SAFE SETTING

Students in the Kittitas Environmental Education Network’s Earth Explorers program paint landscapes during a day session at Helen McCabe State Park.

Outdoor education proved good fit for pandemic

By KARL HOLAPPA

staff writer

With the pandemic raising concerns about the safety of congregate settings and group activities, one local organization has fallen back on what they know best: getting outdoors.

The Kittitas Environmental Education Network scrambled last spring to make modifications to its existing plans and develop new programs to engage the children of Kittitas County by getting them out of their homes, off their computer screens and engaged in nature, but the process of change did not always come easily, and the nonprofit has struggled throughout the year while operating at a deficit.

NEW PLANS ON THE FLY

When the pandemic made its way to Kittitas County, KEEN Director Jill Scheffer said the organization quickly began to make adjustments to its existing programs, while still remaining hopeful that the issue would be tackled quickly.

“When we went into the spring, I think everybody was hopeful that it would be short and we would be over it quickly,” she said. “I remember sending emails saying hopefully we’ll be back to normal by April. Now, I look back and think about how silly it was to think that.”

The organization was forced to cancel multiple events, including their annual Windfall Cider Fest and had to pivot their annual Get Intimate with the Shrub Steppe event to a virtual format. Scheffer said the loss of the annual events drastically affected the group’s income for the year, but they continued to forge ahead.

“It was probably about May when we realized we needed to substantially modify our summer camp program and our Science in the Park program, which is a free environmental education program held in the city parks around town,” she said.

KEEN developed a COVID policy in response to the pandemic, relying heavily on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities to create guidelines that kept staff

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A student in the Kittitas Environmental Education Network’s Earth Explorers program paints a landscape during a day session at Helen McCabe State Park.

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and students safe. Unlike indoor congregate activities that were all but prohibited during that time, Scheffer said KEEN was fortunate to be able to find modified ways to continue its programs throughout the summer.

“We were lucky enough that we don’t have indoor facilities,” she said. “It’s probably the first time we were thankful we don’t have any indoor facilities. We’re outside 100% of the time, so it makes social distancing and safety a lot easier.”

During the summer, the KEEN camps were limited to eight campers each week, compared to the average 30-40 students in a normal year. Regardless of the significant change in student numbers, Scheffer said the program was successful. The group also worked with FISH Community Food Bank to put on a brown bag science program where children could take lesson plans home along with the food bank’s free summer lunch program.

“We did that all summer in partnership with Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group,” she said. “They were activities that families could do at home together, and I think that went over pretty well.”

KEEN also hosted a program called Summer Camp in a Bag, a weekly subscription-based program co-hosted with Washington Outdoor School. With both organizations affected by low enrollment numbers,

Scheffer said the goal was to continue to give families activities to enjoy that got them outdoors during the summer.

CREATING NEW PROGRAMS

As it became clear that students would be staying home for the beginning of the school year, Scheffer said KEEN decided it was time to develop a year-round camp program to help get the kids outdoors. The Earth Explorers program was rolled out, which now allows students to enroll in educational programs hosted at Helen McCabe State Park on a quarterly basis. The program is the first of its kind for the organization.

“There’s the saying that you’re building the track as the train is coming 100 miles an hour down the track at you,” Scheffer said. “That’s very true. We hired staff on the fly, and we created the program on the fly. We didn’t have time to put a lot of thought into it, and it was sort of an extension of summer camp in the first quarter in fall.”

The camp hosts a different theme each week, with students coming to two five-hour sessions each week. Scheffer said the students were split into separate pods that stay together, and that the program fits in directly with the local school district’s hybrid schedule.

“If a kid went to school Monday and Thursday, they came to us on Tuesday and Friday, or the other way around,” she said. “Older and middle school kids came on Wednesdays.”

Scheffer said the group kept that model going into winter, developing a snow camp to buffer between quarters over the traditional winter break period in local schools.

“That was really fun, even though we didn’t really have any snow,” she said.

Students in the Kittitas Environmental Education Network’s Earth Explorers program learn about predators during a day session at Helen McCabe State Park.

As it nears its one-year anniversary, Scheffer said the Earth Explorers program is now quite substantial, with many students being enrolled in the program since it began, although she said enrollment numbers are beginning to drop as school schedules regulate closer to normal and athletics start back up. She said the goal is to transition the program to an afterschool schedule next fall, and said the organization is looking at co-educational opportunities to fit with environmental education classes held at local schools. She said the pieces for future plans are falling into place due to the planning process of staff members over the past year.

“The educational leaders have had time to develop a curriculum, and have been thoughtful about play space learning,” she said. “There

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A student in the Kittitas Environmental Education Network’s Earth Explorers program paints a landscape during a day session at Helen McCabe State Park.

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are kids that have been with us the whole year that are really beginning to become connected to both park and place, and just having a great time. They’re learning a lot, but they’re still having fun.”

Scheffer said the organization has heard feedback from parents that the programs have been a lifesaver for them while navigating changing school schedules amidst the pandemic, and she said that has always been part of the goal.

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“We knew kids were going to be inside and on computers all the time during the lockdown, and how much that kills their spirit,” she said. “It really makes learning difficult. The idea of getting them outside and getting them moving in all kinds of weather, doing handson activities was the goal, and I think we’ve been pretty successful.”

HOPE FOR THE SUMMER

As congregate restrictions begin to ease, especially in outdoor settings, Scheffer said KEEN is excited to look at the possibility of resuming its normal summer programs. She said the goal is to have tents set up at Helen McCabe State Park during the Get Intimate with the Shrub Steppe and Bird Fest events, which are held in conjunction with each other.

“We want to see people getting out again,” she said. “We’re just not going to do the full-on Bird Fest where we have a dinner and an auction. We don’t really want to encourage a lot of people to travel long-distance yet, but we can still do some smaller local stuff, I think. It’s going to be a different model this year, and it’s all going to be free.”

She said the group is also actively planning to hold the Windfall Cider Fest this year and is moving ahead on their plans for its traditional summer camp and Science in the Park events.

“We’re feeling pretty confident,” she said. v