Parks Stewardship Forum

Cover, Masthead, and Table of Contents PSF Vol. 41 no. 2

In this "Letter from Woodstock," our columnist contemplates Trump's unprecedented assault on the National Park Service and the national park system, and how it will one day be overcome.

In this "Branching Out" editorial, our guest columnists advocate that the time is now for a new field of conservation chemistry, one which aims to bring the best tools of modern chemistry innovation to the frontlines of conservation. The state-of-the-art medicine with which we rid human patients of cancers with precision can teach us a complementary approach to precision invasive species management and serve as a new tool in the fight to preserve biodiversity and improve planetary health.

There is tremendous potential to facilitate learning about climate change with and within US national park sites and in other parks across the country. This special issue focuses on partner agencies and organizations that have developed innovative approaches to engaging learners to better understand natural science, climate change, and sustainability ethics. There are hundreds of examples of this work and these types of partnerships across the country, and this special issue packages a unique combination of case studies and activity guides. The case study format may be more familiar, but we’re very excited to introduce a set of activity guides that could be adapted and used in classrooms, at camps, or on field trips to virtually any public land or park.

Across the globe, our park systems, which serve as strongholds for intact ecosystems and as some of the last bastions of wilderness, are exhibiting the impacts of a changing climate. This is particularly significant because these emblematic sites serve as vital educational opportunities. While parks are uniquely positioned as prospects for promoting climate advocacy, it is important to recognize that our relationship with climate change and our connection to nature varies dramatically across different groups of people. Consequently, the effectiveness of climate-related educational efforts depends directly on strategic messaging that aligns with these distinctions. By using the Biophilia Hypothesis as a theoretical framework and employing the Biophilic Profile, an educational tool that explores our nuanced connection to nature, valuable patterns can emerge that offer insights into strategies to diversify climate messaging to better align with different people’s unique ways of knowing. This alignment can promote more effective, responsive, and meaningful climate campaigns and environmental education initiatives.

Participation in recreational activities in parks and protected areas can inspire both climate change awareness and advocacy by encouraging healthy engagement with nature. However, programming must align with the various ways we relate to nature to be effective. One strategy of alignment is to employ the Biophilic Profile tool, an education survey adapted from the Kellert-Shorb Biophilic Values Indicator (KSBVI). Emerging from the Biophilia Hypothesis, the KSBVI has been utilized by the authors to screen participants before programs to develop curricula that better cater toward participants’ preferred values. The activity guide we present here has multiple activities that can be facilitated in the field for a range of participants. Through the implementation of the Biophilic Profile tool, the authors have found a heightened awareness of nature-connectedness in participants and have been able to guide deeper conversations surrounding climate consciousness by effectively matching relevant activities that strengthen these relationships with nature.

In this case study we describe the integration of climate change education into a college-level General Education course entitled The Geology of National Parks at California State University, Fullerton. By focusing on developing student observation and interpretation skills in the examination of national park rocks and landscapes, the assignment structure guides students to understand and contrast the longevity of geological processes with that of recent, rapid, anthropogenic change. Through a series of scaffolded writing exercises, including observational analysis, creation of interpretive signage, and analysis of satellite imagery, students learn to distinguish between observations and interpretations, connect geological processes to past climate conditions, and recognize evidence of rapid, human-induced climate change. This approach fosters critical thinking and scientific literacy while engaging students with America’s national parks, including (but not limited to) Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Glacier. This case study serves as a guide for others who would like to incorporate similar assignments into their own courses and includes instructions for these activities that other instructors can use or adapt for their own context.

Many of America’s cherished national parks are seeing a domino effect of ecological change triggered by climatic shifts. Long-term monitoring offers an opportunity to document baseline conditions, detect change, and make informed decisions about how to address our uncertain future. Given the National Park Service’s commitment to embedding science-informed practices into all aspects of the agency’s work, we recently established a multi-entity partnership to improve direct experiences with water science in park-based youth programs that conduct monitoring, for the sake of both youth science literacy and long-term monitoring. Here, Grand Teton National Park, Teton Science Schools, and the University of Wyoming Science & Mathematics Teaching Center share an approach and lessons learned from an ongoing project to foster engagement of 5th-graders via water quality monitoring opportunities along the Snake River. We forged a partnership that evolved, much like the ebb and flow of the braided channel of the Snake. Insights include some of the challenges in identifying meaningful project elements and creating age-appropriate scientific monitoring protocols that meet converging goals and values.

Parks programs serve as dynamic living classrooms, offering children and youth the chance to engage with climate change education in ways that are both immersive and impactful. Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department exemplifies this approach, leveraging South Florida’s natural landscapes to explore the phenomenon and effects of climate change. The Department’s programs enable young participants to observe first-hand the impacts of rising sea levels and extreme weather events on their communities, fostering an understanding of the urgent need for climate action. Through place-based learning opportunities, both in parks and within classroom settings, Miami-Dade County Parks combines experiential activities with curricula developed in partnership with educators and interdisciplinary teams.

Youth climate change programming in parks and natural spaces offers a compelling, solutions-focused approach to addressing local impacts and should be championed by park and open space managers, educators, and community partners. By combining climate change education with hands-on experiences in nature, the San Mateo County Youth Exploring Climate Science (YECS) program exemplifies how parks and open spaces can inspire and empower the next generation to confront local climate challenges.

An excerpt from the book Nature on the Edge: Lessons for the Biosphere from the California Coast.

An excerpt from the book "National Parks, Native Sovereignty: Experiments in Collaboration."

An excerpt from the book "Framing Nature: The Creation of an American Icon at the Grand Canyon."

Many peer-reviewed research publications have concluded that “experience of nature” is beneficial for mental health and well-being, but virtually all of them offer only fuzzy definitions of “nature,” or none at all, and the “nature” to which subjects are exposed is itself fuzzy. This commentary argues that accounting for the two kinds of fuzziness are the underappreciated roles of artifacts and natural kinds (as understood by cognitive psychologists and philosophers of science) in both researcher and subject thinking which involves quasi-natural places and scenes. Artifacts, if discerned, adulterate what might otherwise be considered “nature.” They arouse thinking about the intentions behind them and in doing so they may trigger rumination. Rumination is associated with depression and other undesirable mental states, now rampant in urban populations. Instances of natural kinds, by definition and in contrast, generally do not express human intentions, so attending to them entails less rumination. The commentary suggests several potential explanations for why exposure to fuzzy “nature” may be healthful despite the fact that a “green” landscape or scene abounds in artifacts. It ends with some implications for research and park practice.

The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, a vast 1.3-million-acre expanse in western Montana and eastern Idaho, is a landscape deeply intertwined with fire. Today, this rugged wilderness area has one of the most active fire regimes in the contiguous US, and continues to be a “natural laboratory” for us to understand how fire interacts with forests, especially in a time of changing climate. I have spent two summers in the heart of the Selway-Bitterroot as part of research teams from the University of Montana, gathering data from and creating images of this unique area. These images reveal a landscape where fire is an agent of destruction but also one of stability and rejuvenation—a balancing force that creates space for new growth and adaptation.

A poem in the "Verse in Place" section of Parks Stewardship Forum.