The Roving Ranger is a mobile trailhead designed to serve as a visitor contact and information center within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Chesapeake Conservancy and National Park Service employees staff the vehicle to provide information about park sites, topics of interest, and park events. Staff also offer unique educational programs developed specifically for the Roving Ranger. Visitors to the Roving Ranger can collect a National Park passport stamp, pick up special junior ranger program books related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and participate in an interpretive program.

Maryland’s Big Tree Champions is one of the many innovative ideas by Maryland’s first state forester, Fred W. Besley, whose dedication and vision laid the groundwork for the system of state forests and parks that currently exist in the state. He developed a successful educational campaign about the need for fire suppression and scientific forest management. This unit challenges students to move beyond the foundations of language to a mature application of facets of communication. The Big Tree Curriculum and documentary on Mr. Besley’s Forest are embedded and take a deeper look into forest conservation.

The Chesapeake Bay Environmental (CBEC) in Grasonville, MD is a 501©3 non-profit organization whose mission focuses on education, research, conservation, and habitat restoration. CBEC is offering a variety of outdoor educational programs this August from guided hikes and kayak tours to flat water safety courses, and much more!

Beginning this September, Pickering Creek Audubon Center in Easton, MD will offer a monthly in depth exploration of nature through its newly launched Exploring the Seasons-A Year in Nature.

The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), with major funding support from Toyota, is offering $100,000 in mini-grants to support restoration and/or resilience-focused volunteer events on public lands. Awarded grantees will be expected to lead service events that either restore public lands and/or make those lands more resilient to future natural disasters. Grant-funded activities will mobilize community volunteers and educate participants about their role in protecting the long-term sustainability of their local public lands.

The Bay Backpack e-Newsletter is a great opportunity to see what events, professional development opportunities, and funding sources are available to environmental educators around the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. New this time around is a section titled “Schools in the News” where we have shared the recently announced Green Ribbon School winners! Subscribe to the e-Newsletter by visiting baybackpack.com and navigating to the bottom of the homepage.

Whether you’re enticed by the strong community feel, the chance to get out in the great outdoors or simply want something fun to do with the family on a Sunday afternoon, The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Geocaching has all you need to know about one of our favorite activities. Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which players use GPS technology to search for geocaches which contain small knick-knacks and often log books so that Geocachers can see who else is finding the hidden treasures!

Project Learning Tree’s Teaching with i-Tree Unit includes three hands-on activities that help middle and high school students discover and analyze the many ecosystem services that trees provide. The activities can be used in formal classroom settings or with non-formal groups, such as scouts, students enrolled in after-school programs, and visitors to nature centers and parks. In addition, students can share what they’ve learned with family members to assess the trees around their home.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina AmeriCorps program seeks to reconnect people with the outdoors and to develop future leaders in conservation. CTNC AmeriCorps members will develop service projects that help remove barriers to environmental education throughout North Carolina, as well as help expand the diversity of backgrounds among conservation leaders in the state.

National Environmental Education Week will be held April 23rd-29th and is the nation’s largest annual celebration of environmental education. The event brings together educators, students, government agencies, businesses, communities, nonprofit organizations, and others to inspire environmental learning and encourage stewardship of our essential resources: land, air, and water.