87 



Investing in Conservation Education 



Conservationists for Tomorrow 



To BECOME conservation-minded 

 adults, children must be 

 educated during their forma- 

 tive years, and beyond, to 

 understand the interdependence of 

 living things, the inter-relatedness of all 

 natural systems, and the value of 

 proterting the natural world and its 

 inhabitants. New, more far-reaching 

 strategies are required to equip young 

 Americans with the knowledge and 

 skills they will need to understand 

 today's environmental issues and 

 tomorrow's environmental challenges. 



Although a significant amount of 

 energy and funds has been expended 

 on conservation education in the past 

 two decades, environmental experts 

 agree that the public's "environmental 

 IQ" has not improved. Some say it's 

 declining. In particular, past programs 

 have failed to focus effectively on the 

 United States' ever-growing urban 

 populations, which are increasingly 

 removed from the natural world. 



Through its Initiative for Coaservation 

 Education, which the William and Flora 

 Hewlett Foundation supported in 1992, 

 the National Fish and Wildlife Founda- 

 tion has pinpointed four major methods 

 that will help awaken America to 

 environmental issues and conservation 

 needs. First, it advocates and helps 

 create comprehensive conservation 

 education programs throughout the 

 United States tfiat use existing local, 

 state, and national infrastructures and 

 facilities, such as parks, zoos, preserves, 

 forests, and wildlife refuges. These 

 facilities will be used to initiate programs 

 that will take cfiildren out of traditional 

 classrooms and promote interactions 

 between a forester and a child, a park 

 ranger and a city dweller. They will also | 

 provide "hands-on" experiences in = 



natural areas in urban, suburban, and I 

 rural settings. j 



Second, it supports educational efforts i 

 that target minority populations, particu- ^ 

 larly those that increase minorities' " 



children examine a hiiUsiuike. nhnv, 

 mill an insect, left, at a Foumlatiori- 

 sui>ported conservation education class 



opportunities to enter natural resource 

 professions. For example, in 1992, the 

 Foundation funded a six-week U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service seminar on Navajo 

 lands for Native American college 

 suidents interested in natural resources. 



Tfiird, to best equip educators, the 

 Foundation invests in projects that 

 develop tools, materials, curricula, and 

 workshops teachers need to integrate 

 environmental education into daily 

 studies and activities. Thanks to a 

 Fi >undation grant, students at five 

 R( >ston-area schools will learn about the 

 ei ological significance of the Charles 

 Kn er Watershed and its resources in 

 ii.iilitional courses supplemented with 

 u.itural history and environmental 



