Winter 2006 - Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Training School held each May. In addition
to participants from the department, past attendees
have come from Louisiana,
Arkansas, Illinois and Kansas, as well as the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Missouri Department
of Conservation and various parks
and recreation facilities around the state.
Many training school graduates have
gone on to professional positions at state
and federal levels as well as the private sector.
For April Dozier, the training she received
was the start of a career in outdoor
education that now spans almost 30 years.
Dozier, the Cape Girardeau Conservation
Campus Nature Center manager, said, “The
training I received with the state parks was
the beginning of a pathway I could never
have imagined. I liked the training so much
that I encouraged my oldest daughter to
work as a seasonal with DNR.”
Over the years, the training school has
received recognition from international
and national interpreters and educators
such as Sam H. Ham and Ted T. Cable.
Both Ham and Cable have authored books
that outline effective environmental interpretation.
Their work has been widely published
and used in classrooms and natural or
cultural venues required to create meaningful
interpretive programs.
Cable serves as a professor of Natural Resource
Management at Kansas State University.
He says he wishes even more state agen-
cies would model themselves after the Department
of Natural Resources’ Interpretive
Training School. He explains, “It is exceptionally
thorough, intense, rigorous and fun.
DNR’s commitment to high-quality interpretation
is commendable.”
The training techniques taught at the
school have been used as models for other
agencies, and DNR full-time interpretive
staff have been asked to conduct presentations
at various training seminars for other
state park systems.
Last year the National Association of Interpretation
(NAI) presented the Division of
State Parks’ Interpreter’s Training School
with the Outstanding Interpretive Program
2004 award in Region VI, which covers
Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma
and Kansas.
Cyndi Cogbill, NAI Region VI Awards
chairperson, said of the training: “When
many of this country’s interpretation leaders
need inspiration, they turn to Missouri.”
Sixty-six years ago a tradition was started
that not only survived, but thrived.
Today, Missouri State Parks provide visitors
the very best in interpretive services. As we
travel outside Missouri, it is satisfying to
know that other states have learned from
this dedicated effort, and that their parks
customers have benefited as well.
Gayle Mooney is a video production specialist
for the Department of Natural Resources’
Division of State Parks.
This year’s Missouri
State Parks Interpreter
Training School boasted
more than 90 graduates
and over 120 participants
from the Midwest.