of
NAVAJO COUNTY
Name of Program/Location/Point of Contact:
Navajo County Cooperative Extension
Stephen J. Campbell, Asst. Agent, AG/NR
402 East Hopi Drive
Holbrook, Arizona 86025
Phone: (928) 524-6271
Fax: (928) 524-2416
e-mail: campbell@ag.arizona.edu
Description of Programs:
Environmental
Education Program: A memorandum of understanding among local,
state, and federal agencies was put into effect three years ago for
the purpose of initiating public outreach programs. One such "School
to Work" program selected the Mineral Basin Education Project to achieve
ecosystem management objectives through hands-on activities, creation
of a permanent environmental demonstration site, and field trips to
study various aspects of the program. The community college encourages
students to explore careers in natural resources such as Watershed Management,
Stream and Fish Restoration, Riparian Habitats, and Monitoring Streams.
Blue
Ridge Natural Resources Working Group: This group is composed
of a cross section of community members; local, state, and federal government
representatives; environmentalists; ranchers; timber industry; business
people; academics; and others from the urban areas, as well as cooperative
extension agents working together to find solutions to local problems.
Topics of interest are Forest Restoration, Fuel Reduction in the Urban
Interface and Community Forest, Re-utilization of Restoration by-products,
Watershed Improvement, and Sustainable Natural Resources Stewardship.
The Blue Ridge Demonstration Project is one the collaborative efforts
of this group with the goal of sharing outcomes with those who could
most benefit from the information.
Adopt-A-Watershed:
An articulate, thematic, integrated science curriculum for grades K-12
using a local watershed as the living laboratory for making science
directly applicable and relevant to student's lives. Twelve school districts
in Navajo and Apache counties are working together on this project in
addition to various federal, state and county agencies. One school district,
Blue Ridge, has adopted this curriculum for the district.
A
Leadership Institute trains educators in building their own
community Adopt-A-Watershed programs. Training is also offered in GLOBE
and River of Words programs.Audience: The above programs serve the Navajo County communities. In addition, the outcomes and implementation of these programs are being shared with other communities both in and outside Arizona.
Current Status: The University of Arizona Navajo County Cooperative Extension employs one agent working in partnership with many individuals and agencies to continue the programs as described. Much of the funding for these programs depends upon grants from local, state, and federal agencies.
Impacts: Community leaders are developing solutions to social, environmental, and economic problems by committing their time and energy in a cooperative effort with local, state, and federal agencies. Public outreach and other education programs have fostered improvements in the community's stewardship of the county's natural resources.
Lessons Learned: Grassroots efforts are very important to the success of the programs. Patience is a key virtue in evaluating progress. Intuition in seeing how different parts of the community can work together effectively is helpful.
Curriculum/supplies list: Contact Steve Campbell
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