[Learning Tree (PLT) is a

[Learning Tree (PLT) is a wealth of resources and ideas that elementary and high school teachers will find invaluable. Best of all, PLT is free to teachers, government workers, and all others interested in learning and teaching about our natural resources. It's funded by the forest industry, coordinated by a staff of professional educators, and supported by thousands of trained volunteers. The American Forest Institute, a public relations branch of forest product industries, initiated Project Learning Tree in the western states six years ago. Lyn Fleming, an energetic, delightfully enthusiastic young woman who came from her home in Colorado for our workshop at Massanetta Springs, is on the PLT staff. She helps to implement the program on a national scale.

Lyn is quick to point out that early development of PLT included a concerted effort to produce a “balanced and unbiased” program, one that would not tend to defend or promote modern forestry practices. Natural resource agencies, classroom teachers, college professors, and conservation organizations —as well as forest industry representatives—all provided input.

Lyn smugly points out that the entire program has survived careful scrutiny by Ralph Nader’s consumer group. A conservation education program funded by the clear-cutting, treechipping forest products industry seemed a prime suspect for conflict of interest. But even Nader’s nitpicking critics failed to find fault or a hint of industry bias. They gave PLT an unqualified clean slate!

PLT is intended to supplement— not replace— existing curricula in grades K-12. It focuses on the forest resource, but has a broader purpose of "helping students to develop the awareness, knowledge, skills and commitment necessary for the responsible use of resources for the long term benefit of all”

Lyn describes the program as “interdisciplinary.” PLT presents hundreds of field