Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Traveling trainers visit Escudilla, the "blue mountain" of A. Leopold lore


Recently we were in Alpine, Arizona working with the staff of the US Forest Service in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. During our visit we had the opportunity to spend the day at the Alpine School with students from grades 3rd through 8th. We asked the students about the legend of the infamous bruin who once roamed the flanks of nearby Escudilla mountain. Aldo Leopold wrote about this bear, called the great "Old Bigfoot," who "was a robber-baron and Escudilla was his castle" in his book A Sand County Almanac. The students were not sure of the old legend, but were very interested in the Bigfoot Challenge that they could connect with on the Center for Outdoor Ethics website. In the photo above, the students from our afternoon presentation proudly display their Earth Day posters for all to enjoy at the end of our time together that afternoon.


We also had the chance to work with the National Forest Service staff the following evening and share the educational programs around the Principles of Leave No Trace for programs geared towards the upcoming summer visitors to the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. In the second photo, Agata demonstrates an activity from 101 Ways to Teach Leave No Trace.

All the best...

Agata and Jason

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