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Archive for the ‘Interpretive Paths During a Bad Economy’ Category

A New Approach to Telling Old Stories

25 Aug
Interpreters share stories of our history. Pictured, Lawrence, Kansas, was home to both abolitionist and pro-slavery residents who suffered as a young country struggled with the issue of slavery. Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress

Interpreters share stories of our history. Pictured, Lawrence, Kansas, was home to both abolitionist and pro-slavery residents who suffered as a young country struggled with the issue of slavery. Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress

Today, there is a great deal of focus on accuracy and comprehensiveness when storytelling. It is equally important that our interpretive programs produce long-term results. We are watching budgets shrink, attendance dwindle, visitors growing ever more stereotypical in age and color, our take-away sales dropping, and/or our dialogs about these things are beginning to sound the same. Now is the time to redefine success. No matter how impressive we are—the site, the message, and the story—we run the risk of becoming irrelevant if we do not produce results. How can this be?

Storytellers are great at what we do. When educating people, we provide knowledge, context, and accuracy. When engaging people through engaging experiences, we create story ambassadors. People excited about their experience share their own story with neighbors, co-workers, and schoolmates, thus expanding the reach of the story they enjoyed far beyond the boundaries of the story itself. Their enthusiasm and excitement spreads, providing benefits far beyond those produced by flashy brochures, well-done websites, or attractive road signs.

Homes in western Missouri left behind only a landscape dotted with chimneys when collectively burned in 1863. This tragic story, unspoken for many years, recently unfolded before local residents, many for the first time.

Homes in western Missouri left behind only a landscape dotted with chimneys when collectively burned in 1863. This tragic story, unspoken for many years, recently unfolded before local residents, many for the first time.

Our stories, fostered and nurtured so lovingly, now deserve to be owned, shared, and carried far beyond our mental and physical boundaries. For the generations that follow us, important stories are disappearing. Many skilled and dedicated “keepers of the story” fade from the landscape and the numbers available to pick up their dropped torch are dwindling. Gone already are many stories that define who we are, where we’ve been, and where we are heading, individually, collectively, and as a nation. Preserving and continuing to share these important stories with the next generations means we must stretch beyond our quality of services and interpretation and create large numbers of new supporter that value these incredible stories.

No longer can we define success from our expert subject-matter perspective, but instead we must think about defining success from the “family on the street” perspective. Success and sustainability for our stories dictate that we think and act differently, stretching beyond our traditional audiences. The truth is, if it looks as if the story is no longer relevant, perhaps it is actually our approach and chosen delivery that are no longer relevant. Perhaps, podcasts, cell phone interpretation, and websites might trigger a “viral” (using pre-existing social networks to bring attention to something thought to be interesting, funny, or worthy of attention) initiative. A quick search within our own e-mail inboxes demonstrates how often you are referred to a great blog or a great video posted on YouTube. After all, how many podcasts are shared with you via email that are outside your special interests but worthy of a visit? How many great websites are passed on to you just because they are great websites?

A group of young interpreters, compelled to act out local history stories themselves, worked under the direction of reenactor John Allin and Cass County Historical Society’s Carol Bohl to create a video of their living history presentation.

A group of young interpreters, compelled to act out local history stories themselves, worked under the direction of reenactor John Allin and Cass County Historical Society’s Carol Bohl to create a video of their living history presentation.

In this new and changing marketplace for traditional storytelling, think about partnering with non-traditional partners. Advertising firms (talk about knowing their target audience), universities (refine our definition of audiences into new generations), community theaters (the visual and performing arts know how to connect to emotions), and local family-owned businesses might provide the opportunity to enhance your story, your perspectives, your stakeholder population, and your story’s future.

Success might be defined as watching as the story weaves itself into the fabric of our daily community of friends and family. Perhaps it is when other residents, families, and/or generations decide to preserve and share a story they now understand and appreciate, and its relevance grows in proportion to increasing numbers of stakeholders. Maybe it is when they smile at each other each time they hear or think of the story, or recall their experience through conversation, photographs, blogs, YouTube videos, texting, and/or Twittering.

Success might look different for each storyteller, just as it might for each story. Keepers of stories often react only when or if their sites or stories are threatened. But the future of those sites and stories cannot rely solely on looking to tradition for the answers. Now is the time to recognize that sharing our stories in new ways with new audiences may be the key to the future, for all of our stories and for those who tell them.

This article was written by Carol Bohl, executive director, Cass County Historical Society; Mike McGrew, ASLA, Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company, LLC; Julie Lenger, program coordinator, Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area; and Sue Pridemore, regional heritage partnerships coordinator, National Park Service.

 
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Posted in Feature Stories, Interpretive Paths During a Bad Economy

 

Answers in the Wilderness

13 Aug

by Jennifer Quinn

The mid-summer sun shines high over head. Red-winged blackbirds and tree sparrows float on the breeze and chatter in the trees. There is rolling farmland and forest as far as the eye can see.

Foxfield-2The funeral procession arrives promptly at 11:00 am. Family and friends clad in sneakers and blue jeans prepare to say their last goodbyes. The family dog is also in attendance, nose held high in the air, enjoying the breeze. Pallbearers remove the simple, unfinished poplar casket from the hearse, each grasping one of the six sturdy rope handles. Gravel crunches underfoot as the procession slowly makes its way down the trail. The gravesite is on a sunny hillside dotted with newly planted oak, cherry, and ash saplings. The casket is placed above the open grave atop three sturdy planks. There is no tent, no folding chairs, no fake grass carpet, only sunlight and shadow and two tons of moist, brown earth and the grave from which it was removed.

Prayers are said, poems are read, and memories are shared. Pallbearers lower the casket by hand using three heavy woven straps. All that remains is the closing of the grave. Shovels are passed from person to person and everyone takes a turn. An hour’s worth of effort—sweat, tears, and yes, even laughter—and the grave is closed. The body has been returned to the earth.

This is not a recollection from a long, distant past but an account of the present—a rediscovering of an ancient practice: natural burial—at Foxfield Preserve.

Foxfield-1Foxfield Preserve is a nature preserve cemetery in the heart of Ohio’s Amish country, about an hour south of Cleveland. It’s the only cemetery in the state offering natural burial and the first in the country to be operated by a nonprofit conservation organization.

The Wilderness Center (TWC), a 501(c)(3), was established in 1964 as a nature center. Over the past four decades, it has become a well-respected center for environmental education, complete with interpretive building, hiking trails, and astronomy building. During the 1990s, TWC became a land trust by holding and monitoring conservation easements on over 1,500 acres of land. TWC is also involved in wetland mitigation and has a consulting forestry business that offers management plans to private landowners, focusing on sustainability and resource protection.

Opening a nature preserve cemetery “just made sense,” says TWC Executive Director Gordon Maupin. Income generated by Foxfield Preserve will support TWC’s mission of environmental education and land conservation.

“When you’re a private, self-funding, nonprofit like we are, you’re always trying to find ways to increase your operating budget,” says Maupin. “Essentially, we have a conservation-based natural burial ground. We’re conserving the land where the cemetery is located and we’re also generating money to support further conservation efforts.”

More income means more land acquisition and more educational programs for schools and families. Maupin added, “We see it as a win, win, win situation—for the cemetery, for The Wilderness Center, and for the community.”

Although things are running smoothly now, establishing the cemetery was no easy task. “This was a decades-long journey,” says Maupin. “From site selection to convincing our 40-member board of directors, this project took a lot of time and patience. Luckily we had very knowledgeable advisors and people began to take me seriously once they realized this wasn’t such an off-the-wall idea after all.”

Opening the preserve required a huge financial investment by The Wilderness Center. Land acquisition, perpetual care endowment, construction expenses, restoration expenses, and equipment costs are close to $500,000.

“Most people don’t realize how expensive it is to open a cemetery,” says Maupin. “And for most people interested in opening a natural burial preserve, cost is very prohibitive.” This is by no means a way to get rich quick. It’s a long-term investment in natural burial, ecological restoration, and land conservation.

Foxfield Preserve is just a mile from TWC’s interpretive building. The site is 43 acres; of that, about half has been designated for cemetery use. This former farmland is undergoing ecological restoration. Native prairie grasses and flowers have been planted on 15 acres. Species planted include big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, blazing star, rattlesnake master, and compass plant, just to name a few. Native hardwoods have been planted as part of reforestation efforts on the remaining six acres. People purchasing plots at the preserve can be part of the restoration efforts. They can plant a native tree or other native plants on their plot.

There will be 100 to 200 burials per acre rather than the typical 800 to 1,800 burials per acre at a traditional cemetery. Graves are three and a half feet deep and are dug by hand or with a small excavator. All soil is returned to the grave after burial, so graves are only evident by a large mound of soil. Grave markers are permitted but optional. In keeping with the nature preserve, stones cannot be cut or polished, but can be engraved and should look like a stone one would find in the woods. Once the grave settles, there will be no evidence a burial has taken place if there is no marker, so handheld GPS devices will be given to families and used to find gravesites.

“It’s a unique place,” said Foxfield Preserve Steward Jennifer Quinn. “This piece of land is serving a dual purpose—it’s a nature preserve and it’s also a cemetery.”

As a nature preserve, it’s providing habitat to flora and fauna, a cleaner watershed, and recreational opportunities for the community with hiking trails and wildlife viewing. It’s also a beautiful, peaceful place that will serve as a final resting place. It will not look like a typical cemetery. There will be no mowed and manicured lawns or rows of headstones. It will look like a nature preserve, with rolling prairie meadows and tall trees.

Only natural burials are permitted at Foxfield Preserve. Natural burial means no embalming, no vaults, and that a wooden casket, cardboard container, or cotton shroud is used instead of a metal casket. Each year in U.S cemeteries we bury roughly:

•    827,060 gallons of embalming fluid
•    90,272 tons of steel (caskets)
•    2,700 tons of copper and bronze (caskets)
•    1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (vaults)
•    14,000 tons of steel (vaults)
•    30-plus million board feet of hardwoods (much tropical; caskets)

So for the environmentally conscious, natural burial is much more appealing. Natural burial also appeals to people who can’t see the point of spending thousands of dollars on a casket and thousands of dollars on a vault and then burying them forever. The average cost of a traditional funeral is approximately $6,000 (not including cemetery expenses which start at $2,000 and go up from there).

“Overall, natural burial is less expensive because there is no vault, no expensive casket, and funeral director involvement is less,” said Quinn. A plot at Foxfield Preserve is 10 by 20 feet and is suitable for interring one casket, one casket and one cremains, or two cremains. The plot is $3,200.

Since opening August 1, 2008, 34 plots have been sold at Foxfield Preserve. Six have been used for burials and 28 purchased preneed.

“Our clients are diverse,” said Quinn. “They have different backgrounds, are from different parts of the state, and range in age from 36 to 83, and yet they all chose natural burial. For them it just makes sense. And that’s the only common factor I’ve found. The simplicity of returning to the earth appeals to them.”

Ultimately, it will be a place of life. “I can imagine guided bird walks, families planting trees and flowers, and just a different experience for those visiting gravesites,” said Maupin. “This is a place where your final act gives back to Mother Earth, but it’s more than that. It’s about creating an alternative for people, preserving open spaces for future generations, and ultimately changing the way we think about death and burial.”

Jennifer Quinn is the sole employee of Foxfield Preserve. For information visit www.foxfieldpreserve.org and www.wildernesscenter.org.

Gordon Maupin, executive director of The Wilderness Center, will be a featured speaker during the Interpretive Management Institute at the NAI National Workshop in Hartford, Connecticut, this November. For more information, please visit www.interpnet.com/workshop.

 
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Posted in Feature Stories, Interpretive Paths During a Bad Economy

 

Weasels, a Downturned Economy, and Your Exhibit Dollar

19 Jul

by Pete Salmon

PeteSalmonA bat fell to the ground and was quickly snatched up by a weasel. The bat pleaded for his life. The weasel was having none of it, stating, “I am a natural enemy of all birds, therefore I must eat you!” The bat, thinking quickly, replied, “But I am not a bird, I am a mouse.” Somehow the weasel was convinced, and he set the bat free.

Later that same day, the clumsy bat fell to the ground once again. The bat was quickly snatched up by another weasel. The bat pleaded for his life. The weasel was having none of it, stating, “I am a natural enemy of all mice, therefore I must eat you!” The bat, in a practiced fashion replied, “But I am not a mouse at all, I am a bird.” Somehow, this convinced the weasel and the bat escaped a second time.

The moral of “The Bat and the Weasels” fable: It is wise to make the best of your current circumstances.

Could a timeless classic like Aesop’s Fables still inform us today? Could it possibly guide us in our current economic climate? I consulted Aesop’s Fables when debating the wisdom of investing in exhibits in our prevailing economic atmosphere. I was surprised at the common sense direction the fables provided.

Below are five suggestions for those contemplating exhibit expenditures, all pulled from the morals of Aesop’s Fables.

The Lion and the Three Bulls
Union is strength.

Exhibit design and fabrication employs teamwork. Every exhibit team (composed of clients, stakeholders, and consultants) incorporates the skills of numerous specialists. A cost-savings practice for contractees is to evaluate their team members and utilize their abilities to complete tasks normally reserved for exhibit designers and builders. For instance, a site’s stakeholders might have aptitude for research, photography, text writing, prepping the exhibit room, or building basic exhibit furniture. Each task performed by stakeholders is one less task accounted for in your exhibit consultant’s budget.

The Hare and the Tortoise
Slow but steady wins the race.

“We have been waiting for 12 years to start this project.” Sound familiar? A site’s stakeholders, waiting patiently for upgrades, are usually anxious to move ahead. However, there is another perspective to waiting so long for progress—if project progress has taken so long, what is the harm in waiting a bit longer? If there is little to no harm, perhaps phasing a project is a viable option. Exhibit plans can be segmented or phased into stages for development. Not all exhibits allow for this option; however, many do. Phasing a project allows immediate implementation of priority exhibits, while placing the remainder of the exhibits on hold. One downside of phasing is that it may be more expensive over the life of the project—phasing assumes more than one installation phase.

The Lioness
The value is in the worth, not in the number.

When budgeting an exhibit design and fabrication project, a substantial number of dollars is allocated to administrative costs, namely installation, shipping, project management, and travel. Of all these costs, the most variable is likely travel costs. Plane tickets, car rental, gas, and lodging are all budgeted expenses included in a contract price. These costs accumulate rapidly.

Every project needs quality face-to-face visits. However, it is a cost savings to choose these site visits wisely. Be certain to determine the most productive and beneficial points in the exhibit process for face-to-face meetings. Other considerations include: Can comparable progress be made through a conference call? Is there a low-cost technology application that allows team members to video conference? Can the exhibit firm post progress on a website? How can the exhibit firm enhance communication and involvement?

The Man and the Lion
One story is good, until another is told.

We all have been impressed by excellent exhibits that we see at someone else’s site. How often have coworkers insisted that this same “excellent exhibit” should be incorporated somewhere in your own facility? This is an example of a predetermined, preordained exhibit media choice. Predetermined media choices often hinder creativity and can often increase a budget. A variety of exhibit media choices can be considered (including the “excellent exhibit”) only after the exhibit themes are determined. Set media choices dampen the opportunity to devise equally effective and perhaps less expensive choices.

The Thirsty Pigeon
Zeal should not outrun discretion.

Today, it is vital to determine a realistic exhibit budget and hold to it. In order to do so, each project team should compile a list of exhibits, prioritizing each exhibit as a must-have or as a would-love-to-have. The goal here is to create a lean, prioritized, “point-on” exhibit with as little pork as possible. Initially, realistic budgeting can be uncomfortable. However, dream exhibits are even more fulfilling when they are designed and built well within the available budget.

In conclusion, I reference one last fable, one that occasionally and mistakenly is attributed to Aesop—Chicken Little. When acorns fell on Chicken Little’s head during her walk in the forest, she concluded the sky was falling. Chicken Little decides to use an umbrella on all her future forest walks. Chicken Little, in essence, makes the best of her circumstances. She uses an umbrella as protection from her environment. Discretion, planning, budgeting, and teamwork work as your umbrella, allowing you to see your exhibits through to the end…in any economy.

Pete Salmon, CIP, is an interpretive planner with NAI commercial member Taylor Studios, Inc. Reach him at psalmon@taylorstudios.com.

 
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Posted in Interpretive Paths During a Bad Economy, Planning & Design

 

Know Your Audience, Speak Their Language, and Get the Support You Need

07 Jul

by Michael Kirschman

Budget being cut? Interpretive positions at your site being eliminated, or at risk of being eliminated? If so, welcome to the “new” economic reality—“new” only in the broadest sense of the word, as interpreters seem to face this dread on a yearly basis regardless of the economic climate. The fact is our services are usually not valued at the same level as mandated services such as police, fire, social services, and schools. Yet the open spaces we typically protect and interpret—nature preserves, forest preserves, conservation areas, parks, watershed properties—arguably provide a far greater return on investment than most realize.

According to Larry Beck and Ted Cable, interpretive programs must be capable of attracting support—financial, volunteer, political, administrative—whatever is needed for the program to flourish. This has never been truer, yet many of us wonder, “How can I, as a frontline interpreter or site manager, actually gain true, sustained political and administrative support?” One way is to learn and speak the language of your administrators and decision makers. In other words, “Know your audience!”

Plants are nature’s air filters, removing pollution and saving us money. This beechwood tree is found at Latta Plantation Nature Preserve.

Plants are nature’s air filters, removing pollution and saving us money. This beechwood tree is found at Latta Plantation Nature Preserve.

Arguably, never before has the need and desire by the public for natural areas, access to nature trails and facilities, and nature-based outdoor programming been so strong at both the local and national level. Yet, all too often these services are overlooked, forgotten about, and dismissed as being less important by those holding the purse strings. The justifications for mandated services have become so strong in some municipalities, we must ask, Does this hold up? Are the benefits of our programs and facilities truly that minimal? What are the true comprehensive benefits of our services? and Can these benefits be quantified?

Most decision makers want to make informed decisions. To do so, they need to have quantifiable data that stands up to public scrutiny. Unfortunately, all too often interpreters depend solely on anecdotal comments, visitation estimates, or vague “quality of life” innuendos to justify their services.

To assist decision makers in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, data was compiled on the environmental, economic, and health benefits of our nature preserves. Combined, these benefits provide a conservative five-to-one return on investment. Armed with this data, interpreters can now relate the “true value” of our preserves. Interpretive themes have also been developed to highlight benefits of specific nature preserves. For example, “Your community is healthier with nature next door” is the new thematic foundation for one preserve that protects our city’s drinking water. Following is a brief overview of the benefits and the associated values determined for Mecklenburg County nature preserves.

Water Quality Benefits
The benefits of protecting open space, tree canopy, and watersheds are extensive, as there are direct correlations to water quality. Even relatively impermeable forest soils, such as those found in Charlotte, can absorb a one-inch rainfall. Remove those trees and replace them with roads, parking lots, and roofs, and the same rainfall produces 27,000 gallons of runoff per acre.

A 2003 analysis found our preserves have a storm water retention capacity of 29 million cubic feet per year. Furthermore, this value can be conservatively estimated at $58 million, which equals a $2 per cubic foot of construction cost to build a facility capable of filtering this amount of storm water. This does not include yearly operating costs.

Air Quality Benefits
Urban forests reduce the effects of air pollution by removing carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and particulate matter. Using City Green software, it was determined the trees within our nature preserves remove 458,000 pounds of pollution every year. This service can conservatively be estimated at $2,210,000 per year, based on a 2005 study for the city of Houston.

Economic Benefits: Increased Property Values, Tourism, and Direct Revenue
Although not well known (or interpreted), nature preserves provide significant economic benefits. The greatest of these derive from higher sale prices and higher property taxes via the “proximity effect,” or hedonic value. It results from the fact that people are willing to pay more for homes near parks, especially natural areas. The resulting higher sale price and associated taxes paid by an owner represent direct, immediate, and on-going economic returns. On average, properties adjacent to passive properties such as preserves experience a 20 percent increase in value. This declines to zero for properties 2,000 feet away. Using these estimates and public tax records, the adjacent 2,026 property owners and 3,146 nearby property owners living within just 1,000 feet of Mecklenburg County nature preserves provided an extra $1,181,878 to the tax base in 2008.

Tourism impacts can be calculated using local tourism spending data ($98.60/day) and preserve visitation data (75,000 tourists/year), which indicates the preserves contribute $7,395,000 in tourism every year. Additionally, revenues from programs, campground fees, shelter rentals, boat launch fees, and the nature center gift shops were approximately $230,000 in 2008. Combined, the economic impacts of the preserves exceed $8.8 million each year.

Health Benefits
Nature provides significant health benefits, one being stress reduction. According to Stress Directions, Inc., stress is recognized as a major drain on corporate productivity and competitiveness. Stress Directions, Inc., calculates that $300 billion, or $7,500 per employee, is spent annually on stress-related issues. Since over 100 studies find that spending time in nature reduces stress, it can be argued nature preserves and their facilities have a positive impact on the health of our residents. As mentioned in Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods, even rooms with a view of nature help protect children against stress. Researchers have found that children with more nature near their homes have lower levels of behavioral disorders, anxiety, and depression. Other fascinating studies clearly show the benefits even a view of nature or a walk in nature can have on the office worker. And of course it has long been known that hospital rooms with views of trees or nature contribute to faster recovery times and discharges.

Additional studies cited by Louv find that children with nature near their home report lower levels of behavioral conduct disorders, anxiety, and depression. Incredibly, studies even suggest that nature can be used as therapy for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A study of children with ADHD found that walks outdoors appeared to improve attention and concentration. The researchers found that a dose of nature worked as well as a dose of medication to improve concentration, or even better.

Without a doubt, thousands of children with ADHD hike, walk, and explore Mecklenburg County nature preserves. The value of these health benefits may be hard, if not impossible, to calculate but they cannot be denied—and should always be highlighted in any justification for services.

Conclusion
Mecklenburg County residents and elected officials value nature preserves. However, do they truly understand the magnitude of their benefits? Combined, the benefits exceed a staggering $69 million. Excluding the large water quality benefit, a conservative estimate still exceeds $11 million per year. This is based solely on air quality benefits and quantifiable economic impacts. Since the preserves operate on a $3.1 million budget, this represents a nearly 350 percent return on investment and doesn’t even include the well-documented (but unquantifiable) benefits to health.

Other studies find similar results. A 2008 report showed Philadelphia parks provide about 100 times the amount the city spends on them each year. Similarly, a 2009 New York State Parks study concluded the 55.7 million park visitors support $1.9 billion in economic activity and 20,000 jobs. Furthermore the benefits exceed the direct costs of maintaining the state parks by a ratio of more than five to one. Another North Carolina State Parks study concluded each park in the system produced an economic return ranging from 1:1.8 to 1:25.1, meaning that for each dollar the state invested in a park, between $1.80 and $25.10 was generated.

These studies use sound economic theory and models to calculate impacts. This is the language of our decision makers. And if you can learn it, this is the type of information that can help ensure the continued success of your program.

How successful has Mecklenburg County been? Last fall, during a declining economy, residents passed a $250 million park and recreation bond package, the largest in state history. This followed a $36 million land bond in 2007, of which $31 million was earmarked for nature preserves. The county is planning to open five new preserves, replace an aging nature center, and build a new fourth nature center. Operating funding has steadily increased over the past five years, with our first operating cuts in years occurring this fiscal year. However, even with these recent cuts, no educators or interpreters were cut, all preserves and nature centers remain open, and no programs were cancelled.

An understanding of the environmental, economic, and health benefits provided by your site can be critical to its long-term success. Elected officials and decision makers truly desire to make informed decisions regarding government services, and it is your responsibility to ensure this information is clearly understood and incorporated into any decision-making process. I think Beck and Cable would agree—we as interpreters must know our audience and learn to speak their language if we’re to expect the support we need.

For More Information
American Forests. (2003). Urban Ecosystem Analysis Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. www.americanforests.org.

Beck, L., and Cable, T. (Eds.). (2002). Interpretation for the 21st Century. Champaign, IL: Sagamore.

Center for Applied GIS and the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. (2008). Forecasting Urbanization in the Carolina Piedmont Region.
www.gis.uncc.edu/ospc.

Crompton, John. (2004). The Proximate Principle: The Impact of Parks, Open Space and Water Features on Residential Property Values and the Property Tax Base. National Recreation and Park Association.

Greenwood, Jerusha and Candace Vick. (2008). Economic Contribution of Visitors to Selected North Carolina State Parks. Recreation Resources Service and NC State University.

Heintz, J., Pollin, Robert & Garrett-Peltier. (2009). The NYS Park System: An Economic Asset to the Empire State. Political Economy Research Institute University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Louv, Richard. (2008). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Mecklenburg County Land Use and Environmental Services Agency. (2008). State of the Environment Report 2008.

North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation. North Carolina Outdoor Recreation Plan 2003–2008.

Outdoor Industry Foundation. (2006). Outdoor Recreation Participation Study. Eighth edition for year 2005. www.outdoorindustryfoundation.org.

The Trust for Public Land. (2008). How Much Value Does the City of Philadelphia Receive from its Park and Recreation System?

U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service, and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation.

U.S. Forest Service and Texas Forest Service. (2005). Houston’s Regional Forest.

Michael Kirschman is the division director for nature preserves and natural resources in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He will be a featured speaker during the Interpretive Management Institute at the NAI National Workshop in Hartford, Connecticut. (Visit www.interpnet.com/workshop for information.) Contact him at Michael.Kirschman@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.

 
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Posted in Administration, Interpretive Paths During a Bad Economy

 

In These Tough Economic Times…

01 Jul

by Paul Caputo

Legacy-JulyAug09-CoverIn these tough economic times, it seems that everything you read begins with the phrase, “In these tough economic times.” Understandably, we have become consumed by the financial crisis that has dominated headlines, wreaked havoc on the job market, and devastated the global economy. It seems that everything we do is defined in terms of “surviving” the economic downturn—a term that can be taken literally, as interpretive organizations, sites, and programs, not to mention the livelihoods of those who oversee them, are endangered.

Of course, adjusting to the crisis means finding ways to deal with it. One of the things that strikes me whenever I am around NAI members is a sense of community, an innate camaraderie even between folks who have never met each other. (I was warned when I first started with NAI in 2002 that this was “a very huggy group.”) Whether it’s a regional training event, the NAI National Workshop, or the NAI International Conference, there is a kinship among members of this association that I have not felt in other professional groups. In a post on NAI’s blog (www.interpnet.com/naiblog), Amy Lethbridge wrote this about the recent NAI International Conference in Greece:

While I learned a great deal from every session, I must admit that, for me, the magic was in the individuals. Strip away the PowerPoint, the agency and title, and the citations, and what you had was an amazing group of passionate warriors for the earth and our heritage.

So in these tough economic times, I am struck once again by the way interpreters band together and lean on one another. This professional network becomes more than just a vehicle for sharing ideas and information. I witness NAI members at events—or even on e-mail and Facebook—sharing job leads, offering support, or simply lending a compassionate ear. I can honestly say that I have never experienced anything like that as a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) or the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

This magazine offers another, more traditional venue for NAI members to offer support to one another. Within these pages you will find some unique and interesting thoughts about how to save money or generate funds for your interpretive program or site. And as always, you have the chance to participate in the discussion, to offer your own helping hand by commenting on these articles online at www.onlinelegacy.org.

Paul Caputo is the art and publications director for the National Association for Interpretation.

 
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Posted in From the Editor, Interpretive Paths During a Bad Economy