2009
Tony Allison, Environmental Educator at the University of Washington Botanical Gardens and Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and fluent Russian speaker with long-term ties to the Russian Far East, visited the Vladivostok Botanical Garden-Institute of the Russian Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (VBG), to demonstrate environmental education programs.
2010
Albina Brizhataya, Valentina Kalinkina, Nadezhda Tonkova, three botanist-educators from VBG, visited Seattle for three weeks. Their trip was sponsored by EarthCorps of Seattle; they received training in Environmental Education (EE) from the UW Botanical Garden (UWBG) and also visited several area environmental organizations, including IslandWood.
2011
Following this exchange, a series of new education programs was developed at VBG:
- First annual nature festival, "Rhododendron Day", featuring local Schmitz Park Elementary students (May 2011)
- Environmental education tours for adults and children modeled after UWBG practices
- Volunteer recruitment to carry out restoration projects
- Design a pilot summer camp for children at VBG for summer 2012
A few goals, activities and results of the visit:
- Evaluation of programming aimed at developing greater interest in botany and the environment among citizens in Primorsky Krai
- International exchange of ideas employed by EE organizations in Primorsky Krai and Washington State
- International seminar: "Environmental Education in Russia and the US: Practice, Problems, and Prospects for Collaboration"
- Presentations and hands-on lessons conducted by US and Russian educators for teachers and students in Primorsky Krai
2012
We joined the Botanical Garden Staff and local scientists to deliver their first "Ecological Week". The program was dominated by 3-4 hours daily of researchers presenting their work to our group of 18 students, ranging in age from 7 to 17. These kids were polite listeners, through the heat, humidity, and power points. Several visiting scientists took us all into the field - for a mix of macro collection, soil sampling and a greenhouse tour. We have worked Meet a Tree, Bear, Salmon, Mosquito, Loop a Group, human Knot, Leaf in a Bag, Ecosystem Challenge, I am From poems, and a final Path Map into the week. Oh, and there were the surprise TV interviews and sudden appearance of a groups of children with special needs. "Could you please play a game with them?" Actually that happened twice, so we figured our delivery was adequate! It has been fabulous. Saturday's restoration project happened without us, as we were whisked away to meet the barge that would take us to Russian Island. This was a backpack through the woods, and through knee deep water to cross a 200yard channel to another smaller island, and down a 100' vertical rope to the rocky beach where we camped. That is another story...suffice it to say that the poisonous snake did no harm, the bat stars thrilled Lauren, Karen dove in from a rocky promontory, freshly made salads and borscht delighted and amazed us, and the rising tide and waves didn't quite prevent us from crossing the channel back safely, although our hosts had some doubt about it.
