Originally published in Seven Mile Times' Endless Summer Issue, 9/1/2015
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I loved autumn, the one season of the year ...
(FO R WETLANDS) A I S S WI TH U LO R VE M O FR
ts, Baltic Sea Fields of gold at Olone
Region.
Lake Sapsho, Smolensk Lakeland National Park. Boris, a white stork at Smolensk.
Exchange Program Bridges Cultures for Environmental Education By Dr. Lenore Tedesco of The Wetlands Institute he Wetlands Institute has been creating and delivering highquality, experiential wetland education for decades. Since its founding in 1969, environmental education and wetland stewardship has been a cornerstone of the institute’s mission. This year, thanks to a grant from the U.S. State Department, the institute has extended its wetlands education to the international level. The Wetlands Institute ( T WI), Wetland Link International (based in the United Kingdom) and Wetlands International Russia (based in Moscow) have teamed up to generate an international dialogue between wetland centers in the United States and Russia. This project, “Russia-USA Wetland Center Exchange Program: Linking People and Wetlands,” is working to identify and implement the best practices in environmental education. A second, pending grant has been sought to support the development of outreach and education activities that can be shared among partner centers in both countries. The program – which will culminate with a three-day conference at The Wetlands Institute – is based on a desire Endless Summer 2015
to directly link wetland educators to foster greater cultural understanding, while exploring the different historical contexts and approaches to environmental education utilized in each country. The United States has a long history of making natural areas accessible to people in addition to embedding environmental education and outreach into visitor programs. U.S. wetland education centers are widespread and utilize a variety of innovative approaches to teaching in and about wetlands. For
Driftless Area Wetland Centre & Khassky State Natural Reserve partners at the Oglakhty Areas Visitors Center, Khassky Reserve.
most of Russia’s history, natural areas have been strictly protected and largely off-limits to the public. This has changed in recent years: Wetland education visitor centers are being opened and programming is being developed to encourage outdoor and environmental education. The exchange program is designed to have six centers – three from each country – work together and learn from each other. The Wetlands Institute is partnering with the Smolensk Lakeland National
Park, located near the Belarus border about seven hours west of Moscow. In my role as TWI’s executive director, I joined our director of educational program development, Brooke Knapick, in Russia for 10 days in April, visiting project partners from the national park. The park has a newly opened visitor center located in an area with numerous beautiful lakes. Similar to TWI, the park’s visitorship is heavily seasonal. The park is vast and has a strong focus on interpretive signage and self-guided educational programs. Its mission includes preservation and education about cultural resources in addition to natural resources. Brooke and I toured many areas of the park, visited the local middle school, participated in a regional overnight environmental education and service project, and worked with park naturalists, foresters and research scientists to get a greater understanding of the educational initiatives being offered by the park. The park shares some interesting natural-resource riches with TWI. Notably, Smolensk Lakeland National Park is situated on a flyway whereby migratory birds moving from Siberia down to continued on page 72 WWW.SEVENMILETIMES.COM