2015-2016 Annual Report From the Chair...

2016- what a year! The Children’s Outdoor Heritage Resolution passed! It passed this February after five years of trying. My personal thanks goes to Representative Chris Taylor for spearheading this initiative, but also to all of you who helped by writing letters to your legislators, letting them know this issue is important to you. That’s really what made the difference. And we’re hosting the North American Association for Environmental Education conference! What an honor to welcome hundreds of educators from around the world. I just received a package from South Africa yesterday, and someone from Nepal recently emailed to see if she could visit the Aldo Leopold Nature Center while she’s in town for the conference. Just amazing that we will all convene in Madison to share wisdom and camaraderie around the field of environmental education. All this and our amazing annual events - Winter Workshop and the Awards Banquet - still occurred with just as much panache and heart as ever. Of course, this is thanks to the amazing board members and volunteers who donated their time to make these events, and WAEE as a whole, an all around success. Plus, we’re getting new brochures! 2016, you’re the greatest. Thank you members of WAEE for making this year so tremendous. I’m honored to lead the charge as WAEE Board Chair and you should certainly be proud to call yourself a member. Here’s to an equally auspicious 2017! Betsy JM Parker

Betsy Parker, Chair

Also Leopold Nature Center

Monona,WI

Stefan Anderson

Conserve School Land O’ Lakes, WI

Bruce Bessert Concordia College

Mequon, WI

Jenny Christopher UWSP

Stevens Point, WI

Jessica Jens Riveredge Nature Center

Saukville, WI

Licia Johnson North Lakeland Disovery Center

Manitowish Waters, WI

Nathan Larson Commu\nity GroundWorks

Madison, WI

Kelly Rundell UWSP

Stevens Point, WI

Chrystal Seeley-Schreck Wisconsin Technical College System

Madison, WI

Cathy Techtmann UW Extension

Hurley, WI

Amy Workman Naturalist

Baraboo, WI

Lynn Karbowski WAEE Administrator

PO Box 418 | Stevens Point, WI 54481 | 715-570-2587 | admin@waee.org | www.waee.org

WAEE Awards Inspired by the valued WAEE traditions of Winter Workshop

and Fall Conference, the concept of a spring gathering emerged. Spring seemed like an excellent

opportunity to connect with members and the larger EE Community. Holding our annual awards

celebration during this time would allow us to celebrate the incredible work being done in our field and

offer an additional networking event to gather with Environmental Educators from around the state. In

the continued spirit of collaboration, WAEE once again partnered with the Wisconsin Environmental

Education Foundation, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Center for Environmental

Education and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. In this transitional year, awards were

presented just six months apart in order to move to a Spring awards schedule. The 2015 Awards

Ceremony was held in October in conjunction with the Midwest Environmental Education Conference hosted by our state. The Monona Terrace venue provided an

elegant setting to honor our accomplished award winners and culminate a week of Wisconsin EE pride. The 2016 Awards Ceremony was held in April at Riveredge

Nature Center. Barn and outdoor tent setting fit for a relaxed afternoon with EE friends. A new approach to our awards program featured a multimedia presentation

allowing each WAEE award winner to shine. Springtime awards were a welcome and refreshing twist on our annual celebration. The 2017 Awards will be held in

Madison the evening of Earth Day.

WAEE 2015 & 2016 Award Winners

The David Engleson Award is awarded to individuals, agencies, and organizations making significant contributions to the field of environmental education as

exemplified by David Engleson.

2015—Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, its members, past and present

2016—Ken Leinbach and the Urban Ecology Center

The Earthguard Award recognizes student leadership in developing and conducting outstanding environmental action projects.

2015— Lake Mills Area School District

2016—Mellen School District

The Formal Educator of the Year is presented for outstanding, ongoing effort in infusing environmental education into their teaching.

2015—Marta Sells

2016—Paul DeLain

The Non-Formal Educator of the Year is presented for exhibiting innovative and exemplary effort in providing environmental education opportunities for general

audiences.

2015—Ken Keffer

2016—Julie Butler

Administrator of the Year is presented for providing ongoing support and active involvement in EE in his/her facility.

2015—Chuck Eaton

2016—Virginia Wiggen

The Student of the Year Award is awarded for outstanding student involvement in the field of environmental education and academic excellence.

2015—Amanda Kyle

2016—Kelly Rundell

October 21-24, 2015

WAEE Annual Conference

MEEC

Monona Terrace

Madison, WI

October 24, 2015 Monona Terrace

April 30, 2016 Riveredge Nature Center

A Celebration of Excellence in

Environmental Education

Awards Ceremony

January 22-24, 2016

WAEE Winter Workshop

It Takes a Village

Tomahawk, WI

2015-2016

WAEE Events

WAEE Membership

Last year the membership committee began some exciting projects to expand service and provide more benefits to members. A thermal map of WAEE members was added to the WAEE website showing the distribution of EE professionals and advocates throughout Wisconsin. Work is progressing on adding a more interactive organizational member map to the website. Any person or organization who "likes" WAEE's Facebook page is now receiving information on our organization and mission. A new brochure design is underway as well as a sponsor/donor card.

Membership is the foundation of WAEE. Each individual, organization, and business brings their unique experiences and background to enrich our organization. Through all of you, WAEE is able to achieve its mission of supporting environmental education through advocacy, networking, and recognition. If you have ideas or want to become more involved with a WAEE committee, do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you for your continued support of this great organization.

Current Membership: 370

Individuals: 138 Non-profit Organizations: 66

Students: 19 Organization Bundle Members: 66

Retired: 14 Corporate Annual: 2

Individual Life: 62 Corporate Life: 1

WAEE Finances

WAEE achieved another strong financial year in 2015/2016 through the hard work of the Board of Directors and the WAEE Administrator.

The support of WAEE events continues to be strong. The organization continues to increase revenue and participation of the annual

conference by switching the dates to late fall for 2015, as we host the Midwest Environmental Education Conference in Madison. The

2016 Winter Workshop has continued to grow both financially and in participation, again breaking records in both areas this year! The

collaborative awards ceremony was successful again this year with the fundraising help of the WEEF and great support and attendance.

WAEE events are an important component of our financial future and continued support by our membership is necessary.

The Board of Directors has been working hard at fundraising through sponsorship solicitations and the writing of grants to support annual

activities and events. Goodsearch.com is another program that is used to make contributions to WAEE when a user selects Wisconsin

Association for Environmental Education as their charity of choice. All of these sources of contributions make a difference and help to

keep our organization in a financially healthy state.

As the field of environmental education continues to evolve in our state, the Board has seen fit to continue to evolve the organizations

finances and holdings to fit these changes and challenges. To provide for the sustainability of the organization into the future, the BOD

has created a contingency fund that will be the recipient of profits remaining at the end of the fiscal year. This fund will be available for

use as a provision for unforeseen events and circumstances that may face the organization. To further the organizations support of

environmental education around the state and through our members, the Board has also created a “Legacy Fund” that will have an

annual contribution through the budgeting process and also receive funds through profits at the end of the fiscal year. This fund is

specifically for projects that come to the organizations attention that will strengthen then organization and bring awareness around the

state.

WAEE has maintained financial transparency and accountability through annual audits done by an outside firm, which have continued to

come back with everything in order. These audits will continue to be conducted. The Board has made a priority of keeping WAEE growing

financially. We couldn’t do it without the support of our membership. Thank you for all you do for the field of Environmental Education!

WAEE Events

2015 Fall Conference—MEEC

Theme: Promoting Access to Environmental Education Experiences

Dates: October 21-24, 2015

Location: Monona Terrace, Madison, WI

Wisconsin was proud to host the 2015 Midwest Environmental Education Conference on October 21-24, 2015, at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison. The conference theme was “Promoting Access to Environmental Education Experiences” and was organized into four tracks:

Reaching underserved audiences

Sustainable food systems

Education and action on climate change

Reduce, renew, refresh: Celebrating success stories in EE

Nearly 345 registrants from six states participated in four days of engaging sessions and workshops jam-packed with ideas on how to expand access to environmental education opportunities in Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest. Over 700 attendees listened to the keynote address given by author Timothy Egan, presented in partnership with the UW-Nelson Institute’s Jordahl Public Lands Lecture series. Over 70 presentation sessions were offered with extremely positive feedback. We received nothing but praise on our themed speakers, including Peter Annin, George Archibald and Joel Salatin. Ninety-six registrants attended five pre-conference workshops and four field trips on October 20. There was a waiting list for the over 40 exhibitors who shared information with conference attendees during four exhibitor socials.

This conference also featured several new partnership events, including the Friday night Gala at the Madison Children’s Museum, the keynote reception with the UW-Nelson Institute and Wisconsin Book Festival, and the Voyageur Canoe Races with Rutabaga Paddlesports and Conserve School. It was a tremendously successful conference!

A committee of 16 members planned and orchestrated the conference. Over $29,000 in sponsorships was secured for the conference, with special thanks to our Platinum Level ($10,000+) sponsors, Conserve School and the UW Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; our Gold Level ($5,000-$9,999) sponsor, the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau; and our Silver Level ($1,000-$4,999) sponsors, the Wisconsin Center for EE, the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, the US Forest Products Lab, and the WAEE Consortium.

2016 Winter Workshop

Theme: It Takes a Village

Dates: January 22-24, 2016

Location: Treehaven Field Station, Tomahawk, Wis.

More than 100 teachers, naturalists, students and other natural resource professionals joined us for the 2016

WAEE Winter Workshop. It was once again held at the beautiful Treehaven campus in Tomahawk, Wis. There

was plenty of snow to learn in and explore throughout the weekend. This year’s theme, It Takes a Village, led to

many fascinating topics including; A Heart Full of Turquoise: Transforming Stories from the Village, Better Togeth-

er- Collaboration of the Riveredge Nature Center, Natural Connections: Keeping People Informed and Making

Them Care and many more. This year’s featured speaker was independent filmmaker, George Desort (Fortunate Wilderness). The weekend started with a

Friday night screening of his new film Counting Wolves, a documentary following Rolf Peterson and other biologists on their studies of wolf and moose on

Isle Royale. His keynote talk focused on how scientists and biologists can get their important research and information across social media and public

presentations. There were also traditional Winter Workshop activities; including a dinner prepared by the Brutal Gourmet, musical entertainment by the

band “Still Pluto” and the famous Nertz Tournament. Thank you to all who presented, attended, volunteered and donated to make this one of the most suc-

cessful winter workshops yet! We hope to see everyone for the 2017 Winter Workshop- held at the Treehaven campus January 20-22, 2017 where the

theme will be “Awaken the Wonder: Play, Create, & Educate!”