The entire campus was put together through the lens of
conservation.
NCTC is the only place in the world where people come solely
for conservation training.
We really are the home of the ology--
biology, ecology, toxicology.
We are on the cutting edge of science for
all of these courses.
I think NCTC brings a rigor to the courses that are taught
here, and it really benefits the student.
The training that we do here is vital to our
success out in the field.
The beautiful outdoors-- when I went for a walk two nights
ago, I saw a red fox hunting.
I saw bluebirds.
I saw a great blue heron.
The concept of the training center was of a conservation
watering hole.
It's a place where conservation professionals can
come, sit down and talk about the challenges of the day.
When I come to NCTC for training, I'm coming home.
[BIRD SOUNDS]
The National Conservation Training Center is located on
540 acres, on about a mile and a half of the Potomac River.
It's really beautiful.
It's in the middle of the forest.
The lodge rooms are nestled in among what I
call a Sycamore grove.
We include conservation professionals from all over
the country and throughout the world to sit-in our trainings
and be part of what we do here at NCTC.
It's just a good setting, and it just sets the tone for
focusing on environmental issues.
DU has worked with NCTC for quite a while too in training,
and a great place to have meetings.
So it's just been an ongoing partnership in conservation.
The 500 acres is like a living laboratory.
We are constantly outdoors.
We are traipsing in the Potomac River.
We are studying mock scenarios here in the
grasslands at NCTC.
Well, when you take them out in the field, it gives
immediate relevancy to what we've been talking about in
the classroom.
You can't read a book and then have all the answers.
You read the book, and you understand the fundamentals.
And then we have to put those principles to
practice in the field.
So that folks go home-- they're actually going to use
it exactly the way they did here at NCTC.
Water comes into the channels--
We try to offer courses to people that are not off the
shelf, but are very focused on conservation missions and the
things that they need to do on their job when they go back to
their stations.
So not only can we collect and mark the
way points, but let's--
Doing the GPS stuff right now, which is kind of cool, because
we do a lot of it at work, and I don't know
too much about it.
And so it's going to be good to take back to the stations.
Students that in the beginning of the class didn't have any
knowledge of the information, and by the end of the class,
they're so excited and charged.
And they always tell me, oh, I can't wait to talk to my
supervisor.
I'd love to get one of these and use it in my refuge.
120 inches.
All of our courses are hands on.
Large tube of gold.
We try to introduce them to techniques to be able to
identify any fish in the country.
We had a need for some fish for our fish
identification course.
And while some people like to cut them off, a lot of times--
One of our staff has created a number of paintings.
They are both artistically beautiful, capture your eye.
But they're also scientifically correct.
Here at NCTC, we offer training in science and
policy, land management and outreach, and leadership and
employee development.
You get the exposure to new ideas, new practitioners.
You get the training from the leading experts in the world.
You're not just getting one person talking about stuff
they haven't done.
It's people that have been doing this
for an entire career.
Ever since a kid, I've loved water fowl.
I have been around water fowl in my life.
The advantage of having an instructor with hands on
experiences is you get the practical information, the
practical resources.
The most significant thing that I can contribute is to
the students that are in these classes, because I see them
becoming the teachers.
Some of the challenges and the stuff that they're facing at
their stations that I might be facing at my own.
Because of their color.
Because they may have issues you've been through.
You've been there.
You can help them through those things.
And this is a place to do it.
I can share my information with them, and they can share
their information with me.
You either add or subtract.
It's nice to have that interactive element.
Well, I'm really excited about mobile learning and learning
on the fly, and sometimes we call that
just in time training.
Things like video courses, podcasting, broadcasting.
With the way that we're so interconnected now, we can
keep our finger on the pulse of what's urgently needed.
I think that some of the AV needs of our NASA scientists
are pretty heavy duty.
Our facilities don't seem to have any problems
accommodating them.
It's always my first choice to come here and schedule
something if I can, if I'm running a workshop, a training
or a conference.
When you visit NCTC, we want you to be inspired about your
jobs and about conservation.
Just like a real home, since we're the home for Fish and
Wildlife Service, we have interesting bits of our
history kind of tucked in corners just to remind people
where we came from and how important our job has been.
Very nice combination of the natural world and an amazing
built environment.
We hope when students come through our museum they feel
inspired to be the types of conservationists that have
come before them, to be an Aldo Leopold, to be a Rachel
Carson, to be really somebody who changes the world.
To me, it does is give me that sense of feeling of
obligation, that I have to do more than what I've done
before, that I have a real high standard to live up to.
NCTC's commitment to sustainability really made it
the perfect choice for us.
We like to be able to walk our talk.
We try to be a living example of how to be green and operate
in a sustainable fashion.
Kids are more disconnected from nature than any time in
human history, right now, and particularly in the last two
to three decades.
The center helped us begin to think about how do we really
start a movement.
How do we actually got hiking boots on the ground?
How do we get kids outdoors?
How do we change schools so that they naturalize their
school yards, et cetera?
This outdoor classroom is the newest addition to the
Children's Treehouse, as we're trying to connect children
with the outdoors.
The Children's Treehouse benefits NCTC students by
allowing them to bring their children with them when they
come here for training.
The one thing that sets the Children's Treehouse apart
from any other daycare is the fact that it's nature based.
I knew that my kids were going to be outside every day.
So I think it's critically important to be close to
nature when you're talking about nature, and to be able
to see conservation when you're talking about
conservation.
And you can do that here.
NCTC is a critical component of our training needs.
NCTC, to National Park Service people,
is a turnkey operation.
It's one of those things where it provides us the opportunity
to have everything right here at our fingertips, as far as
locking as lodging is concerned, as far as the food
service is concerned.
But they've also given us a kind of support that can't be
measured, and that's the kindness, and commitment, and
the generosity of spirit.
To me, it feels like I'm in a place where I'm supposed to be
learning about the world around me.
NCTC is the place to come learn.
It's recognized as the Cambridge of conservation,
across the world, 150 countries.
I have one of the best jobs in the world, because I am able
to watch people come to NCTC, get inspired, become
reinvigorated, and do great things.
It's the place to be to grow, to learn to network,
reconnect, and then to take that energy
back into the field.
It's so important, and it continues to do that today.