Partners in the Parks: Field guide to an experiential program in the National Parks. Second edition
Antinori M, Atwill B, Biolsi K, Blair E, Clarke JP, Dorrell D, Harlow A, Harrington L, Kelly B, King K, LaMore J, MacLean J, Margulis C, Nolan K, Reid D, Rudd C, Schmidt A, White B, Willis AM. 2016. Partners in the Parks: Field guide to an experiential program in the National Parks. Second edition. National Collegiate Honors Council. Lincoln, NE
From the foreward: "It was a clear day, and I was sitting in an Ancestral Tewa Pueblo cavate in the Tsankawi Village on the Pajarito Plateau, looking out over the juniper and piñon to the distant Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I could just hear the voices of my History of the National Park Service seminar students discovering ancient stairs in the cliffs and debating the age and authenticity of the abundant petroglyphs. I began, as historians are wont to do, to think about stories: stories that were embedded in this landscape over time; stories Bandelier National Monument and the NPS are preserving; stories I was teaching my students; and finally the story Joan Digby and I were writing in this monograph about the decade-long development of Partners in the Parks. Partners in the Parks is first and foremost a story of collaboration among faculty who have a passion for the national parks. It is a story characterized by encouragement, communication, and inspiration. PITP co-founder Todd Peterson recently recommended Terry Tempest Williams’s new book, The Hour of Land, to Joy Ochs, another PITP leader, and Joy posted this comment: 'Reading this book feels like searching my own memory. Everything she describes, I have seen with my own eyes.' Joy’s words echoed Williams’s observation: 'Our national parks are memory palaces where our personal histories reside' (20). For ten years Partners in the Parks has facilitated opportunities for participants to experience these memory palaces and to create their own personal park histories. And while all visitors have their own experiences within these places, it is in the national parks where we see the personal coexisting with the universal. The Hour of Land is beautifully written, but in some ways it is a book any one of us involved with PITP could have also written for we speak the languages of the parks and find our passion mirrored in Williams’s powerful words describing her connections to twelve national parks. For my story, I would include exploring the Dr. Seuss landscape of Joshua Tree National Park with my own children; gazing in awe over the Black Canyon as it inspires PITP students; sharing with my NPS seminar students, the fresh scent of apricot blossoms in the campsite of Capitol Reef National Park; risking the weather to find Navajo Arch in Arches National Park; exploring the cavates and petroglyphs of Bandelier NM; feeling the very first spring pulse of Medano Creek in the Great Sand Dunes National Park; and contemplating how and why to preserve a bomb testing site for the Manhattan Project NHP. The universal coexists with the personal."
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Antinori, Melissa; Atwill, Bill; Biolsi, Kristy; Blair, Emily; Clarke, James; Dorrell, Dalton; Harlow, Anjelica; Harrington, Laura; Kelly, Brook; King, Kathleen; LaMore, Josh; MacLean, Johnny; Margulis, Chloé; Nolan, Kathleen; Reid, Dana; Rudd, Connie; Schmidt, Alysia; White, Brian; Willis, Alison
- Date of Issue
- 2016
- Publisher
- National Collegiate Honors Council
- Units
- ACAD , APPA , BLCA , BOHA , BRCA , BUFF , CAHA , CEBR , DENA , ELIS , EVER , FIIS , GATE , GLAC , GLCA , GRBA , GRCA , GRSM , HAVO , JELA , JOTR , KICA , KLGO , MACA , MALL , MNRR , MOCA , MORA , OLYM , PARA , PULL , SAAN , SEQU , VIIS , ZION
- Keywords
- Education, Environmental education