Few projects have more potentially far-reaching influence than educational programs. Today’s children are tomorrow’s stewards of the park and other public lands: their decisions, not ours, will determine the fate of these valuable lands in the coming decades. We strive to fund the following programs through our annual grants program:

• “Work House: A Glacier Science Education Program” was written with input from park staff and all four local Native American tribes in the early 1990’s. It provides teachers with background information and lessons about the Native American untold stories of this region and it includes stories from each tribe (Salish, Kootenai, Blackfeet and Pend d’Oreille) that relate to the geology, native plants, people and wildlife of the park. Each of the lessons includes a field trip visit to the park to learn about park resources while students engage in active outdoor recreation – hiking or snow shoeing. This curriculum won the Freeman Tilden Award, the National Park Service’s highest award in interpretation and education when it was first produced.

However, the curriculum now needs to be updated and promoted to teachers. This project will build on and complete the process already started to update this guide. In 2009, funding from the Youth Partnership Program allowed Glacier’s Education Specialist to bring together cultural representatives from the tribes with local teachers, curriculum specialists and the state’s Office of Public Instruction Indian Education for All Specialists to review the “Work House” curriculum and materials. All who participated in the workshop agreed that the guide was still a “cutting edge” curriculum for relating cultural stories with scientific explanations. The Montana Office of Public Instruction’s Indian Education for All Division has pledge to assist with production of CDs of the completed curriculum and promoting it to educators at no cost to Glacier. The park’s Interpretive Design Specialist has agreed to assist with updating the guide. The demand is so high in the state for accurate information about Montana’s tribes that they are very supportive of this project. This project will provide the missing funding needed for the Education Specialist to complete the updating and editing that is so needed for this spectacular resource.

In addition, Glacier’s Education Specialist will promote the completed guide by conducting free workshops for teachers with the new lessons and educational trunk materials at the annual summer institute hosted by the Northwest Montana Educational Cooperative in Kalispell, Montana. The lessons will also be posted on-line on Glacier’s website. The education trunks with the lesson material will be housed in West Glacier at park headquarters and be available for teachers to borrow at no cost. The trunk materials will be revised so they are a supplement to the lesson material.

Therefore, this project will provide access to information about Glacier’s cultural resources and history to a wide range of educators and students. It will encourage Native Americans (youth and adults) from the local communities to visit the park and encourage their continuing partnership and stewardship of park resources.

• Transporting Kids to Glacier: From local bus trips to cost-sharing with teachers from other regions, getting kids to Glacier National Park to enhance their learning opportunities is a high priority for the Fund. With funding for extracurricular activities within our school systems being the first to be cut during lean budget times, this support becomes a vital part of keeping the next generations connected to the outdoors and our park.

• Glacier’s Winter Ecology Education Program for local schools is recognized by local and regional educators as consistently delivering high quality, hands-on and curriculum-based educational opportunities for over 1,000 students each winter. This program directly connects local students, many of whom do not visit the park with their families, with the natural resources and ecological processes of Glacier National Park. Most of the students who participate in this program come from traditionally under-served schools, rural school districts and reservation schools. These students will grow up and live near the park; thus, they are potential future park supporters and stewards. As a major component of the park’s overall education program, the Winter Ecology Program is a cornerstone in helping local students form lasting bonds and a greater understanding of Glacier National Park. This program continues to be a top priority.

• Partnering with top high school and college students regionally and nationally for their participation in the park’s native plant nursery efforts, research studies and the Citizen Science program will help us engage students in these critical programs and ensure that the students actively pursuing careers in these areas gain first-hand experience while supporting these programs in Glacier.