Colorado EE Master Plan 2005

Revision of Colorado EE Master Plan

In 1972, under a planning grant from the United States Office of Education, more than 650 Colorado citizens were involved in developing an Environmental Education Master Plan (EEMP) intended to promote, assist, and coordinate state environmental education (EE) efforts. The participants identified local, regional, and statewide environmental problems, the roles of both formal and informal education in helping to solve these problems, and local and statewide resources that could be made available for environmental education purposes. These people made their views known primarily through participation in one of ten Interest Committees:

Committees were established in the Denver metropolitan area and through regional meetings organized in Hugo, Craig, Rifle, Eagle, Cortez, Lamar, Durango, Alamosa, Colorado Springs, Meeker, Sterling, Pueblo, Hot Sulphur Springs, Fort Collins, and Montrose. From this information and analysis, an interim Environmental Education Master Plan for Colorado was drafted, but the document was shelved when the planning grant money was exhausted.

Early in 1993, a review of this nearly forgotten master plan revealed a surprising number of needs, goals, and implementation strategies that remained valid. A new committee formed to update the 1972 plan in the spirit of reinvigorating Colorado's cumulative environmental education effort. This effort provided better continuity and formed a basis for improved collaboration, communication, and cooperation among the many organizations and individuals who were involved in EE in the state.

The following timeline describes the evolution of the 1995 Colorado Environmental Education Master Plan.

TIMELINE OF MASTER PLAN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

In May, 1995, the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE) released the first Colorado Environmental Education Master Plan (1995 CEEMP) on behalf of the environmental education (EE) community. The 1995 CEEMP was an effort to articulate the common goals and directions of the diverse EE community. From its inception, the 1995 CEEMP was intended as a living document, to be updated as needed.

In April 2004, the Colorado EE Advisory Council focused on revitalizing the 1995 CEEMP. Council members engaged in several exercises designed to springboard a comprehensive review and revision of the plan, in keeping with the spirit of the original document. These efforts culminated with the creation of a committee tasked with updating the plan, with the specific intention of developing a dynamic, useful document that would serve as a guide and resource for EE providers, and simultaneously avoid a fate common to grand notions - gathering dust on a shelf.

The CEEMP working group developed draft goal statements and published them on the CAEE website in October 2004. This marked the beginning of the public comment period, which ended on October 15, 2004. The draft was also presented for comment to members of the Advisory Council at a meeting on November 5, 2004. The CEEMP working group incorporated those comments into a second draft and again published this version through the CAEE website. Comments were received on the second draft in February and March 2005. The committee continued to meet through the spring to address these comments and create the final 2005 version of the plan.

The final 2005 version of the CEEMP is the result of very hard work by a committee of Colorado's EE Advisory Council trying to establish a positive and valuable tool for Colorado's EE community. Obviously, revising a master plan is no easy task. However, the committee has never blinked despite their daunting challenge, and has come up with solutions full of creativity, innovation, and wisdom. Their work, like the work of the research and assessment, conference, and awards committees, is yet another powerful example of the tremendous reservoir of leadership that is to be found within CAEE's membership.

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