| "It's a great way in our busy world to get our information to the people who need it." | |
| Janet Evans, Georgia Coastal Management Program |
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Learn On Coastal Ark Decision makers often don't have the time or money to attend environmental education programs or training classes away from their offices. Georgia's Coastal Ark solves the problem by bringing the programs to the officials.
"Now we bring the information they need right to their office," said Janet Evans, education coordinator for Georgia's Coastal Management Program. "It's a great way in our busy world to get our information to the people who need it."
The Coastal Ark is a 30-foot recreational vehicle that has been converted into a mobile classroom, office, and conference center. It features computers loaded with geographic information systems (GIS), a meeting space for up to six, libraries of books and maps, and a television and VCR. "It has everything we need," Evans said.
She said the idea developed out of a "smaller version" the state Department of Natural Resources used in the late 70s and early 80s. "Then, they used a van to take education programs to the schools. For the 90s, we're facing greater development pressures along our coast and we realized we needed to get our information to the people who are making decisions now, so we enlarged our platform and changed our focus from schools to local decision makers."
Georgia's Coastal Resources Division applied for and received a grant from the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency to create the Ark and operate it for two years. While the vehicle was being custom designed by the manufacturer, the Coastal Management Program completed a needs assessment survey in the state's 11 coastal counties and "got from them what their priorities were," Evans said. She then designed training programs to help each county meet their specific goals. Program topics include wetlands, water quality and non-point source pollution, and septic systems.
Unveiled last May, the Coastal Ark has already reached about 10,000 people, Evans said. "We've gotten a very positive response so far. Most decision makers think it's great and fit us into their schedule."
Evans said the coastal staff offer free one-on-one and office training, and attend commission and other planned meetings where they can educate large groups of people at once, including members of the public. Evans said they also take the Ark to schools, libraries, and environmental festivals and fairs.
"We have to be careful because it would be very easy to be swamped with requests to take it to schools and we want to ensure that we hit our priority spots first," she said. "We want to get to those who are making the decisions now, so that when these kids grow up there are fewer problems to manage."
For more information on Georgia's Coastal Ark, call Janet Evans at (912) 264-7218, or e-mail her at janet@ecology.dnr.state.ga.us.
