Presentation Outline for NAI Regional Conference in February 2018 - - PDF document

Presentation Outline for NAI Regional Conference in February 2018 Presenters:

1) Joel Janssen, Interpretive Park Ranger, Lake Livingston State Park, TPWD 2) Ted Pick, Jr, Interpretive Park Ranger, Huntsville State Park, TPWD

Presentation length:​ ​1 hour Audience:​ ​Professionals, Peers, Park Interpreters and Park Managers. Should be familiar with

standard interpretive field jargon and language. College level education.

Outline:

• 1. Introduction:

a. Length: 5 mins b. Summary of section: Introduce agency, introduce self. c. Good morning. My name is Joel Janssen and this is my peer Ted Pick. We work as interpreters for Texas Parks and Wildlife and are here to share what we think is a great way to foster the next generation of stewards for our parks, our Park Ambassador

• Program. Before we get started we will each take just a moment to tell you a little

about ourselves. i. Joel does background: university degree, experience in state parks, experience as interpreter, how I got junior ranger badge at 8. (60 seconds) d. Ted does background. (30-60 seconds)

• 2. Summary of ambassador program

a. Length: 5 minutes.

• b. Summary of section: What is the ambassador program and why do we do it?

i. TED: ​What is it? ​The Texas State Parks Ambassador Program connects conservation-minded young adults with recreation and volunteer

• pportunities to foster a new generation of state park stewards. It

started as a diversity and inclusion program in 2013. Three times a year TPWD trains regional groups of about 15+ new ambassadors ages 18-30 who love the outdoors and are excited about conservation work. These ambassadors go through a adventure based leadership training program and are then partnered with a State Park and complete three projects: a social media project, an outreach project, and a hands-on service project.

ii. JOEL: ​Why do we do it?​ ​In April 2017, Nature of Americans performed a study

• f nearly 12,000 American adults, children, and parents.

iii.

Findings: connection to nature is not a dispensable amenity but, rather, is essential to the quality of life, health, social well-being, prosperity, and productivity of all Americans. Put a different way, the conservation of species, the protection and restoration of habitats, and the provision of healthy streams and clean air are closely linked to human flourishing. A thriving natural environment helps Americans live happier, healthier

• lives. It helps children develop socially, psychologically, and physically. It

creates places where Americans want to live, work, and flourish. Connecting Americans and nature must be a vibrant, ongoing effort supported by all members of the public. We must act now to ensure that present and future generations are connected with nature. iv.

What are the goals of the program? 1. TED:​ ​Connect the next generation to the outdoors and to our public lands. a. That study joel mentioned, along with many others, proves we need to connect with nature. Recruiting millennials and other young college aged people is one way to shape our society into

• ne that has a connection with the natural world and to instill a

sense of responsibility for our public lands. It is a way to create stewards for our parks that will help promote parks and this new way of life to their peers. 2. Promote the outdoors not just as an experience, but as a place for involvement and care. 3. Create a group of young stewards for our parks that can promote them

• n social media, on university campuses, and through outdoor groups.

a. We have seen the average age of visitors to our parks increase to the mid forties. We need to engage children, teens and young adults like millennials. The ambassador program is a unique way to do that.

• 4. JOEL:​ ​Why do we focus on millennials and younger people

specifically?

• a. We need to increase diversity among the visitors to our

parks: ​ Millennials are the most ​ethnically and racially diverse cohort ​of youth in the nation’s history. (Among those ages 13 to 29: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are black; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other; and 59.8%, a record low, are white.)

• b. We need to use platforms like social media if we want to

attract younger people to our parks:​ Millennials are the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but ​as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.​ ​ Unlike older visitors who are seeking solitude and peace in the outdoors, this younger age group seeks a social experience in the outdoors. This can also help with the comfort level in the outdoors.

• c. We need advocates to help protect our lands and

ecosystems: ​ Millennials are starting out as the ​most politically progressive ​age group in modern history. (In the 2008 election, we saw the largest gap ever seen in a

presidential election between the votes of those under and over age 30). Also, school violence.

• 3. Process and details of program
• a. Length: 20-30 minutes
• b. Summary of section: Detail program itself and how it works

i. TED: ​How ambassadors are recruited:

• 1. Ambassadors are recruited regionally through university clubs,

social media, on location at parks, and at outreach events. Ambassador alumni also recruit new ambassadors through grassroots efforts, which has quickly become the largest source for new ambassadors. We have three ambassador groups per year and recruit regionally, focusing on one area of Texas at a time. ii. How ambassadors apply:​ Ambassadors fill out an online application which includes volunteer experience, what attracted them to the program, why they are excited about the program, what ideas they have for projects, and what parks they want to partner with. We have some printed copies of the application for those who are interested, but to save trees we only brought a few copies. If you would like a digital copy email us. iii. How ambassadors are selected.​ After the applications are turned in, top 20-25 potential candidates are chosen and a survey is sent out to area parks identifying needs for ambassador projects. Ambassadors are matched to a park based on skills and stated goals. The park point-of-contact is sent the top 2-3 applications that would be a good match for their park and helps select ambassadors. Finally, a 15-30 minute phone interview is conducted by the Ambassador Coordinator and ambassadors are assigned to a park within an hour drive.

• 1. Ted​ ​gives example
• 2. Joel:​ Lisa in Galveston wants to develop TEKS based field trips and

is looking for candidates with Texas teaching experience. She was given 3 candidates and chose two teachers for her park. iv. JOEL: ​Orientation/Training.

• 1. Next, ambassadors attend Ambassador Leadership Training

Adventure (ALTA), which is a 5 day, 6 night adventure based leadership training program. This training is done at one or more state parks and is a combination of leadership skills training, natural and cultural resource training, and adventure based experiences like backpacking or climbing. Many of the ambassadors will become certified angler ed specialists, archery instructors, junior ranger instructors, etc. They also complete a service project on-site at the training location.

• 2. (Jenise Zuidema) Excerpted audio file from Park Leaders Podcast.
• 3. TED​: ​Ted jumps in to ask for ways they can do a shorter training

at their location.

v. What kind of projects do they complete at the park?

• 1. After ALTA, ambassadors begin their work at their partner park.

They complete three projects which take about 30-40 hours and complete those projects over a 3-4 month period.

• a. Social media.​ Examples include shooting a promotional

video of a park, building out an Instagram account for the park, creating posts for Facebook, etc. We will give specific examples of projects in the next portion of our presentation.

• b. Hands on project.​ Examples include trail work,

identification and removal of invasive species, etc.

• c. Outreach.​ Examples include working a special event or

visiting a school or library to give a program. vi. TED: ​Who supervises ambassadors at park level?

• 1. An ambassador point of contact is chosen at each park. This is

typically the volunteer coordinator, interpreter, or another staff

• member. In the beginning ambassadors worked closely with park
• staff. Lately, we have had more success in having the

ambassadors choose projects that are mostly hands-off for staff members. vii. TED: ​What happens after work is completed at park.

• 1. How do they continue to shape park?
• a. Wrap up email sent to park POC and ambassador.
• b. Alumni Summit: once per year, past three groups of

alumni get together for a statewide meeting to debrief in person, network with each other, grow the community, what they learned through the program, give them

• pportunities for what’s next.

viii. JOEL: ​What are the next steps for an ambassador?

• 1. Many of them go on to pursue a career in conservation. Some of

them pursue internships with TPWD while others have started working for TPWD. There are two success stories I want to share.

• a. Jose, an ambassador who is a cancer survivor organized a

cancer survivor hike. He is now pursuing a career as a park police officer.

• b. Ambassador Kristen organized a kidfish day for a group of

kids from a childrens home. She was able to get Cabelas to give every kid a fishing kit. She is now attending our Game Warden academy!

• 4. Tales from the Park Side​.​ Length: 5 minutes

a.

JOEL: ​Summary of section: discuss what it is like to have an ambassador from the park’s perspective. i. Tell the story from vol coord./interpreter side. ii. How much work is put in to direct/supervise ambassadors. iii. What you can expect from ambassadors.

iv. Successes.

• 1. Metrics: In the past year, we trained 78 Ambassadors who

partnered with 55 parks, sites and programs across the state, touching the majority of Texas State Parks through hands-on service, social media and digital content deliverables, and community outreach.

• 2. Our most recent team of 28 partnered with 18 parks to

accomplish the following:

• a. 1000+ volunteer hours logged
• b. 64,000+ social media impressions for those parks

c. 3400+ outreach contacts made

• d. Almost 300 hands-on service hours generated.
• 3. Examples:
• a. Outreach​: Kelsey and Emily, Texas A&M Commerce
• students. These students led an outing of 18 international

students on their first camping trip! Activities included archery, dutch oven cooking, s’mores, and more. Some of these international students went on to lead their own camping trips.

• b. Service project:​ During the memorial day floods of 2015,

Ambassador Mitch led a group of 25 students on a flood relief project clearing debris, removing invasives, etc for 3

• hours. Afterwards a local business owner took them on

tour of his brewery as a reward.

• c. Social media:​ Ambassador couple partnered with

Colorado Bend SP to produce 3 short high quality promotional videos for social media. Video topics: wildlife, nat resources, recreation. Many other ambassadors have created the first Instagram account for a park and even trained park staff how to use social media. v. What we have learned so far?​ (the not so goods, or failures). Provide verbal examples of not so great projects/failures.

• 1. Joel:​ ​The Good: ​Catherine Pflughaupt, my ambassador last year

completed all 3 of her projects without much help or supervision from me. She participated in “Come Clean Lake Livingston” a huge outreach event in our area where local students, scout groups, religious organizations, TMN, and many others go out on the lake shoreline to clean up litter. Catharine set up a booth and helped create new stewards through live animal and skull/hide

• demonstrations. She also took over our statewide snapchat

account for a live snapchat day. She then helped me identify and remove invasive species along the roadways in the park.

• 2. Joel: ​ The Bad: ​ A student was chosen from a bit further away two

years ago. She was asked to start by coming out to the park to do an “instagram” day where she and her fellow university students

would take and post photos throughout our park for promotion. She came out once, brought a lot of friends, took a few photos, and then never posted the photos and never sent them to me for

• posting. We never heard from her after that.
• 3. Ted: ​ ​The Good:
• 4. Ted:​ ​The Bad:
• 5. Questions from audience
• a. JOEL: ​Take questions from audience. I will also write down several questions

from the podcast that were excellent and have them ready in case audience fails to participate and so we know what to expect.

• 6. Conclusion
• a. Thank them for coming to the presentation. Contact info up on screen.

i. Ask them to sign up on email list to participate in a poll 6 months later to see if they have implemented similar program or if they have used some

• f our ideas in a different program.