***+Children's+Forest

The [|Rensselaer Plateau Alliance (RPA),] in partnership with other organizations in the region, wants to cultivate the idea of the Rensselaer Plateau as a "Children's Forest" that is safeguarded and stewarded across generations in Rensselaer County, with children taking a leadership role. They have asked EcoEd for help conceptualizing this.

Here are useful, short descriptions of initiatives funded by the Forest Service's Children's Forests and More Kids in the Woods programs.

Here's the Children and Nature Network.

Perhaps connect to our Airful! program through acid rain and mercury deposition. Dyken Pond (on the Rensselear Plateau) has restrictions on bass consumption because of mercury.

One specific design challenge is in building an exhibit that draws people into the idea of a children's forest that could be installed at schools, libraries, museums like the (Rensselaer) [|Children's Museum of Science and Technology], our Earth Week festival, etc. It needs to be low-cost and portable, and adaptable to varied spaces (some quite limited).

I'm building the EcoEd report for the RPA here.

Curriculum Found here: []

 The program I will be reviewing is the Mountain School program to provide watershed-based conservation education put on by the **North Cascades Institute. ** [] and []