 1849 C Street NW, Mailstop 3156, Washington DC 20240.
You can sleuth down any font by going through descriptors on this fabulous website:
http://www.identifont.com/index.html
Happy hunting!
http://www.identifont.com/index.html
Happy hunting!
Engaging and inspiring supporters through creating a shared vision ensures individual commitment to making it happen! Strategic Visioning is a planning process that includes both creative visioning and traditional data gathering/action planning tools. This process has tons to offer the conservation community because our supporters are creative, productive and committed. I was lucky enough to present this set of strategic planning tools to a wonderful group at the Land Trust Alliance meeting and am attaching both the handout and a PDF of how the Save Our Redwoods League used the strategic visioning process to create a shared vision and game plan to get here. You can learn more at www.grove.com, or email me and let's start a conversation about how this effective and flexible process can work for your future.
SV_learningguidehandout_LTAweb.pdf
SV_learningguidehandout_LTAweb.pdf
Now that is along title for this short and handy document! Using gardening as a metaphor, I walked through the seasons while thinking about how people can make the most out of their visual resources. The process is strategic in nature and this PDF contains links to excellent tools and resources on the web. Where ever your are in your communication strategy, you'll find something in here to help move your visual connections along. Check it out and please let me know what you think!
Maximize_your_Visual_Impact.pdf
Maximize_your_Visual_Impact.pdf
I love the stories that keep coming from the Tompotika region of Sulawesi about these coloring sheets. Marcy's staff at ALTO (http://www.tompotika.org/) are working in the schools with the maleo and sea turtle conservation engaging children (and their family) with color, shape and fun! This picture sums it up. Go ALTO!
Hey Puget Sounders, if you haven't connected with this blog, you might want to check it out. I am always seeing interesting things there.
http://pspeconet.blogspot.com/
And, heck, it's got broader appeal than just our humble region! For instance, an interesting and fun way to tell a story using one rather annoying person and one smart person:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ-lfK-cN0g
Enjoy!
http://pspeconet.blogspot.com/
And, heck, it's got broader appeal than just our humble region! For instance, an interesting and fun way to tell a story using one rather annoying person and one smart person:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ-lfK-cN0g
Enjoy!
In early June, a colleague from The Nature Conservancy, Lisa Younger came to visit. I was so excited to have her and her land stewardship expertise here to look at my restoration projects. Dismay overwhelmed me when we looked at the reed canary grass removal project. Looking at the 1000 square foot patch from a distance, it looked like the grass was breaking through the barrier. We didn't have adequate footwear to investigate further. I was too depressed to look at it the rest of the summer, there wasn't much I could do.
In October, I sucked it up, put on my muck boots and went to explore. I am very happy to report very healthy sprouting on the stakes and budding plant diversity! Bullrush, carex, watercress and more were filling in every available space on top of the fabric and the willow stakes were busting open (thank you Sound Native Plants for having such healthy stakes!). Truly a thing of beauty.
It is now December and I wonder how it's changing in these freezing temperatures and do I have to remove that geotextile fabric? I cannot for the life of me see how to remove it. Abel from the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust advised me in the beginning to leave it there for at least three years. It has been there since May 08 and will be under at least a foot of soil and plant material by then!
In the meantime, time to clear out my native plant nursery that's been growing since last winter this spring. Strong backs welcome! Think of it this way, it's cheaper than a health club...
In October, I sucked it up, put on my muck boots and went to explore. I am very happy to report very healthy sprouting on the stakes and budding plant diversity! Bullrush, carex, watercress and more were filling in every available space on top of the fabric and the willow stakes were busting open (thank you Sound Native Plants for having such healthy stakes!). Truly a thing of beauty.
It is now December and I wonder how it's changing in these freezing temperatures and do I have to remove that geotextile fabric? I cannot for the life of me see how to remove it. Abel from the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust advised me in the beginning to leave it there for at least three years. It has been there since May 08 and will be under at least a foot of soil and plant material by then!
In the meantime, time to clear out my native plant nursery that's been growing since last winter this spring. Strong backs welcome! Think of it this way, it's cheaper than a health club...
