Park Planning

Please join us for a Stewardship Framework Learning Circle…
The mission of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park is to interpret the history of conservation and the evolving nature of stewardship in America. When planning for the park first began in 1993, a series of workshops and meetings were held to examine contemporary themes of conservation, and explore partnerships and priorities for how the park could fulfill its stewardship mandate. Ten years later, in 2003, the park completed its first Long-Range Interpretive Plan that outlined approaches for how the park could engage its many audiences.

Today, in 2013, the field of conservation has advanced dramatically; and how we engage and share those stewardship stories through practices in interpretation, education, and visitor experiences has undergone unprecedented change.

To consider our evolving role in this new landscape of conservation and education, the park is developing the Stewardship Framework. The Framework will provide a road map, process and priorities for advancing a whole-park approach to stewardship education.

We also hope that it will offer an engaging forum to reflect, re-vision, re-connect and re-commit to our stewardship education mission-and to our many partners that inform, enliven and are co-creators in this larger work.

To launch the process, we invite you to join one or more "Learning Circles" below. These Learning Circles are designed to be explorative -to ask the big questions with a group of diverse friends, partners and interested community members. There will be four Learning Circles to start:

Stewardship Now: Conservation Ethics and Practice
Tuesday, February 26, 5:00 - 7:00PM

The Art of Engagement:Interpretation and Visitor Experience
Wednesday, February 27, 9:00 - 11:00AM

Connecting with Schools and the Next Generation:
Education and Youth Programs
Thursday, February 28, 3:30 - 5:30PM

Reaching New Audiences, Enriching Our Community:
Diversity, Relevancy, and Inclusion
Thursday, February 28, 12:00 - 2:00PM

The Learning Circles will be held at the Forest Center. Please RSVP for one or more of the learning circles, by sending an email or calling Tim Maguire at [e-mail] or 802.457.3368x18.

Each Learning Circle will start with a two-hour roundtable discussion structured around a series of "juicy questions" that can evolve as the group's interest and conversations unfold. It is envisioned that these groups may meet up to one or two more times, but they may also be on-going or spin off as other focused groups-all to be ultimately decided by the will and interest of those that select to participate.

If you can't join us, but would like to share ideas or continue to be involved, we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact any one of our Stewardship Framework core team members:

Christina Marts (Stewardship): [e-mail]

Tim Maguire and Scott Davison (Interpretation and Visitor Experiences): [e-mail], [e-mail]

Joan Haley and Kat Robbins (Education and Youth Programs):[e-mail], [e-mail]. gov

Rebecca Stanfield McCown (Diversity, Relevancy and Inclusion): Rebecca_Stanfield_McCown@nps. gov