by Richard Kool
So what's an environmental educator to do this summer? Come to the
Vancouver meeting of the North American Association for Environmental Education,
of course. And what about spending time outdoors in the parks and wilderness
areas of North America? There's nothing more rejuvenating than travelling on
foot in the wild and not so wild places of our part of the world. Too often,
however, those of us who work `on behalf' of the environment don't take enough
time to get out and into the natural world.
The net is not a substitute
for getting out, but it can be a great way to find out about places to visit.
Many agencies responsible for parks and other protected areas are now on line,
and their web sites offer wonderful opportunities to find out about the natural
features of these areas and the kinds of services, such as campgrounds,
interpretation programs and special events, that you will find there.
The
home page of Parks Canada gives a wide range of the services offered by Canadian
national parks, including information about the scientific activities carried
out in parks, park fees, and contact and campground information (in both
official languages). However, it isn't initially easy to find information about
the particular park you are interested in. To get down to the bottom of things
quickly, go to http://parkscanada.pch.gc.ca/np/np_e.htm, where you can search
for a particular national park by name or geographic region. While the site does
not cover all of the parks as extensively as it does major ones such as Banff or
Jasper National Park, most of the national parks have some Internet presence,
from Aulavik National Park to Yoho National Park (where you can find some great
stuff on the Burgess Shales, what palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould calls the
most important fossil site in the world).
The web site of the United
States National Parks Service also offers a very complete guide to national
parks, and provides information on park history, archaeology and anthropology,
as well as the more standard natural history and physical geography offerings.
All of the great parks are there, along with many lesser known ones, as well as
information on visiting the famous battlefields and historic monuments. The
National Parks Service site is a rich jumping off point for your travels in the
USA this summer.
Some provincial and state parks are also on the net, but
you might be able to find them only through a search engine. Try the Yahoo site
www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Outdoors/Parks/ as a good first cut to what's
available.
Finally, for folks with time, money, and a sense of
adventure, be sure to take a look at the wonderful listing of national parks all
over the world. Where can I get my tickets?!
If your travels, either
virtual or actual, spark an interest in teaching your students about protected
areas, check out the site www.morganmedia.com/iirp/protarea/protareaTOC.html.
There you will find most of the text of Protected Areas: Preserving Our Future,
a learning resource which examines the concept of protection: what we protect,
why we protect it, and how we protect it.
Richard Kool is the Environmental Education Coordinator for the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks in Victoria. His address is rkool@cln.etc.bc.ca