{"id":1033,"date":"2016-12-27T15:30:35","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T15:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2016-12-27T15:30:35","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T15:30:35","slug":"resolve-to-save-local-outdoors-education-from-the-endangered-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/?p=1033","title":{"rendered":"Resolve to save local outdoors education from the endangered list"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nothing personal, Mr. Pythagoras.<\/p>\n

Your theorem on right triangles is great, but in my day-to-day life, calculating the length of a hypotenuse is less of a priority than measuring a nice-sized brook trout or estimating the height of the brow tine on a whitetail buck caught in my .308\u2019s crosshairs.<\/p>\n

Somewhere between algebra, calculus and complex sentence diagramming, students are blasted with more facts, figures and theories than could ever fit into a 20-gauge shell casing. That shotgun blast of information is meant to form a foundation that will allow students to branch off later into whatever passion they decide to pursue.<\/p>\n

Valley schools do more than most in terms of offering an overview of outdoors-related topics. In-class trout programs, affiliations with the Envirothon movement and other hands-on learning opportunities can be found throughout our local districts.<\/p>\n

But is it enough? For all the time spent studying the periodic table or memorizing Edgar Allen Poe\u2019s \u201cThe Raven,\u201d only a percentage of our students go on to kindle careers as chemists or poets.<\/p>\n

Everyone, however, plays a part in our local ecosystem. We are surrounded by the outdoors \u2014 at one point or another, we all take hikes, go fishing, pitch a tent, ride a bike, go for a jog or come in contact with nature \u2014 whether it is planned or not.<\/p>\n

Outdoors education is vital to everyone, and in our region, two epicenters of natural knowledge have been PPL\u2019s Montour Preserve and the R.B. Winter State Park educational center.<\/p>\n

The Montour Preserve\u2019s programming has been cut drastically since Talen Energy took over. Longtime naturalist Jon Beam still offers a few programs, including a popular annual maple sugaring demonstration, but it is a far cry from what was once available.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, R.B. Winter outdoor educator Maryann Haladay-Bierly has recently announced that she is retiring in 2017 \u2014 leaving the future of the park\u2019s educational facility and its many programs unclear.<\/p>\n

Businesses such as Talen Energy \u2014 along with state agencies such as those that oversee our park system \u2014 are driven, to varying extents, by the bottom line. Financials play a part in the formula that determines if outdoor education opportunities continue.<\/p>\n

It becomes a matter of calculating the importance of these programs in a way that show agencies undeniably that outdoor education is vital to everyone.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Pythagoras never developed a theorem or formula to measure that value.<\/p>\n

To help keep our outdoor eucation programs off the endangered list, share your support directly to R.B. Winter at 570-966-1455 or email rbwintersp@pa.gov.<\/p>\n

For the Montour Preserve, go through the Montour Area Recreation Commission at 570-336-2060 or email Support@MontourPreserve.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing personal, Mr. Pythagoras. Your theorem on right triangles is great, but in my day-to-day life, calculating the length of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[844,846,4,674,845,295,381,673,840,841,842,843],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoors","tag-bald-eagle-state-forest","tag-bierly","tag-featured","tag-jon-beam","tag-maryann-haladay-bierly","tag-montour-preserve","tag-pennsylvania","tag-ppl","tag-raymond-b-winter","tag-rb-winter","tag-state-park","tag-talen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1036,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions\/1036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}