Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Minnesota Department of Forest Resources. Likewise, the University of Minnesota Department of Forest Resources does not guarantee the accuracy of information presented in these pieces. 

THE FUTURE OF LAND MANAGEMENT is here. It’s growing with the toddlers with iPads, the elementary school children playing on playgrounds, the middle school kids without access to safe green spaces, the high school students who have to go on a museum field trip, the college students looking for internships so they can graduate with an Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (ESPM) degree, the grad students waiting for people to retire and jobs to open up… There are as many relationships with “nature” as there are people, and some of the people making decisions impacting funding and policy don’t have a well-developed understanding or appreciation for environmental systems.

During the field course, we talked to twelve different organizations spanning county, state, federal, and tribal interests. Each had a slightly different approach to youth development. Some, like the Grand Portage National Monument, hire and retain youth through work programs. Others focus on education (Fond Du Lac and Bois Forte museums). Exposure to environmental and cultural experiences leads to favorable attitudes which can have positive effects both immediately and down the line. 

Tettegouche State Park is the fifth most popular Minnesota state park, boasting stunning views of Lake Superior and the surrounding landscape. During our meeting with Kurt Mead and Katie Foshay, we discussed the challenges and opportunities of multigenerational park use. This was one of the most challenging conversations for the class, due to differences in priorities, experience, and generational perspectives. It would be easy to paint Tettegouche as the least popular destination of the trip, but there is a lot of interesting work happening that I believe can be tweaked or expanded to solve some of their challenges.

Lack of sufficient staff is the most pressing need Katie and Kurt expressed. They tossed around several ideas to expand volunteering, which are interesting and related to skill building, but I am more interested in the baby to concerned citizen/employee pipeline. While Kurt (incorrectly, in my assessment) asserted that people don’t want to work at Tettegouche, there are many background factors at play. Tettegouche is remote, and housing is only provided to summer interns (I will touch on workforce development in the next paragraph). A prospective employee must either live nearby (reducing the demographic diversity the DNR strives for), commute a fair distance (requiring access to transportation), or be willing to relocate, a task made more expensive by recent housing market trends. 

That addresses some of the problems for the existing workforce, but what about the next wave of potential employees, young adults roughly 18-25 ? In addition to internal (and housed!) internships, Tettegouche engages with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa. This nonprofit organization trains young adults in natural resource field work. The Corps has preset stipends for each of the service members. No matter how much money the DNR claims to have, that number doesn't change unless the type of job the corps member has changes (Individual Placements make several hundred more per month, but there are fewer positions available). The Corps also does not provide housing, meaning that most folks participating are from the local area, so the park runs into some of the same problems above. More demographic challenges arise within the Corps, due to the United States’ long history with exploiting black and brown bodies for labor without adequately compensating them or keeping them safe. 

It does sound as if Tettegouche State Park is also partnering with youth field crews. There is another branch of the Conservation Corps called Summer Youth Corps (SYC) that loops in teenagers over the summer. If that is the case, they are able to pull in students from all over the state, and expand access to young people that otherwise would not visit the park. SYC is paid, and also has opportunities for deaf youth. Kurt also mentioned Mobilize Green which employs youth of color to develop natural resource career skills.

Still, we don’t have young professionals interested in environmental careers if we don’t engage children. Education for their youngest visitors might be where Tettegouche is doing the best. The interpretation corner has a lot of information at physically low levels with simpler concepts, and kids have permission to touch most of it. It should be pointed out that this information is incomplete, as it does not mention Indigenous people groups more than in passing. However, as a primer for young minds, what they have included is filled with camp history and naturalist facts. Tettegouche has over 20 miles of hiking trails, most of which are rated moderate to more difficult. That likely means that children are not hiking and need a place to engage with the park at their experience level. Kurt and a group of volunteers have provided one solution to this, by creating a playground out of built and found materials. This play space allows littles to engage with outdoor spaces while learning about risk and reward. Providing an overall positive experience is one way that we can encourage pro-environmental feelings and behaviors through adulthood. 

I see room for improvement with middle years children. While a group of college students enjoyed playing on the playground, we were not competing for space with little kids. This playground will essentially belong to younger children, and some of the interpretation corner is not age appropriate for middle and high school age students as a standalone experience. This might be prime field trip age, where structured programming works best, and that’s something we did not discuss or can find readily on a calendar of events. 

All of that said, if somebody's parents aren't already taking them to the park or engaging in other outdoor activities, there's an education/experience gap where we could lose ground in between childhood and adulthood.

I think the question boils even further down to “How do we make young people feel not only welcomed, but invited into park spaces?” and making sure that we consider ages 0-25, and not just littles and job-hunters. As an idealist who believes wilderness is directly related to awe, I believe in encouraging curiosity from the hands (activity), head (ways of knowing), and heart (belonging). This question will exist for all of time and have a bajillion answers, and I'm excited and hopeful to see where Tettegouche puts their efforts. Especially if even one person upset about current affairs puts their effort where their mouth is.

"In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” - Baba Dioum

~Kira Pollack