Ted attended a National Association for Interpretation (NAI) certification seminar in Porterville, California, this past week. Porterville is one of the gateways to the Giant Sequoia National Monument. Seven teams worked on interpretive plans for the Monument during the week, and presented their work on Friday (the last day of the session). On the team with Ted were Marianne Emmendorfer of the US Forest Service in California and Joe Lomicky with Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. This session, on interpretive planning, is the final certification seminar in a series for Ted (at least for the foreseeable future).

On Monday several of the groups sped from Porterville to the Forest to see the nearest grove of sequoias. These trees are among the largest and oldest living organisms on earth, with the oldest reaching an age of 3000 years. Words cannot describe how humbled one feels when first standing at the base of one of these giants.

The interpretive plan and Powerpoint from the final day’s presentation by Marianne, Joe, and Ted have been posted to the Fermata website.

Thanks to NAI, follow participants, and particularly Marianne and Joe for a wonderfully stimulating and productive week.