National Public Lands Day 2019 Webinar Information Presenters

National Public Lands Day 2019

Webinar Information Presenters: • Hannah Traverse, Communications Manager, The Corps Network • Tony Richardson, Director of NPLD, The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) • April Elkins Badtke, Interim Executive Director, Stewards Individual Placement Program, Conservation Legacy • Patricia A. Malizia, Director of Alumni Engagement, Student Conservation Association

Webinar Information Agenda: 1. What is NPLD? Overview of NPLD and the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) 2. Why should you host an NPLD event? 3. NPLD FAQs and Additional Information 4. Leveraging NPLD for Alumni Engagement – SCA Alumni Engagement Week 5. Examples of Past NPLD Events Hosted by Corps Groups 6. Conservation Legacy’s Plans for NPLD 2019 7. Q&A

NPLD 2019 The 26 th annual National Public Lands Day will take place on Saturday, September 28 th, 2019.

National Public Lands Day is the largest single-day volunteer effort for America’s public lands. Each year, hundreds of thousands of volunteers come together on the fourth Saturday in September to assist with various projects designed to restore and enhance public parks, forests, waterways and more. From trail maintenance to tree planting—volunteers of all ages and abilities roll up their sleeves and work sideby-side to care for public lands. The annual NPLD celebration is a Fee-Free Day for NPS and other participating federal agencies.

2018 National NPLD Public Impact Lands Report Day

National Public Lands Day has been coordinated by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) for over 20 years. NEEF supports the annual NPLD celebration by: • Working with federal, state and local land management agencies to host NPLD events across the country. • Leading national media efforts to promote NPLD messaging about the importance of connecting with the outdoors and caring for the environment. • Providing marketing and promotional tools designed to help NPLD Site Managers promote their events and recruit volunteers. • Provides sponsorship and funding opportunities to support NPLD events.

National. Public. Lands. Day

National Public Lands Day

Why Should You Host an Event? Engage Volunteers - Hosting an NPLD Event provides a fantastic opportunity to engage the public in on-theground service. In a single-day, NPLD volunteers can accomplish hundreds of hours of conservation work for an agency while sparking a conservation ethic, and strengthening relationships with their local public lands.

Why Should You Host an Event? Attract New Audiences - With its status as the nation's largest one-day volunteer event for public lands, NPLD receives considerable attention and press at the local and national level. NPLD events can be leveraged to attract new volunteers and visitors.

Why Should You Host an Event? Let NEEF Do The Work For You! - Site Managers that host NPLD events and register them with NEEF will have their event posted to the official NPLD Event Locator and will also gain access to the NPLD Site Manager’s Resources.

Why Should You Host an Event? Eligibility for NPLD Sponsorship Opportunities - As an environmental foundation, NEEF routinely provides grant funding to on-theground projects. By registering an NPLD event with NEEF you’ll become eligible to apply for NPLD-related funding opportunities.

NPLD Event FAQs I am not with a federal public land. Can I still participate in NPLD? Yes! Any state, local, country or regional public land can host an NPLD event. School grounds and community gardens can also participate. There is no limitation on the size or the managing agency of the public land. As long as the land is held in the public trust (no private land) and accessible to the public, it can be an NPLD site. What kind of work projects apply towards NPLD? Any project that benefits the public land can be registered for NPLD. The majority of projects are focused on tree planting, invasive species removal, bird or bat house construction, trail maintenance, or enhancement of park facilities such as frontcountry bathrooms, fire pits, backcountry privies, etc. Some public lands do not have the ability to host volunteer events. In these cases, the public land usually holds education programming. Examples include hikes, talks on public land issues, fishing derbys, festivals, classes on water quality testing and geocaching programs.

NPLD Event FAQs Are there a minimum number of volunteers required to register an event for NPLD? No! Events range from small family trail clean-ups to 500 person megaevents that mobilize entire communities. This is the first time I am hosting an NPLD event. Are there resources to help me as I plan for September 28? Yes! The NPLD website is loaded with helpful resources, tips and ideas for great NPLD events. How can I register my event? You can register your 2019 NPLD event online at: https: //www. neefusa. org/npld/site-managers

NPLD Promotional Toolkit The NPLD Promotional Toolkit is designed to help site managers promoter their events and recruited local volunteers. The toolkit is full of logos, graphics, sample language, and other resources to help you get your audiences excited about National Public Lands Day.

NPLD 2019: Public Lands Engagement Guides NEEF will develop two new resources intended to support high-quality Environmental Education and Health and Wellness activities during community engagement events on public lands. The guidebooks will include real-world examples and best practices for hosting successful environmental education and health focused community-engagement events on public lands of all types. NEEF has secured funding to translate these guides to Spanish. Public Lands Engagement: A Focus on Health & Wellness & Public Lands Engagement: A Focus on Environmental Education

Sponsorship Opportunity – FREE Bars! NEEF is please to announce that our partners at the American Park Network have generously offered to provide FREE granola bars to National Public Lands Day events. These bars can be used as breakfast or lunch for volunteers-and everyone loves free food. Huge thanks to the American Park Network for making sure our hardworking NPLD volunteers have fuel for the day! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE! There is no guarantee that you will receive bars -- NEEF will provide as many KIND Bars as we can until we run out. The minimum amount that you can order is 250 bars and the maximum is 1000.

Recruiting Volunteers: NPLD Coupons NPLD volunteer coupons are provided to volunteers as a “thank you” for the work they complete during NPLD events. They allow the coupon holder to enter any national park, forest, or other participating federal site free of charge. NPLD site managers use the coupons to help drive local volunteer registration!! Sites can request NPLD Volunteer Coupons when they register their events. The deadline is Friday, August 23 rd, 2019.

Leveraging NPLD to Engage Your Alumni Each year, dozens of Corps groups from around the country step-up to host local NPLD events for their communities. These events provide a great opportunity to engage alumni! Hosting vs. Not-Hosting • If you are hosting an event, it is a great idea to market your NPLD event as an alumni engagement opportunities as well. Add any alumni mailing lists to your event outreach plans. See if there is a way to provide alumni with an elevated roles during the event, such as project leaders or VIP guest speakers. • Even if you aren’t hosting the event, you can still use the event as an alumni engagement opportunity. Make sure you coordinate with the NPLD site managers. See if there is a way for your alumni to work as a group. You could also ask your local alumni to meet before or after the event for additional alumni specific activities. This could be as simple as a group breakfast or after-event picnic.

SCA Alumni Engagement Week OVERVIEW: Through our alumni engagement program, SCA welcomes the opportunity to connect, share, and hear from our tens of thousands of alumni, many of whom are leading and driving success for a wide variety of companies, organizations and agencies around the country. In 2019, SCA will begin an annual tradition which celebrates our community of alumni with a series of virtual and local special events. Through our alumni engagement week, and other programmatic offerings, alumni can make useful connections, acquire key industry knowledge, discover exciting career opportunities, and more.

SCA Alumni Engagement Week Goals for SCA Alumni Engagement Week 1. To celebrate our alumni and reaffirm that they are a valued part of the SCA community 2. To ensure alumni are knowledgeable and informed about SCA’s present-day offerings including key SCA innovations, such as a new programs, opportunities and resources 3. To create opportunities for alumni to connect with current members which will encourage the sharing of unique knowledge that would be beneficial to present members 4. To foster connections which can directly help SCA with talent acquisition, business development, partnership opportunities and brand building 5. To establish an important tradition that will enrich SCA’s culture for years to come

SCA Alumni Engagement Week SCA encourages corps groups to leverage NPLD events to engage alumni. We are doing this by asking our alumni who work at federal and state sites to host an event. We will then form teams of alumni that live in that area to support the event. These teams will then be a resource for future networking, social and service events in and around that market. We hope to leverage the large number of alumni we have in our top 10 markets (see left) as the foundation for this engagement strategy to ensure we are super successful with this initiative while also supporting alums in smaller and urban markets. We believe this partnership with NEEF-NPLD will meet our alums desire for geographically convenient service opportunities as requested in a recent survey.

Conservation Legacy – Plans for NPLD 2019 Lessoned Learned from Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens Project: • • 100 volunteers Utilized other federal partners Utilized the skills of an SCA crew Volunteer recruitment secrets from KAG

Conservation Legacy – 2019 NPLD Event at Lost Lake Event Location: Lost Lake Campground, Gunnision National Forest Event Description: The Paonia Ranger District celebrates National Public Land Day by inviting every fourth grade student from the North Fork Valley to Lost Lake Campground, a treasured site on the Gunnision National Forest. Students will learn how to use strange forestry tool, navigate the campground with a compass, point at and understand the local geology, and write poetry using their observations. Students will also be led on a Naturalist Hike and will complete a stewardship project building Bluebird houses. Event Time and Date: Friday, September 27, 2019 09: 30 AM to 1: 00 PM Additional Event Activities: • Educational Activities • Historical/Cultural Activities • Recreational Activities • Volunteer Activities Number of Work Projects: 3 Estimated Number of Participants: 120 Intended Audience: Adult, Youth What federal land agency is hosting your event? US Forest Service (USFS) Which organizations/groups plan to participate in your event? Conservation Legacy

Questions from the Audience?

NPLD 2019: We Need Your Help! Suggestions for how YOU can support NPLD 2019: 1. Encourage your corps group to host a 2019 NPLD event! 2. Use the NPLD promotional toolkit to get your audiences pumped for your event! 3. Encourage your corps group to take advantage of the opportunity to receive KIND bars 4. If you host an event, please fill out the post-event survey!

Questions? Tony Richardson Program Director, Public Lands Engagment National Environmental Education Foundation trichardson@neefusa. org Patricia Malizia Senior Director of Alumni and Constituent Engagement Student Conservation Association pmalizia@thesca. org April Elkins Badtke Interim Executive Director Stewards Individual Placement Program april@conservationlegacy. org Hannah Traverse Communications Manager The Corps Network htraverse@corpsnetwork. org