Wisconsin
has a long history of citizen involvement and commitment to
a sustainable natural resource base. Since the late 1800s,
outdoor and nature education has been provided in Wisconsin schools. In 1935, a law was passed requiring
teacher-training colleges to provide conservation education.
In 1985, The Wisconsin legislature enacted a curriculum
planning standard requiring that school districts develop
and implement a K-12 environmental education curriculum by
September 1, 1990. To support this curriculum mandate the state legislature authorized the creation of the
Wisconsin Environmental Education Board with a grants
program and the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education
in 1990.
Academic standards for environmental education were
established for K-12 education in 1998.
Environmental education (EE) strategic planning also has a long and
successful history in Wisconsin. Statewide planning and
capacity-building for EE was formally done as early as 1974.
The document, entitled
Environmental Education in Wisconsin:
A Foundation for Conserving Environmental Quality (2,238 KB) was
prepared by the Wisconsin Environmental Education Council
and its Advisory Committee.
In 1994, the WEEB initiated a statewide planning process that
included a stakeholder survey and "summit" process. In
2000, the WEEB again solicited input from citizens and
stakeholders to create
EE 2005: A Plan for Advancing
Environmental Education in Wisconsin (57 KB). This document with
associated action items guided the WEEB and other
organizations from 2000 through 2005.
The most recent plan
EE 2010: A Plan for Advancing Environmental Education in
Wisconsin (1,793 KB) was printed in July 2006. If you are
interested in the action steps related to implementing this
plan, please see the "Operational Plan" heading within each
of the individual committee listings. Use the "Committees"
link to the left.
The EE2010,
EE2005, Summit Materials and 1974 document are all in
portable document format (PDF) files. See below to download
a free document reader.
