…and Out of the Classroom
The Kids in the Forest Project provides teacher training and forest field experiences for 3rd-8th grade students in North Central Washington. This program focuses on forest health and wildfire ecology in an effort to help teachers and students understand the transitional nature of Washington’s eastern forests and shrub-steppe ecosystems. The main goal of Kids in the Forest is for students and teachers to see what healthy and unhealthy forests look like, and how wildfire, climate, and forest management play important roles in maintaining healthy forests.
By taking classrooms out on a hike in the mountains, through the gorgeous grand fir and Ponderosa pine stands on the hills around us, we offer a fully immersive experience with nature. In order to care for something, in order to better understand it, we need to see it, feel it, and experience it. By getting kids into forests and teaching them about climate and people affect fire behavior, Kids in the Forest enriches the link between people and forests. We hope that by creating baseline knowledge, students and teachers will learn to talk about forest management and wildfire in their community in a way that supports sustainable approaches to land management.