2026 LEEF Conference Wakulla Wild

Discover how Bonnet Springs Park creates outdoor learning spaces that welcome everyone. This session will highlight common barriers to access, share creative strategies for overcoming them, and showcase the benefits of prioritizing accessibility. Participants will leave with applicable tools, inclusive resources, and examples of how program facilitators can integrate accessibility into uncommon spaces.

Have you ever heard of a children’s book that features an endangered snail kite as its main character? At our Everglades-focused, South Florida nature center, neither had we – and we needed one! – so we decided to create our own. Join us to learn from our center’s experience writing and illustrating *Sam the Snail Kite and the Secret of the Everglades* as a springboard for creative, place-based literacy programming and community outreach. We will share tips and cautionary tales about writing your own book, as well as techniques for using children’s picture books to engage young readers in the natural world at your site.

What do 15 years of growing look like and where we are finding our next generation?
Sharing our story about using Growing Up WILD in our Florida Youth Conservation Centers Network (FYCCN) and evaluation of this national program from educators to the children that benefit from the curriculum. We will ‘show and tell’ how you can bring this award-winning early childhood education curriculum to your classrooms, centers, and business that work with children ages 3-7.

The State Coordinator for Project WILD in Florida, Yatska Valentin, will bring resources, only for presentation participants, on how you can become a facilitator or become educators for the program. Learn more about Project WILD, Aquatic WILD and Flying WILD opportunities in your area. Patricia Brown, Assistant Director at the Joe Budd Youth Conservation Center in Midway, Fl. will share the success of the program in their monthly program both on site and in schools. We will tell the story of FYCCN and how you can become a partner with some great resources for you to use.
This presentation will include activities that you can immediately use.

Environmental education faces critical challenges in keeping pace with rapidly evolving technological landscapes. AI offers support in planning, content creation, evaluation, and teaching, creating opportunities for innovative and timely content to engage students. This session introduces ways environmental educators can integrate AI into their practice through hands-on activities with various AI tools, while addressing ethical considerations. Participants will gain practical skills to critically apply AI for lesson planning, content development, assessment, and instruction, fostering innovation in the field of environmental education.

Conservation Pathways is a nonprofit organization that serves high school and college students interested in pursuing careers in conservation. We work with students to develop field research, science communication, and professionalism skills. Through our science communication focus, we provide field trips, presentations, and other environmental education opportunities for communities in Florida’s Big Bend region. This presentation will introduce our model for inspiring the next generation of conservation leaders, share best management practices for internship programs, and engage participants in a discussion about creative ways to use citizen science and experiential learning as tools to foster students’ and the general public’s connection to local ecosystems. Our fellows will practice their communication skills by sharing their personal experiences as well.