Meetings on the Mountain (MOM)

MOM I

The first Meeting on the Mountain was held on Earth Day 2009 at Camp Greentop in Catoctin Mountain Park.  Catoctin Forest Alliance (CFA’s) first President, Michael West, addressed the group saying, “What better way to spend Earth Day than being here on this beautiful spring day with people/stakeholders that share a common thread….the beauty and health of the Catoctin Mountain Forest”.  The Gypsy Moth infestation was beginning in the spring of 2009.  Since 80+% of the Catoctin Mountain Forest is owned privately and Michael West was endeavoring to inform local land owners about the damage the gypsy moth would do to the forest and offer ways to work collaboratively to limit the damage.  Michael told the group that CFA, as an alliance, could represent the collective, represent more voices, provide a single point of contact and offer combined strength for fund raising and perhaps acquiring and allocating funds for the mitigation of the gypsy moth.

Guest speaker, Eric Schwaab, Deputy Director of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, noted that, “Place based conservation, led by local people and organizations represents an important part of the future conservation efforts.  Important decisions about land use, growth management, and non-point source pollution mitigation require local engagement and local action.”

MOM II

Meeting on the Mountain II was held at Camp Greentop in Catoctin Mountain Park on May 14, 2010 with a focus on charting further steps to combat threats to the Catoctin Forest.  Those threats included gypsy moth, hemlock woolly adelgid, and emerald ash borer as well as erosion and stream sediment, chemical and thermal pollution, habitat fragmentation and deer overpopulation.

The keynote speaker was Dr. James D. Nations, Vice President of the National Parks Conservation Association’s Center for State of the Parks and an expert on what forests mean to the human communities around them.  Also speaking was Tracy Bowen, Executive Director of the Alice Ferguson Foundation, a leader in environmental education and action in Maryland since 1954.  For more information about Dr. Nations, go to https://www.npca.org/people/james-d-nations

Breakout sessions addressed CFA’s role in supporting environmental management, helping visitors enjoy the forest, working with private landowners and promoting the forest’s history and natural beauty through the arts.

 MOM III

Meeting on the Mountain III was held on May 13, 2011 at Camp Greentop in Catoctin Mountain Park with a focus on Building Alliances: Making the Public/Private Partnership Work.  The keynote speaker was Robert G. Stanton, former Director of the National Park Service and recently appointed Undersecretary of the Interior.  For more information about Robert G. Stanton, go to: https://joytripproject.com/2022/03/in-the-words-of-robert-stanton-the-first-black-american-director-of-the-national-park-service/

Other speakers included Kai Hagen, Mel Poole, Elizabeth Prongas and Michael West.  There were presentations about The Health of the Catoctin Forest-Threats and Resources and How the Catoctin Forest Alliance can work with you and for you.  Each presentation was followed by a 30-minute panel discussion.

MOM IV

“Connecting our Children to Nature”

On May 4, 2012 the Catoctin Forest Alliance (CFA) held the 4^th annual Meeting on the Mountain (MOM IV) at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD.  With over 200 people in attendance, the keynote speaker, Mr. Richard Louv, and a cadre of experts from state governmental, environmental and educational organizations, spoke about “Connecting Our Children to Nature”.

John Fieseler, Executive Director of the Tourism Council of Frederick County, served as the emcee for the program and did a fine job with all of the introductions and with keeping the jam-packed program on schedule so everyone would get their allotted time to speak.

Robert Brennan, Vice President Advancement for Mount St. Mary’s University, welcomed everyone to The Mount.  He commented on the enthusiasm with which Mike West and Elizabeth Prongas had brought to the first meetings some 8-9 months ago that began the MOM IV planning.  He said he caught that enthusiasm right away.  He pointed out that this year the Mount is graduating their 204^th class and that when the Mount began, Thomas Jefferson was president.  The Mount has been a good steward of Mary’s Mountain for many years.  He pointed out that MSM is the birth place of Catholic education in the US and also served as a hospital for both northern and southern soldiers during the Civil War.  The university has one of the three largest solar arrays east of the Mississippi.  The smallest array was recently turned on and powers the east side of the campus saving about $500 per day in electrical fees.  The power from the large array goes to the University of Maryland in College Park.  Mr. Brennan said that MSM no longer fears the Turtle, they power the Turtle!

Mike West, President of the Catoctin Forest Alliance, also welcomed the group and thanked all of the sponsors and companies that had purchased ads in the MOM IV program as well as the people who planned and helped to carry out MOM IV.  He then introduced Merrill Oliver, Deputy Director, Governor’s Grants Office, who presented a citation from the Governor in recognition of MOM IV and CFA’s efforts to promote environmental education for our youth.

Mel Poole, Superintendent Catoctin Mountain Park, welcomed everyone to the Catoctin Mountains, sometimes called Maryland’s Front Range and to Frederick County, the home of the most units of the national park system in the nation.  He read a quote from Wendell Berry, “If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.  Where you stand at any moment has meaning above and below you but also inside you for the inspiration, reflection and spirituality that this planet provides for human beings.”  With that in mind, Mel provided a trip down memory lane to describe the beginnings of environmental education, also known as nature interpretation or conservations education. 

In the early years environmental education was largely taught by families in rural areas.  As the industrial revolution bought out many of the family farms, people began to depend on naturalists, interpreters and parks for environmental education.  In 1854 Central Park became the first public park and was created to give the American industrial revolution workers a place to commune with nature on their one day off per week.   Yosemite Park, once a mining operation, became the first state park in the nation in 1864.  Soon after, in 1872, Yellowstone became the first national park “a pleasuring ground for all the American people”.  Harold C. Byrant developed the first interpretive program at Yellowstone and used four basic guidelines:

            Simple, understandable interpretation with hands on experience (e.g. field trips)

            Lead visitors to study the real thing

            Provide highly trained personnel

            Develop a research program to supply dependable facts

  Tilden Freeman, the father of interpretation said that interpretation needs to be based on three principles:

             It needs to be revelation based

             The aim is not instruction but inspiration for more learning

             Interpretation for children is not a dumbed down adult version.  It just needs to be presented with a different approach

Frederick County had an Outdoor School at Camp Greentop in Catoctin Mountain Park from 1957 until 1996.  Children from the Frederick County Public Schools would spend a week at a time in the park.  However, financial restraints, legal and liability issues brought the program to a halt.  More and more, children are giving up outdoor time to play digital games and correspond on social media.  Superintendent Poole pointed out that if we wish to reach the children, we will have to do it in the medium of their choice.  We need to find a way to get our children to the heart of the world.

Nita Settina spoke about the important role that America’s State Parks play in connecting children and families to nature. Her remarks included a discussion of the value of both unstructured play and structured programming supported by State Parks, from camping to environmental education. She also highlighted the iconic role of the Park Ranger as nature mentor and spoke about new state park programs, including Park Quest, First Time Campers and the Conservation Jobs Corps, which reaches over 350 at-risk youth annually.  Nita told the group that connecting children to nature is one of the greatest humanitarian gifts we can give to the next generation and one of the most important investments that we can make to the conservation of the earth.  Maryland Park Service: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/

Coreen Weilminster, President Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) told the group that the mission of MAEOE is to encourage, educate, support and inspire Maryland educators to build a citizenry that understands and is responsibly engaged in advancing sustainability to address human needs and to conserve Earth’s natural resources.  She said the organization exists to help teachers to use their school yards for environmental and STEM education.  They want to use the schools to get children outdoors. 

MAEOE was founded in 1985 and serves thousands of teachers with training program, workshops and a very large conference each February that draws about 600 teachers.  They also have a new Environmental Education certification program that brings authenticity to the non-formal teachers.  It is very comprehensive and takes about a year to complete.

MAEOE ‘s keystone program is the Green School Program.  There are 458 green schools in Maryland, about 20% of all the schools in Maryland.

In summary, Coreen said, “We help to build the capacity of teachers to use their school yard to teach environmental education.”  For information about MAEOE and all the resources for teachers that they offer, go to http://www.maeoe.org/ .

Britt Slattery, DNR Director of Conservation Education, Coordinator MD Partnership for Children in Nature, reminded the group that it takes a whole village to get children into the outdoors and that is the goal of the Partnership for Children in Nature.  The partnership was formed in 2008 by the Governor’s Executive order to develop a plan to connect communities, youth and families to nature in schools, in their communities and on public lands.  The partnership is co-chaired by the DNR and the Maryland State Dept. of Education and is supported by 16 organizations, state, national, non-profit and local government.  Maryland has a The Maryland Jobs Corps was developed as part of the Partnership for Children in Nature.  Maryland is working on an Environmental Literacy graduation requirement.  In summary, Britt encouraged the group to “Take your kids outside.”

Gary Hedges, Science Specialist for Maryland State Department of Education spoke about the Maryland Environmental Literacy Standards (E-Lit).  He pointed out that all 24 Maryland school systems are developing their Pre-K through 12 environmental literacy programs and each one is unique.  E-Lit is has many similarities to the Next Generation Science Standards and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) however, E-Lit goes a step further by requiring an action component—the “boots on the ground” implementation of what was learned (e.g. tree planting, stream monitoring, teaching others about the environment).  He pointed out that the key to success with E-Lit is to work as teams of teachers and administrators, to collaborate and determine how best to address the Md. regulations, involve non-formal environmental education providers and invite businesses and higher education institutions to participate.

Julie Dieguez, Coordinator of the Maryland No Child Left Inside (MDNCLI) Coalition, provided a lively overview of the work of both the National & Maryland NCLI Coalitions. Formed in 2007, the National NCLI Coalition comprises 2000+ diverse groups representing over 50 million Americans in support of federal legislation (NCLI Act) and efforts to increase support for environmental education (EE) in schools. In large part due to these efforts, on April 16, 2012, at the first-ever White House EE Summit, a Federal Interagency EE Task Force was announced! The MDNCLI Coalition (250+ organizations and over 635,000 Marylanders) actively supports the Governor’s MD Children in Nature Partnership to ensure that all MD youth have access to recreational & educational outdoor experiences and graduate environmentally literate. As a result of these efforts, in 2011 Maryland passed the first environmental literacy high school graduation requirement in the U.S.! The MDNCLI Coalition provides public outreach on the progress of state and national initiatives and opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds & professions to help connect families, youth and teachers to nature during the school day, in communities and on public lands.

Richard Louv is the internationally known author of “The Last Child in the Woods” and “The Nature Principle”.   He began is talk by talking about outdoor schools and how excited the youth are at the end of their stay.  He said we need to send these kids home with a tool kit so they can create nature centers in their back yards and share it with the youth in their communities.  These children could become the natural leaders of other children in the nature program.

 Mr. Louv spoke of self-replicating social change and spoke of ways to plant seeds for change that would not rely on massive funding for support—more of a grassroots approach.  One such approach is the Family Nature Club.  This movement was started by a family in Virginia when they began visiting parks each weekend.  It expanded to other families in the community and now the club in Virginia has more than 700 families participating.  There are over one hundred such clubs in the US.  This approach takes care of the safety and liability issues that plague other programs for youth.  By having the program family based much of the fear and liability is negated and families of all socioeconomic levels can take part.  There is a free tool kit for Family Nature Clubs available at http://www.childrenandnature.org/movement/naturalfamilies/clubs .

Another avenue for self-replicating social change is the Nature Teachers Network.  Many teachers have to fight to get their students outdoors because of school policy and funding issues.  For those teachers who find ways to get their students outdoors, the Nature Teachers Network, provides support and recognition.

Mr. Louv wrote The Last Child in the Woods for children.  But then realized that the Children and Nature movement would not thrive if adults didn’t see what was in it for them.  In addition, it was pointed out to him that adults have nature deficit disorder, too.  He wrote The Nature Principle which is geared more for adults.  He said that we won’t’ move ahead without the adults.

Any movement or culture will fail unless it can paint a picture of a world that people will want to go to.  He pointed out that most young people have a very dim view of the future.  Not unlike those views portrayed in Blade Runner, Mad Max and the Hunger Games.  However, he said it did not have to be that way.  He asked the audience to image a newer world “where children grow up with a deep understanding of the life around them, where all of us know the animals and plants of our own backyards as well as we know the televised Amazon rain forest or better.  Where the more high-tech our lives become, the more we experience nature in our lives.  Where we come to all our senses, including our sense of humility.  Where we feel more alive.”  The full version of “Imagine a Newer World” can be found in Mr. Louv’s book, The Nature Principle on the very last pages.

Mr. Louv’s message was one of hope and encouragement to get our children into nature so they can experience not only the wonder and beauty it offers but come to appreciate that it is a resource that needs to be preserved for our own well-being.

Joe Richardson is the owner of the Bar-T and Mountainside Educational and Retreat Center.  He emphasized that the children in his programs get outside every day, not matter the weather and that the most fun and learning takes place in the woods and in and around the stream.  He first heard Richard Louv speak in 2006 and realized that his ideas and goals were right in line with Mr. Louv’s.  He strives to provide outdoor programming that will allow the children to have fun and become less fearful of the outdoors.  Once the children are less fearful, hopefully they can change the minds of their parents and make them less fearful as well. 

He spoke about No Senior Left Inside and mentioned the great programs that they have at Brookside Gardens where 1200 senior volunteers mulch and tend the gardens.  He has a vision of bringing eighty-year-olds and eight-year-olds together in an outdoor setting to create a multigenerational outdoor program.  He compared the process of connecting our children to nature with a snow storm.  It starts with a few flakes and only dusts the grass at first but eventually it covers everything and creates a new landscape.  Richard Louv was the catalyst that started the first few “flakes” in connecting our children to nature.  It starts with the simple act of taking a walk and noticing the plants and animals along the way.  That can lead to questions about nature and the discovery of its wonder.  It is the same with our schools; as a few teachers discover interesting ways to bring nature into the classroom, more will follow and hopefully our children’s interest and appreciation of nature will grow.  Maryland is leading the charge in the nation.  We can show them how it works and before long there will be a blizzard of change for bringing our children the love and understand nature.

John Smucker, CFA Conservation/Education Chairman, discussed the many tree plantings and educational opportunities he has conducted over the past year.

Debbie Mills, National Park Service, spoke of the First Bloom program and Park Stewards programs that were conducted in conjunction with CFA.

The Park Stewards program brought high school students into the Catoctin Mountain Park for a day of outdoor education. Those students when back to their school and devised a curriculum to teach middle school students about the outdoors. That program was completed this spring at Camp Greentop.

The First Bloom program brought 4th graders from Robert Moton Elementary School to Catoctin Mountain Park, where they designed and planted a wild flower garden in front of the Visitor's Center. Their project was entered into a nationwide contest and the school won first prize -- $10,000. With that money, the children were taken on a trip to DC to visit more National Parks. Amanda Frushour, a teacher from Robert Moton Elementary School and one of her 4th grade students, C. Graham, further described the First Bloom project.  The student enraptured the audience with his description of the project and his enthusiasm for what he and his fellow students had learned and accomplished.

Mary Hardcastle, Environmental Education Manager Parks and People Foundation, Dr. Maria Brown, MD and Mike Dorsey, Parks and People program coordinator, spoke about the “Docs in the Park” program that offers activities in parks with some of Baltimore's best medical professionals. They offer sports demonstrations, live cooking, organized activities, free play, guided hikes and nature exploration. All activities that are part of a doctor's prescription for children and parents to get healthy together. 

Ben Thwaits, “In a New Light” Project Leader, talked about the program that originally took 26 teenage boys at Northwest Passage in Spooner, Wisconsin and embarked on "In a New Light," a six month photographic journey of discovery, hope, and healing on the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, a unit of the National Park System. When the project began, most of the boys had rarely held cameras. With photographic equipment, instruction, and countless hours immersed in the wild beauty of the Riverway, the boys created the stunning photographs showcased on their website and in a touring exhibit seen by over 20,000.   To see some of their beautiful and inspiring photography go to, http://www.inanewlight.org/ .  At the MOM IV, we were fortunate to have 12 of the photographs displayed along with the poems and prose that each boy wrote to describe his photographic experience.