Over the past two months, there鈥檚 been a lot of student sweat going into Jasper National Park. Over 100 high school students from Jasper, Hinton, Edson and Edmonton have been carrying out projects aimed at inspiring a sense of importance around responsible planning and management of resources.
Projects have ranged from trail clearing to wild seed picking to restoring native grasslands. These ambitious students have been studying, working and playing at the Palisades Stewardship Education Centre, all while earning high school credit.
Part of the centre鈥檚 Active Stewardship course is to give back to the environment during their time in the park. Following their visit, the students then take what they鈥檝e learned back to their own communities and finish a project at home. For their Active Stewardship project, Jasper students chose to pick up garbage at Athabasca Falls and to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund. Hinton students cleaned up their local parks and the Hinton Fish and Game Archery Range.
The students鈥� enthusiasm during their learning, working and sweating was palpable. Educational leaders at the Palisades Centre now hope the students will continue to be stewards of the land and volunteers for the rest of their lives.
What is the Palisades Centre?
Surrounded by the awe-inspiring mountains of Jasper National Park, the Palisades Centre is located 15 km east of the town of Jasper. The facility provides experiential education opportunities, through a variety of youth programs, both credit and non-credit. Programs blend mountain recreation with environmental stewardship to create meaningful and lasting learning experiences.
