Professional development program for teachers available in Big Thicket National Preserve

Date: April 22, 2015
Contact: Mary Kay Manning, 409-951-6720

Big Thicket National Preserve will host a Teacher-Ranger-Teacher (TRT) this summer. TRT is a professional development opportunity for local K-12 teachers who wish to spend the summer learning about preserve resources and presenting youth programs. The TRT will complete three credit hours of online graduate work though the University of Colorado – Denver and complete a project that contributes to the national preserve. This program lasts eight weeks and requires approximately 240 hours of work. Teachers receive a $3,000 stipend after the completion of the program and the graduate course work.

“We are looking forward to working with a professional educator from our local Big Thicket community,” said Superintendent Wayne Prokopetz. “This is a great opportunity to share the preserve’s resources with a teacher who can then pass this knowledge along to their students and peers. We hope this will lead to more interaction between the preserve staff and our local school districts.”

For more information about applying to be the Big Thicket National Preserve Teacher-Ranger-Teacher position, visit our website at www.nps.gov/bith/learn/education, or call Ranger Manning at 409-951-6720. All applications for this summer’s position must be submitted by Tuesday, May 5th. To learn more about the national TRT program, visit http://teacherrangerteacher.org.

Big Thicket National Preserve is in southeast Texas just north of Beaumont and 75 miles northeast of Houston. The preserve consists of nine land units and six water corridors encompassing more than 112,000 acres scattered across a 3,500-square-mile area. The Big Thicket, often referred to as a “biological crossroads,” is a transition zone between four distinct vegetation types – the moist eastern hardwood forest, the southwestern desert, the southeastern swamp, and the central prairies. Species from all of these different vegetation types come together in the thicket, exhibiting a variety of vegetation and wildlife that has received national interest.

For general information about Big Thicket National Preserve, visit www.nps.gov/bith or call the preserve visitor center at 409-951-6700.

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