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Mission
Mission
The Environmental Leadership Program is a team of students and mentors from the University of Oregon. Our mission is to teach environmental education curriculum with a focus on hands-on, place-based, and experiential learning. We hope to inspire middle schoolers to be excited about science and deepen their connection to the environment. Our team developed a curriculum that delivers scientific knowledge in fun ways that engage students. We seek to increase their knowledge using science and humanities practices.
HJA was founded in 1948 by the United States Forest Service. HJA was designated as a LTER site in 1980. Their mission is to encourage people with a variety of different backgrounds to partake in hands-on environmental education and LTER. They support research on forests and waterways, with an emphasis on blending science, management, education, and the humanities. HJA promotes place-based environmental education, with an emphasis on gathering scientific data and learning more about the ecosystems of the forest.
Study Site
Study Site
H.J. Andrews (HJA) is the most studied old-growth forest ecosystem in North America, with a valuable database of Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) that has been collected over decades. This is a unique site that allows for hands-on experience in an old-growth forest. The HJ Andrews Experimental Forest sits on the traditional homelands of the Kalapuya and Molalla Tribes, who stewarded the land for time immemorial. In the winter of 1856, these tribes were forced to relocate from their homelands by American settlers up Northwest to the Grand Ronde Reservation, located near the South Yamhill River (Lewis).
Land Acknowledgement
Land Acknowledgement
The HJ Andrews Experimental Forest sits on the traditional homelands of the Kalapuya and Molalla Tribes, who stewarded the land for time immemorial.
In the winter of 1856, these tribes were forced to relocate from their homelands by American settlers up Northwest to the Grand Ronde Reservation, located near the South Yamhill River (Lewis). Our community in the Willamette Valley is part of a larger colonial practice world wide.
We benefit greatly from the Kalapuya and Molalla Tribes' endless dedication and reciprocity towards the land, and hope to be apart of their legacy of stewardship. We must shift towards ways of living, teaching, and learning that have been suppressed along with Indigenous people. These ways will center us around reciprocity, honor, and endless gratitude towards the land.
Methods
Methods
We use place-based, hands-on learning to engage with the forest in different ways, such as measuring ground and soil temperatures and recording phenophase data. We use experimental, immersive, and engaged education tailored specifically for HJA and following the North American Association for Environmental Education Guidelines for Excellence. Our lessons were designed with the Awareness to Action Framework from the United Nations Tbilisi Declaration in mind.
Our lessons teach about four main themes: Phenology, Microclimates, Tree Identification, and Wildfire. Each of these themes has direct connections to climate change and some of the LTER being done at Andrews, which is highlighted in each of the lesson plans.
In 2024, we have served 341 students from Kennedy Middle School, Spencer Butte Middle School, and Roosevelt Middle School through our curriculum.
“We need acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world. We need to restore honor to the way we live so that when we walk through the world we don’t have to avert our eyes with shame, so that we can hold our heads up high and receive the respectful acknowledgment of the rest of the earth’s beings.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Potawatomi woman, and an incredible author and teacher.
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