Environmental Education and Natural History

ADK promotes responsible recreational use and stewardship in areas vital to its chapters and members by enhancing its education programs, professional trail programs, and volunteer trail programs at both the Chapter and Club-wide levels.

We recognize that the wilderness experience transforms both body and spirit. Yet the wilderness is fragile and requires our protection. Our education program seeks to develop an understanding of wild areas and ecosystems and to promote responsible recreational use. This concept permeates our programs through our outings, education, trails, and facilities. Our goal is to achieve a membership and public that is both an advocate for wilderness and that is educated to use it appropriately. Our public programs reached over 3500 participants in 2005.

ADK provides environmental education to groups such as Elderhostel, Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club, colleges, scouts, outings clubs, and ADK chapters. We offer a different mix of workshops depending on the needs of each group.

The Marie L. Haberl School Outreach Program has had great success with 160 students and 18 teachers from numerous schools from throughout the north country visiting Heart Lake three times each year in a program designed to work in parallel with the approved NY State Education Department's mandated curriculum. Working with fourth grade classes throughout the year, students explored on foot and snowshoe while on field trips to the Heart Lake Program Center. This in-depth exploration of ecosystems and human interaction with nature in the park gives these students a new perspective on the special place in which they live. This makes ADK's Education program unique in that it is something that the students are involved in all through the school year and not just a one-stop field trip. By connecting these children with the incredible resources right in their own backyards, we are developing the next generation of ADK members and future environmental advocates.

As in past years, in the summer of 2005 ADK hosted four Summer Naturalist Interns. All four summer interns completed the Certified Interpretive Guide Training held at the VIC at Paul Smith's. Their charge was to develop and facilitate Heart Lake Program Center on-property education and natural history programs. Among the responsibilities taken on were to design and implement natural history interpretive exhibits, walks, and activities for the Nature Museum, act as Mt. Jo Summit Steward enabling one-on-one interaction with guests on Mt. Jo promoting responsible recreation, and provide educational information in the HPIC. Interns also coordinated “Heart Lake Happenings” including the Wednesday Evening Campfire program, which was very successful with average attendance of around 55 people. Other programs included daily guided hikes up Mt. Jo, daily nature walks, crafts and story telling at the Nature Museum, and Friday night moonlight hikes. During the summer of 2005 they reached over 8000 visitors to the Heart Lake Program Center with information on "Leave No Trace” wilderness ethics, natural history, backcountry safety, and park regulations. This program has been supported by a generous donation from the Lillian M. Slater Charitable Trust.

Other Education Programs in 2005 include:

  • The “Never Ever” Snowshoe Program which promotes responsible recreation and healthy, active lifestyles by offering children and families an opportunity to try snowshoeing for the first time. A “Never Ever” clinic is a snowshoe festival offering instruction, equipment, and fun activities, helping participants learn to enjoy outdoor exercise in the winter. ADK offered seven snowshoe clinics in communities throughout the Adirondack region, reaching 479 participants.
  • A new educational initiative this summer was the Community Hike Series. Community Hikes are designed to introduce participants to outdoor recreation right in their backyard by promoting accessible hiking.
  • ADK reached over 2500 people with fifty-five lectures with the ADK Lecture Series.
  • ADK explored the Racquette river with 45 children from the
    Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club.
  • ADK served over 700 people, teaching such skills as climbing trail-less peaks, canoe camping, wilderness first aid, snowshoeing, backcountry navigation, and natural history with eighty education workshops.

ADK worked in partnership with a variety of organizations, including the Adirondack Park Visitor Interpretive Centers, Wildlife Conservation Society, SUNY ESF, and the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, to broaden our reach and strengthen collaborative programming such as teacher workshops, snowshoe days, and the Orra Phelps Museum Theatre program.

One Intern's Experience

"So you want my thoughts on this summer? Well, that’s simple — it was
amazing. I’ve been considering community education as a field for sometime now, but I had never really gotten any real-life experience doing it. The ADK was the perfect place for me to go and try my hand at all the different facets of interpretive education — from exhibit design to creating programs to running my own programs to relating with a wide array of people — I did it all this summer. And what a better place to learn it than in the heart of the Adirondacks? I just had an amazing time sleeping in a tent, climbing Mount Jo, and swimming in Heart Lake, as well as hanging out with the other interns. I miss it so much now that I’m at school! I really feel like I gained so much confidence this summer and like I am totally ready to get out in the field when I graduate this year. I don’t think I’ve stopped talking about the ADK since I left, and I can’t wait to come back.”
— Anne Danko, 2005

Jen Kretser has been ADK's Director of Education since 2001. Her prior experience includes the Zoo New England in Boston, where she served as education program manager. Earlier in her career, Jen worked as a naturalist at the Adirondack Park Interpretive Center in Paul Smiths, the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Minnesota, and the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies in Colorado. Jen holds a graduate degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch New England and an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Ecology from Cornell University. The breadth of her experience is matched by her enthusiasm for environmental education and the Adirondacks in particular. She has been instrumental in helping to shape the culture of ADK's Heart Lake facilities and in the launch of the program center concept. In addition, Jen has been the driving force behind ADK's Community Outreach, School Outreach, and Summer Naturalist Intern Programs. Jen also is valued as a resource for information and as a role model for others seeking to advance the mission of ADK.

These are among ADK's public service programs that members are also encouraged to support with their membership dollars and individual donations.