Southeast Send Off!

All over AR.  For the past three months, we have traveled all over the Southeast providing outreach and workshops to more than 25 schools, universities, organizations, and land management agencies.  All though Arkansas expands our reach to just west of the Mississippi River, we experienced some creative groups that are benefiting from the Leave No Trace Program.  We spent three days at Lake Dardanelle State Park, which provides interpretive programs to visitors at the park.  Take a look at the photo below:  The park rents out backpacks for families looking for interesting and educational activities to fill their time while at the lake.  Notice the Leave No Trace hang tag attached to the pack!

From there, we traveled to Northwest AR, where we worked with 8th grade students from Pea Ridge, who would be attending Outdoor School at Devil's Den State Park later that week.  Our workshop prepared them with a good introduction to how they can be stewards of the land and take responsibility for their choices while enjoying the park.  Following that, we met up with Jennifer Hazelrigs, Leave No Trace State Advocate for the state of Arkansas, at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, for the Arkansas Adventure Programming Conference.

Jennifer Hazelrigs and Scott Dirksen-Lyon College were excited to see Bigfoot come out for the Saturday morning trail run!  

This student-led conference drew faculty and staff from 6 colleges and universities from AR, KY, TX, and IA.  With over 80 participants on site over the weekend, and the majority of the programs led by student presenters, there were many opportunities to learn new skills and gain valuable knowledge of outdoor programming.

We led a three hour skills workshop, with a surprise guest!

Horseshoe Canyon had many goats, horses, dogs, and mules that call the Ranch home.  We were shocked to have two horses join us at our workshop, first time for that!  This would not be the last time we see horses this week...

Tracy, Jacque, Kate and Rob in Snowball, AR.

We finished up our time in Arkansas on horseback!  We spent the day with Rob Stephens, BSA/Leave No Trace all around champion, and Jacque Alexander, Leave No Trace/Backcountry Horseman of America advocate, as well as other members of BCH of Arkansas for a trail ride along the Buffalo River National Park.  15 miles later, we enjoyed river crossings, wildflowers in bloom, and riding along the painted bluffs, all the while making friends with everyone including "Dakota and Shorty".  Thank you to Jacque, Rob, and all of the ladies on the ride.  Oh what a day-Glorious!

As we head towards the Northeast, we reflect on all of our events the past few months since the 2012 season began and look forward with great anticipation for the next three months in the Northeast!

Respect the Resource...Kate and Tracy

The Natural State of Arkansas Tech and Beyond

Wildflowers abound in Arkansas

Russellville, AR.  Team East spent the past two days working with students and faculty at Arkansas Tech University.  An educational partner of Leave No Trace, Arkansas Tech strives to promote Leave No Trace within the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Hospitality Administration.  Nestled in the western part of Arkansas, Russellville is within close proximity to many beautiful lakes, forests, waterfalls, caverns, and mountains.  The "Natural State" truly offers outdoor enthusiasts the opportunity to enjoy natures playground.  Students at Arkansas Tech can access the Ozark National Forest, Hot Springs National Park, numerous Army Corp of Engineer waterways such as Lake Dardanelle, the Buffalo National River Wilderness, along with numerous state parks including Mount Magazine- the highest point between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains.  

Bulletin Board at Arkansas Tech

We had the opportunity to educate the Outdoor Education class on ways to teach youth about Leave No Trace, as the entire class will be working with 5th graders next week at their outdoor school.  The students had a lot of fun acting like 5th graders as we played "What Principle Am I?", which gave them a good introduction to the seven Leave No Trace principles.  We then provided them with strategies on developing lesson plans that activate different learning styles.  The workshop completed with a rousing game of Okay vs. No Way, a favorite amongst elementary school classes we work with (and is available as a FREE download on the Leave No Trace website).
We thank Dr. Glen Bishop for bringing the Traveling Trainer Program to Arkansas Tech!  His enthusiasm for protecting the "Natural State" is contagious and we are very excited to explore what this area has to offer.
We will be at Lake Dardanelle State Park all weekend providing training opportunities for the staff, outreach to the public, and evening campfire programs both Friday and Saturday nights!  Come on down!
Respect the Resource...Kate & Tracy