Engaging Youth in Conservation
Commission Activities
Creating Meaningful and Lasting Connections
Evy Nathan -Kingston Conservation Commission & Sarah Sallade -Sanborn Regional High School
Outline
● Discussion: How do you currently engage the youth your community in
conservation work?
● Seven keys to success to engaging youth in your community...
o A few examples of youth engagement with the Kingston
Conservation Commission that explain the keys
o Follow a specific large-scale project from start to finish
How do we engage the youth in our
communities in conservation work?
Seven keys to success…
A few examples
Seven Keys to Success
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Be open minded and flexible
Create excitement
Establish mutual benefits
Gather supplies
Recruit volunteers
Get the word out
Reflect and celebrate
1. Be Open Minded and Flexible: Projects can be
simple or complex, involve 1 person or a 100+.
Kingston Girl Scout Troop places plant
identification signs and bird houses at
South Kingston Town Forest
Kingston Girl Scout Troop plants habitat
trees for Arbor Day
Girl Scout and Boy Scout Troops
Eagle Scout Kyle Gelina cleans up trails and
creates trail map for Old Frye Farm Town Forest
Gold Award & Eagle Award Projects
Sanborn Regional High School Student Amanda Moulasion joins
KCC and Completes Invasive Species Project
Extended Learning Opportunities for High School Students
Sanborn Students Plant Wildflower Garden at South Kingston
Town Forest
Before…
After.
During…
Connecting with Individual Teachers and Classrooms
Rescuing Frye Forest from Alien Invasion
● A collaboration between KCC,
and Sanborn Regional High
School
● 180 Sophomores from
Sanborn Regional High School
learn about invasive species,
discover the impact humans
have on local forests, develop
informative presentations for
the community and then
implement a solution
Working with a whole grade or school
2. Create Excitement: Engagement opportunities should
provide something to look forward to.
Arbor Day Events
Wild Kingston Photo Contest for adults
and kids. Photos judged and prizes
awarded at Kingston Days.
Hosting annual events
Sophomores divide into teams, collect samples and make
measurements of water and soil to be analyzed in the classroom
Going Outside as part of the Learning Experience
Amanda introduces the Frye Forest
invasive species project to invited
community members
Students create educational flyers about
water quality to be posted on the Kingston
Conservation Commission website
Sharing Research with the Community
3. Establish Mutual Benefits: The process and the final
outcome have to benefit all involved parties in
meaningful ways
Boy Scouts
Senior Day of Caring
Community Service Hours
County Forester: Fred
Borman
Conservation Commission
Chair: Evy Nathan
Connecting Youth to their Environment and Community
Students explore pond ecology close up
Connections to Lessons Learned in the Classroom
Students working hard and making a positive impact: Frye
Forest & Pow Wow Pond
Creating a Culture of Stewardship in the Community Through A Ripple Effect
Kingston Rec Summer Camp Marker Buoys for Powwow
Pond Milfoil
Raising Youth Awareness About Environment and Conservation Issues
Sophomores remove hundreds of invasive plants from Frye
Town Forest
Increasing “boots on the ground” to Accomplish Large Projects
4. Gather Supplies: Donations, grants, and more.
● Plants can be picked
up from the state
nursery
● Fill and compost
delivered by the local
road agent
● UNH cooperative
extension, NH Fish &
Game, the
Stewardship Network,
and volunteers can be
a good resource for
tools
5. Recruit Volunteers: having enough relevant
volunteers will make your project a success
● Everyone involved works to find willing and relevant adult
volunteers to assist students
o Volunteers should:
 feel comfortable working with youth
 be willing to take direction from teachers/leaders
and students/youth
 be able to provide some direction to
teachers/leaders and students/youth
 if possible, have some experience with the topic
o Volunteers can be from a variety of locations:
 garden clubs, UNH cooperative extension,
conservation commissions, recreation
departments, college students in applicable
majors, land or water protection groups, etc.
6. Get the Word Out: use the press & social media
● Send press releases
throughout the project
● Use social media to share
progress regularly
● Involve school
administrations or
organization leaders
● Engage local journalists in
your story
7. Reflect and Celebrate
● Celebrate!
● Reflect
●Allow youth time to step back and
review their work
●Follow up discussions between group
leaders and conservation members
Seven keys to success…
Following a project from start to finish:
2014 Field Ecosystems Project
Seven Keys to Success
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Be open minded and flexible
Create excitement
Establish mutual benefits
Gather supplies
Recruit volunteers
Get the word out
Reflect and celebrate
1. Be Open Minded and Flexible: Projects can be
simple or complex, involve 1 person or a 100+.
● The 2014 collaborative
project between KCC &
SRHS focused on field
ecosystems and the
importance of pollinators
in our community
● 180 sophomores
participated in the
development and
implementation of field
management plans over a
6 week period
2. Create Excitement: Engagement opportunities should
provide something to look forward to.
● Students brainstorm about local NH ecosystems and we
discuss the importance of fields/grasslands as part of the
“mosaic”
● Teachers pose the Unit Question: “How are our ecosystems
changing, why do we care, and what can we do about it?”
● Students read articles and hear a lecture about the
problems that these environments face - teachers reveal
that we will be working on local solutions to them
● Students are separated by Biology teacher into 3 separate
groups of 60 that would focus their attention to specific
chosen locales in the community
Figure from NH Wildlife Action Plan
2. Create Excitement: Continued…
● Preliminary ecosystem visit to survey the
presence of plants and animals
● Bring experts to the field sites to assist in the
survey
● Bring experts to the classroom to provide
specific information about habitat needs of
species found
● Allow students to research ideas in small
groups in order to develop a full class
management plan that will be implemented
3. Establish Mutual Benefits: The process and the final
outcome have to benefit all involved parties in
meaningful ways
● Kingston and Newton have few field
ecosystems, and even fewer with
management plans
● Highlighted the importance of including
these ecosystems within the town’s master
plan
● Through field work, students were able to
express the interdependence of species to
maintain balanced ecosystems
● Students had opportunities for interaction
with experts in a variety of related fields
Figure by: www.studyblue.com
4. Gather Supplies: Donations, grants, and more.
● ConCom worked with towns and private
landowners to identify properties suitable for
the project
● Worked with town budget committee to fund
education projects
● Found resources within the given budget
●
●
Native plants from multiple locations
Enough tools for 3 sites, 180 students &
volunteers
● Other nuts and bolts
5. Recruit Volunteers: having enough relevant
volunteers will make your project a success
● Conservation members and
teachers network
● Volunteers came: UNH
Cooperative Extension, ConCom
and town committee members,
UNH Bee Lab grad students,
Kingston gardeners, Project
Learning Tree, Rachel Carson
Wildlife Refuge, Stewardship
Network, Sanborn upper
classmen
● Volunteers fulfilled roles
throughout the duration of the
project
6. Get the Word Out: use the press & social media
● Honors students wrote and submitted
press releases
● ConCom and Sanborn used Facebook
to inform the community of project
progress
● Eagle Tribune reporter wrote a
synthesis story of the ongoing
collaboration
● UNH Cooperative Extension
highlighted the project in their June
newsletter
Implementation DAY! – Busch Farm
Implementation DAY!
White Cedar Farm
Implementation DAY!
Kingston Fairgrounds
Implementation DAY!
Sanborn Regional High School
● Students who stayed
at the school worked
with Tufts PhD
student Kelsey
Graham on creating
informational fliers
about pollinators for
our community
7. Reflect and Celebrate
● Students returned to
the school for a
school sponsored
BBQ
● The following day
students completed a
written reflection
about their work and
were given the
opportunity to share
some ideas
After ---Questions?