Issue 1: How to get locals to your site
Situation: They see high local winter visitation and full parking lot BUT visitor center is closed in winter (seasonal), summer audience is highly non local.
Issue 2: How to increase participation by young adults and high school youth
Colorado State Parks have been getting younger people (under 25) at women's day hikes
Stations set up on the patio of the nature center have increased time spent by younger adults.
Issue 3: How to increase participation by high school youth
Issue 4: How to create an inclusive new organization structure
Issue 5: Exhibit Discussion:
Fitting into Space:
Taxidermy:
Ways to ID taxidermy around room:
QR Codes:
Digital Displays
Nest cam or animal cams could be an exhibit
Timeless Exhibits
Situation: They see high local winter visitation and full parking lot BUT visitor center is closed in winter (seasonal), summer audience is highly non local.
- Group mentioned to open a kiosk with rentals, amenities
- Use social media
- Use local media to bring about awareness
- Have a community “open house”
- Start an adult lecture series
- Have a local “retreat”
- Have some pop up interpretation in the winter to learn more about the audience to perhaps find solutions/opportunities.
- Engage volunteer/friends groups to create awareness
- Get local schools there while still in season, if it coincides.
Issue 2: How to increase participation by young adults and high school youth
- Trends seen in programs that result in younger adult participation:
Colorado State Parks have been getting younger people (under 25) at women's day hikes
Stations set up on the patio of the nature center have increased time spent by younger adults.
Issue 3: How to increase participation by high school youth
- Work hard to develop a relationship with the high school science teachers
- Have a place for youth helpers at camp and use former campers as the youth helpers. Consider having a camp specifically for HS youth to help explore careers in the outdoors. Include lot of mentoring.
- Pay youth to come work for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation . Focus on urban youth and taking them into rural settings. (Done in Pennsylvania: Pennsylvannia Outdoor Corps https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/about/Pages/Ensure-the-Future.aspx)
- Do more citizen science with high school youth. Consider backpacking, shocking for stream life, or invasive species focus.
- ECO-Meet is a competition for HS age youth that focuses on the flora and fauna of Kansas. Teams of 3-4 students compete in four events (scavenger hunt, interpretive event, habitat focus test, and animal group focus test) and receive scholarship money. There are 10 regionals held in Kansas and a state competition. The focus tests are similar to a college lab test with questions pertaining to specimens laid out on a table. http://kansasecomeet.org
- Pay Spanish-speaking students to come do interpretation in state parks. "Color of Nature" program. This initiative employs a team of students from the Lehigh Valley’s diverse, urban communities to be environmental leaders within and beyond their communities. This initiative was established for the sole purpose of making the conservation field more inclusive.
- Create internships: NPS Academy https://www.thesca.org/npsa. Interns attend a week-long orientation over spring break and serve in 12-week summer internships tailored to various NPS career tracks.
Issue 4: How to create an inclusive new organization structure
- Ofbyforall.org Leading change is hard. Doing it on your own without a roadmap is even harder. That’s why we built the OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network: an intentional framework for partnering with diverse communities in new ways.
- Seattle Aquarium Empathy Project https://www.seattleaquarium.org/fostering-empathy-wildlife
- Before Basecamp: Projects feel scattered, things slip, it’s tough to see where things stand, and people are stressed. After Basecamp: Everything’s organized in one place, you’re on top of things, progress is clear, and a sense of calm sets in. There is a cost involved. Basecamp.com
- Diversifyoutdoors.com, promoting diversity in outdoor recreation and conservation
Issue 5: Exhibit Discussion:
Fitting into Space:
- Quantity doesn’t always mean impactful
- Smaller allows more focus on theme
- Know your audience so you can create the proper displays
- Good Titles will grab them and pull the audience in
- Too many words will push them away, meaning less is more!
Taxidermy:
- Mounts are great education tools but can also limit your displays.
- Taxidermy made prior to the 1980s most likely contains arsenic and should be in a location where the public can touch or in a location close to air vents.
- Explain to upper management it is a “liability” or risk to keep mounts if they cannot be placed out of reach.
Ways to ID taxidermy around room:
- Chart on Wall to ID with info next to it.
- Small booklet that has mount picture and description
QR Codes:
- Making a comeback possibly as Androids and IPhones both can read codes in newer versions of phones.
- Apps are not always required.
Digital Displays
- Wildflowers of the month
- Pictures of park
- Short videos
- Projection units are much cheaper now.
- Movement catches the eye. Some places change colors of backgrounds just to draw guests in.
Nest cam or animal cams could be an exhibit
- 9v battery – solar panel
- Signs on trail cam “ please help us save the animals, do not move the camera”
- Trail Cam are on WIFI, so you can see who took it.
Timeless Exhibits
- Habitat display with lots of new things to find
- Live animals
- Designate temporary display place
- Touch tables