Organizers and Sponsors

The following organizations are supporting the 2008 Working Forum on Nature Education. To find out how your organization can be a sponsor, contact info@WorldForumFoundation.org.

American Society of Landscape Architects, Washington, DC, USA
asla.org

Founded in 1899, the American Society of Landscape Architects is the national professional association representing landscape architects. ASLA works to increase the public’s awareness of and appreciation for the profession of landscape architecture.

Arbor Day Foundation
www.arborday.org

The Arbor Day Foundation’s mission is to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. Established in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has touched millions of lives with its educational and positive-action programs such as Rain Forest Rescue and Tree City USA. The Foundation’s nearly million members plant millions of trees each year, and support programs for youth education and nature education for young children. Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City features Lied Lodge & Conference Center, which hosts local, national, and international conferences, and the Tree Adventure with numerous nature education for young children demonstrations.

Being:Art, Memphis, TN, USA
BeingArt.com

Being:Art was formed in 2004 with the purpose of revealing the art-making process and creating aesthetic works of art. We provide fusion art experiences for adults and children in the form of performances, workshops, and residencies. The work includes dance, music, and visual art designed for site-specific environments. Recently, our work has been focused on the development of workshops and performances to help people reconnect with the natural world; and the development of musical instruments for outdoor classrooms.

Conservation Fund www.conservationfund.org

The Conservation Fund is the nation's foremost environmental nonprofit dedicated to protecting America's most important landscapes and waterways for future generations. The Conservation Fund pioneers a balanced, non-advocacy, non-membership approach to conservation, one that blends environmental and economic goals and objectives. Since its founding in 1985, the Fund has helped its partners safeguard wildlife habitat, working farms and forests, community greenspace, and historic sites totaling more than 6 million acres nationwide.

Davey Tree Expert Company www.Davey.com

Davey Tree Expert Company has provided a range of tree, shrub, and lawn care services to homeowners for over a century. They manage and maintain the beauty of North America's most prestigious commercial grounds; provide solutions and plans for golf course and sports turf managers; specialize in providing and moving large specimen trees nationwide; provide comprehensive vegetation management services for utility companies throughout North America; and provide a full range of arboriculture and horticultural planning and consulting services.

Dimensions Educational Research Foundation
dimensionsfoundation.org

The Dimensions Educational Research Foundation was formed in 1998 to study how the addition of more visual-spatial activities into classrooms and homes can positively enhance learning in young children. For a number of years the Foundation has conducted and collected research on how children best develop visual-spatial skills and how teachers and families can optimally support this development through activities focusing on building, nature and movement. Our mission is to inspire children, families and educators to better understand, appreciate and personally connect with the world around them by providing innovative research-based programs and resource materials. Recently our research has led to an increased focus on the benefits of using the natural world as an integral part of the learning process.

International Federation of Landscape Architects, Versailles, France
iflaonline.org

IFLA represents the landscape architectural profession globally, providing leadership and networks supporting the development of the profession and its effective participation in the realization of attractive, equitable and sustainable environments.

International Paper
www.internationalpaper.com

International Paper is a global forest products, paper and packaging company with primary markets and manufacturing operations in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia, complemented by xpedx, an extensive North American merchant distribution system. The company has approximately 60,000 employees, 42,000 of whom are located in the United States. International Paper supports communities where its employees live and work. They are committed to environmental stewardship and are engaged in partnerships with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Keep America Beautiful, Stamford, CT, USA
kab.org

Keep America Beautiful, Inc. is the nation's largest nonprofit community improvement and educational organization, founded in 1953. We have three areas of focus: litter prevention, beautification and community improvement, and waste reduction. We work with businesses, schools, neighborhood groups and local governments to improve our land, waters and built environment. We provide programs that help communities reduce, reuse ands recycle. We teach young people how to care for, preserve and protect our environment.

Kersey/Wike Associates
www.kerseywike.com/

Kersey/Wike Associates offers landscape architectural services for public and private sector clients throughout the southeastern United States and beyond. Since its founding in 1989 the firm has committed itself to cost effective and timely solutions that reflect superior value and quality. We listen to our clients and strive to develop synergies that occur when highly motivated individuals focus their efforts on a common goal. We sincerely strive to understand our client's desires and fashion a strategy to aid them in achieving a solution that is truly theirs.
The firm has been involved in the site planning, landscape architectural design and construction observation of a wide variety of project types from highly detailed intimate scaled spaces to large scale master planned developments.
Kersey/Wike Associates was the lead design professional for the Nature Explore Classroom at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska

Lakeshore Learning Materials
www.lakeshorelearning.com

As a founding sponsor of the World Forum, Lakeshore Learning Materials is proud to be a supporter for the 2008 Working Forum on Nature Education for Young Children. Since our inception, Lakeshore has understood the need for children to have hands-on experiences to be successful in their learning environment. Extending our support for outdoor experiences is a natural step for Lakeshore. Lakeshore is also proud to be the premier supplier of education products for the early childhood and primary classrooms with emphasis on early learning and literacy. Whether accessing Lakeshore through our nation-wide chain of stores, our catalogs or our website, Lakeshore is pleased to continue to offer the highest quality products and service to the education community.

Moore Wallace Response Marketing Services
www.mwrms.com/wwwRMS/Home.asp

Moore Wallace Response Marketing Services creates, manages, and produces world-class direct mail for the leading direct marketers and advertisers in America and Europe. Their focus is to deliver outstanding financial results and peace of mind to their clients through improved creative, better strategy, higher net response rates, quality production, and postal savings. They do that through the disciplined understanding of past experience, their customer base, and through testing into new direct mail controls. They have extensive resources in direct marketing strategy, analytics, creative and copy development, and a deep reserve of database management, variable imaging, print, and finishing technology.

National Environmental Education Foundation
neefusa.org

Chartered by Congress in 1990 to advance environmental knowledge and action, the ultimate goal of the National Environmental Education Foundation is to activate environmentally responsible behavior in the general public. Our strategy is to reach the public through a powerful network of trusted professionals who can help Americans make everyday choices for a healthy life and healthy environment. Working with a network of health professionals, weathercasters, land managers and teachers our programs reach hundreds of thousands of households and translate in to direct actions, saving millions of dollars as well as reducing energy use, protecting nature, and improving the health of thousands of children.

National Wildlife Federation
nwf.org

The National Wildlife Federation began as an alliance of grassroots groups from all across the country, united in the work of protecting and restoring wildlife. Today we represent the power and commitment of one million members and supporters partnered with wildlife organizations in 48 states and territories. Our supporters include Americans from all walks of life, of all political and religious beliefs and of all ages. And we continue to rely deeply on America's innate conservation ethic and our consistent partnerships to accomplish our mission: protecting wildlife for our children's future.

The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA
www.nature.org

The mission of the Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth by protecting the land and water they need to survive.

Nebraska Association for the Education of Young Children, Inc.
www.NebraskaAEYC.org

The Nebraska Association for the Education of Young Children is a membership organization and a part of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the largest early childhood organization in the world. NeAEYC began in 1976 and for the past 30 years has been dedicated to strengthening and supporting the early childhood community in Nebraska. Programs and services of Nebraska AEYC include T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® NEBRASKA, the Accreditation Support Project, a Quality Enhancement Pilot Project, a quarterly newsletter, Week of the Young Child activities, advocacy activities, support for local conferences, the website, and participation on a wide array of teams and committees impacting early childhood.

Nebraska Children and Families Foundation
www.NebraskaChildren.org

Nebraska Children was created at the recommendation of a task force to unite Nebraska communites and government agencies with the mission of protecting children and preserving their families. Since its inception, Nebraska Children has focused on prevention services with the goal of having every child reach their full potential and participate as valued members of our communities.

The Nebraska Department of Education Early Childhood Team
www.nde.state.ne.us/ECH/ECH.html

The Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) is a constitutional agency approved by Nebraska voters. The Department operates under the authority of an elected board of education. NDE is organized into teams that interact to operate the agency and carry out the duties assigned by state and federal statutes and the policy directions of the State Board of Education. The teams are organized around distinct functions and responsibilities that encompass leadership and support for Nebraska's system of early childhood, primary, secondary and postsecondary education; direct services to clients; and internal support to the agency. NDE is committed to providing an essential education for all children to help them grow to be successful in lifelong learning, earning, and living. The mission of the NDE Early Childhood Team is to provide leadership, resources, and professional development in support of high quality early childhood settings and effective parenting

The Nebraska Early Childhood Training Center
www.esu3.org/ectc

The Early Childhood Training Center is a statewide organization that is designed to provide, enhance and coordinate early childhood professional development opportunities across the state and to promote an interdisciplinary model of training. The leadership and expertise of the staff contributes to understanding of current issues and professional themes that engage with partners in pursuit of the vision that all young Nebraska children are secure, healthy, and successful.

North American Association for Environmental Education, Washington, DC, USA
naaee.org

Since 1971, the North American Association for Environmental Education has been a leading professional association promoting environmental education, and providing professional development, resources, programs and networks. NAAEE is a network of environmental education professionals, students, and volunteers throughout North America and in over 55 countries around the world working to promote a healthy and sustainable environment through education.

Project Learning Tree, Washington, DC, USA
plt.org

Project Learning Tree is an award-winning environmental education program designed for teachers and other educators, parents, and community leaders working with youth from preschool to grade 12.

Roots & Shoots: A program of the Jane Goodall Institute, Tanzania
rootsandshoots.org

Dr Jane Goodall founded the Roots & Shoots program in Tanzania, in 1991, with a gathering of 16 students on her front porch. The students were fascinated by animal behavior and environmental concerns, but none of their classes covered these topics. Together with Dr Jane, the students tried to determine how they could address these issues. They went back to their schools with the task of forming clubs with other interested young people, and Roots & Shoots began.

Today, Roots & Shoots is a global network of groups of young people in over 90 countries, all working in their own communities to make a difference for animals, the environment and people. Groups form in many settings including schools, daycare centers, families, churches and nature centers and are supported and connected by our national and regional offices. The flexible Roots & Shoots methodology emphasizes the principle that knowledge leads to compassion, which inspires action. For educators and parents working with children ages 3-8 years, we have developed our Roots & Shoots for Young Children activity packets, which focus on developing awareness and empathy. Many of the activities allow children to observe and learn about the natural world in a hands-on way. The exploration of how plants, animals, and humans interact provides the basis children need to become compassionate, engaged members of their communities.

Toledo Institute for Development and Environment, Belize
tidebelize.org

The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) was founded in 1997 to meet the growing environmental and development needs of the Toledo District, the southernmost district of Belize. TIDE was conceived as a grassroots initiative in response to the negative environmental effects from activities such as manatee poaching, illegal fishing, illegal logging, destructive farming methods, and other types of unsustainable development. Initially started by volunteers, TIDE has now grown to include 20 paid staff. TIDE's mission is to research and monitor Toledo's natural resources, to assist in protected areas planning and management and to lead the development of responsible tourism and other environmentally sustainable economic alternatives by providing training and support to local residents.

USDA Forest Service. Washington, DC, USA
fs.fed.us

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service is a Federal agency that manages public lands in national forests and grasslands. The Forest Service is also the largest forestry research organization in the world, and provides technical and financial assistance to state and private forestry agencies. Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the Forest Service, summed up the purpose of the Forest Service—"to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run."

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
fws.gov

Although a relative newcomer to the Department of the Interior, the Fish and Wildlife Service's programs are among the oldest in the world dedicated to the conservation of natural resources. Their goal is to preserve invaluable parts of American environmental history which might otherwise be lost or neglected. The agency's history has closely mirrored the American public's growing concern with conservation and environmental issues for over 125 years.