A Partnership with the Kirkpatrick Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the Oklahoma Environmental Education Coordinating Committee

Thanks to the insight of the Kirkpatrick Foundation, the Conservation Education Initiative (CEI) was formed in the fall of 2007 as a consortium of educators through the Oklahoma Environmental Education Coordinating Committee in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and other nonprofit organizations to complement and enhance the conservation education curriculum presented to school age children in Oklahoma.

As a result participants agreed that the focus of CEI should emphasize educating young people about the diverse natural environment in Oklahoma including their own backyard and neighborhoods.

Other themes emerged in that meeting including how to make conservation education more accessible for non-traditional educators including parents, scouts, home schooled students, and coaches---basically anyone involved with young people. A collaborative public awareness campaign about conservation education awareness would was recommended to direct children, parents, traditional and non-traditional educators to sources of information and activities geared toward young people and their parents.

Nature picture credits: Photo © Mike Fuhr/TNC