FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2008
Milo Elementary School 5th grade students took to the woods and trails around the Appalachian Mountain Club’s (AMC) Little Lyford Pond Camps Sept. 28-30 together with school teachers, AMC instructors, and members of the Milo Outdoor Club to hike, learn about forest ecology, and focus on teambuilding.
The program attracted 25 students from the Milo area, and was organized by physical education teacher Dawn Russell.
The program is a part of AMC’s new Moosehead Area Schools Project, in which AMC is offering outdoor learning experiences to every elementary school, middle school, and high school student in Piscataquis County, at least three times over the course of his or her school career.
Students enjoyed hiking as they expanded their knowledge of natural history and learned Leave No Trace principles, which promote low-impact practices in the backcountry.
AMC’s instructors included Mike Dufilho, Lauren Knuckels, Dave Weston and Nate Schumacher and Shannon LeRoy, AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative programs manager.
The program was capped by an evening activity in which students roasted marshmallows over a campfire, told stories and learned owl calls.
The Moosehead Area Schools Project makes use of AMC’s Katahdin Iron Works property as a venue for hands-on learning in the outdoors. The effort is part of AMC’s broader Maine Woods Initiative, which addresses regional ecological and economic needs through outdoor recreation, resource protection, sustainable forestry and community partnerships.
Building on the early success of collaborative programs with local schools, AMC is working with educators to offer hands-on outdoor learning opportunities to all schoolchildren in Piscataquis County.
The project is modeled on AMC’s A Mountain Classroom program,
which uses hands-on outdoor activities to help strengthen lessons learned in the classroom. At the same time, students develop social skills by working collaboratively with their peers, and learn the value of teamwork.
Educators interested in more information on the Moosehead Area Schools Project are invited to contact AMC Maine Woods Initiative Programs Manager Shannon LeRoy at sleroy@outdoors.org or (207) 695-3085.
Founded in 1876, the nonprofit Appalachian Mountain Club is the oldest conservation and recreation organization in the United States. AMC has a long history in the region. AMC’s “Appalachia,” the oldest, continuously published journal of mountaineering and conservation in North America, described the Katahdin wilderness in an 1881 edition. The club established a seasonal camp at Katahdin Lake, in 1887, and another in the Katahdin Iron Works area in 1939.
AMC launched its Maine Woods Initiative in 2003 as an innovative approach to land conservation that combines outdoor recreation, resource protection, sustainable forestry, and community partnerships in the 100-Mile Wilderness region. The initiative seeks to address the ecological and economic needs of the Maine Woods by supporting local forest products jobs and traditional recreation, creating new multi-day recreational experiences for visitors and attracting new nature-based tourism to the region.
More information on the Moosehead Schools Project, and Maine Woods Initiative, is available at www.outdoors.org/mwi
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