TEACHERS AND CONSERVATION

JULIEN L. BOATMAN.

More and more colleges, teacher-training institutions, and elementary schools and high schools are offering nontechnical instruction in problems and practices of forest conservation and the methods of teaching them. For rural youths and adults, forestry instruction is available through agricultural extension services and vocational agriculture courses. Several associations and foundations and similar organizations also give education in forest conservation.

Many teachers agree that a good place to start the broad field of conservation education, of which forestry is an important segment, is in the lower schools, in courses in general science and social studies.

An example is the series of illustrated bulletins published jointly by the Indiana Department of Conservation, the Department of Forestry and Conservation of Purdue University, and the State Department of Public Instruction of Indiana. The material brings out the relationships among forests, soils, water, and wildlife.

The Granite Falls School, of Granite Falls, Wash., has developed a course in practical forestry that is open to junior and senior students.

In four teaching outlines prepared by the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture, forest conservation is emphasized in its relation to soil conservation. The outlines are designed for elementary and secondary schools. They list objectives, topics for study or discussion, classroom activities, references, as well as supplementary teaching aids, such as motion pictures, film strips, charts, and posters.

Agencies in Louisiana and South Carolina have developed forestry subject matter for the grade-school level, which has been well received.

Conservation of resource-use workshops or special courses have been conducted by several institutions of higher learning in 38 States and the District of Columbia to train teachers in general conservation. Forestry was an important segment of the instruction. Teachers of all grades attended. Sessions lasted from a few days to 8 weeks; time was allotted for field trips and the preparation of curriculum materials. In New Mexico one year all the teachers' colleges conducted conservation workshops for teachers.

IN THE VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE program of the United States Office of Education, forestry is often offered as a subject of classroom and field instruction for high-school students. Student participation in forest work is expected on the home farm or some other farm or school plot to give a student actual experience.

As a continuing project, the chapter of Future Farmers of America in Adrian, Ga., planted 2,500 trees 25 years ago. The trees have had constant care by succeeding members of the chapter. Several thousand farm boys in Georgia have been given practical training in tree identification, tree planting, woodland management, estimating standing timber, and the construction of firebreaks.

In Garrett County, Md., the vocational agriculture teacher arranged to teach 40 classroom hours of farm forestry. In Illinois, the State extension service and the vocational agriculture department prepared detailed subject-matter outlines and three slide films on planting farm forests, the farmstead windbreak, and improving and protecting Illinois woodlands. The material has been used by more than 350 high-school departments of vocational agriculture. In Virginia a State-wide vocational forestry program is carried on by the vocational agriculture high schools. Cooperating with the Virginia State Board of Education in the program are the State forester, the Department of Agriculture, and the forest industries.

Effective programs of providing nonresident technical and general instruction in forestry have been developed by agricultural extension services in most States. The work includes field demonstrations, group meetings, publications, and lesson materials for persons who are not attending State colleges. In the cooperative extension work, funds are provided to hire State extension foresters on the staffs of the land-grant colleges. The extension foresters carry on an educational farm-forestry program among rural people through the county agricultural agents; the educational work may include the preparation and distribution of publications, group meetings, visual aids, on-the-farm demonstrations of methods and results, and, sometimes, individual technical assistance.

The subject matter used as a basis for such nonresident instruction is founded upon the research done by Federal and State forest and agricultural experiment stations. Among rural people the education in forestry consists of tree plantings, woodland management, wood preservation, 4 H Club work, and the like. The extension forester coordinates his forestry work with other similarly employed specialists, among them specialists in livestock, dairying, horticulture, and in entomology.

As a part of the agricultural extension service educational program, 4 H forestry ranks high in conservation teaching. It has accomplished much in getting rural people to recognize the value of forestry. Through a 4 H project, a club member works out for himself the principles and theories he has been taught. The project method gives a better understanding of subject matter and develops a plan of reasoning. Not infrequently, through 4 H Club work, parents have been induced to improve their farm program.

In Nebraska, material has been prepared to make it possible for youngsters to carry 4 H forestry projects for 3 years. The first year, club members plant and care for trees and shrubs on the farm, besides studying five aspects of forestry or allied problems. The second and third years, the tree-planting and tree-study features are continued on an advanced basis, five new problems being added each year.

Nebraska once had about 10 percent of the 4 H forestry club enrollment of the Nation. Each club was under the direction of a volunteer leader, who was trained by the county agricultural agent, the State 4 H Club leaders, and the State extension forester.

Massachusetts has tree study the first year, tree planting the second year, and wood-lot practices the third year.

Often a first-year project includes tree identification or appreciation, and a club member is expected to collect, identify, and mount samples from 20 to 30 different tree species. Where farm woodlands are available, a 4 H woodland-management project is usually listed for a year's work and includes timber estimating, making a management plan for the area, and constructing firebreaks for protection.

The American Forest Products Industries, Inc., a group of several forest industries, has made available awards for outstanding achievement in 4 H forestry projects. Medals are offered winners in each State; the winner in each of four regions is awarded a trip to the National 4 H Club Congress and a college scholarship of $200.