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Ellingboe finds learning never dull at forest

By GEORGE ROGERS
of The Gazette
Every year 5,000 Stevens Point area school children get a taste, sometimes their first, of the outdoor world at the Boston School Forest.

Sally Ellingboe, the school district's environmental coordinator since 1983, has retired from the position, though not from environmental education. She's being succeeded by Karen Dostal who, said Ellingboe, "is going to be just excellent." Dostal, who has a master's degree in environmental education, has been a teacher at Bannach School.

The Boston School Forest has been around for 65 years but at first it was just that, a forest. Then it became an environmental teaching tool, with its own buildings and staff. All the children from kindergarten through grade six in the Stevens Point Area School District are at the forest at some time during the school year. Parochial school pupils, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and others use it evenings and weekends.

Not every family exposes its kids to the outdoors these days, and Ellingboe said some kindergartners are afraid at first to be in the woods. "They need the program desperately," she said. At the Boston School Forest, she said, they learn that it's fun to be outdoors, even in the winter. The staff, she said, "has enthusiasm that they share with the kids."

Growing up in Stevens Point, Sally Ellingboe had her share of contact with the outdoors. Her parents, the Ray Newbys, had a tree farm and her grandparents, the Ripley Newbys, had a dairy farm in the town of Buena Vista. She spent much time at both places. "I always wanted to be outside," she said.

She attended local schools and became a grade school teacher. While she was teaching at the Roosevelt School, the district posted the new position of environmental education coordinator. She applied, though at first the job was on a trial basis. "I thought it would be a wonderful change for a year or two," said Ellingboe, but it stretched out to almost 20 years as she developed a highly regarded program.

Ellingboe, who has a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's with emphasis on environmental education, said "it's never dull." When the children are in the woods, where the true learning takes place, she said there's always something new - a turkey feather, perhaps, or a fox track.

The main buildings at the school forest are Noble Lodge and Oelke Lodge, named for two key players in the history of the program.

H.R. Noble, county agriculture agent, negotiated with Harry Boston for the donation of the forest in the 1930s.

In 1979 "Gil Oelke took the challenge" of getting the environmental education program going.

Oelke, a junior high school principal, became chairman of the Boston School Forest Committee, a position he still holds in retirement. He raised money for structures and was chairman of the fund-raising committee for the forest's biggest and newest building, which the School Board named Oelke Lodge. It was built without taxpayer money and went into use in 1997. The fund drive for the lodge raised $129,000, and huge in-kind contributions were made in the form of labor, materials and construction machinery.
Ellingboe called it "a really terrific building" and said it's "a tribute to community support."

She said Superintendent Emery Babcock, just recently retired, was instrumental in development of the curriculum for the environmental education program.

Some environmental education was going on at the forest even before Ellingboe started there. She said high school teacher Dennis DeDeker used to go there with his students, who would then work with grade school teachers and their students. The forest has continued to use high school students in the same way.

The Boston School Forest educates teachers as well as children, and encourages them to do environmental studies on their own school grounds. Programs at the forest are integrated with those in the classroom.

Ellingboe, just back from a month-long camping trip to Alaska, plans to stay involved in environmental education through a couple of boards of which she's a member, as well as through the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources and the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station. After an appropriate interval, she'd like to volunteer at the Boston School Forest.

The forest has changed over the years. Until the 1930s it was an 80-acre field. A movement was under way in Wisconsin to establish school forests, and H.R. Noble took it upon himself to get the ball rolling in Portage County.

Harry Boston had two 40-acre tracts south of Plover and offered to donate one of them. He and Noble went there, and Boston asked which one he wanted. As Noble related it many years later, he couldn't make up his mind. First he liked this one, and then he liked the other one. Back and forth he went. Finally the exasperated Boston said, "Hell, take both of them."

The forest was dedicated in 1937 and Gov. Philip La Follette planted the first tree. In the years that followed, school children planted the rest. Today, it's logged regularly as part of a forest management plan and it's beginning to look more like a natural woodland and less like a pine plantation. These days, the only trees planted there are ones that benefit wildlife species.



	Ellingboe finds learning never dull at forest By GEORGE ROGERS of The Gazette Every year 5,000 Stevens Point area school children get a taste, sometimes their first, of the outdoor world at the Boston School Forest. Sally Ellingboe, the school district's environmental coordinator since 1983, has retired from the position, though not from environmental education. She's being succeeded by Karen Dostal who, said Ellingboe, "is going to be just excellent." Dostal, who has a master's degree in environmental education, has been a teacher at Bannach School. The Boston School Forest has been around for 65 years but at first it was just that, a forest. Then it became an environmental teaching tool, with its own buildings and staff. All the children from kindergarten through grade six in the Stevens Point Area School District are at the forest at some time during the school year. Parochial school pupils, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and others use it evenings and weekends. Not every family exposes its kids to the outdoors these days, and Ellingboe said some kindergartners are afraid at first to be in the woods. "They need the program desperately," she said. At the Boston School Forest, she said, they learn that it's fun to be outdoors, even in the winter. The staff, she said, "has enthusiasm that they share with the kids." Growing up in Stevens Point, Sally Ellingboe had her share of contact with the outdoors. Her parents, the Ray Newbys, had a tree farm and her grandparents, the Ripley Newbys, had a dairy farm in the town of Buena Vista. She spent much time at both places. "I always wanted to be outside," she said. She attended local schools and became a grade school teacher. While she was teaching at the Roosevelt School, the district posted the new position of environmental education coordinator. She applied, though at first the job was on a trial basis. "I thought it would be a wonderful change for a year or two," said Ellingboe, but it stretched out to almost 20 years as she developed a highly regarded program. Ellingboe, who has a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's with emphasis on environmental education, said "it's never dull." When the children are in the woods, where the true learning takes place, she said there's always something new - a turkey feather, perhaps, or a fox track. The main buildings at the school forest are Noble Lodge and Oelke Lodge, named for two key players in the history of the program. H.R. Noble, county agriculture agent, negotiated with Harry Boston for the donation of the forest in the 1930s. In 1979 "Gil Oelke took the challenge" of getting the environmental education program going. Oelke, a junior high school principal, became chairman of the Boston School Forest Committee, a position he still holds in retirement. He raised money for structures and was chairman of the fund-raising committee for the forest's biggest and newest building, which the School Board named Oelke Lodge. It was built without taxpayer money and went into use in 1997. The fund drive for the lodge raised $129,000, and huge in-kind contributions were made in the form of labor, materials and construction machinery. Ellingboe called it "a really terrific building" and said it's "a tribute to community support." She said Superintendent Emery Babcock, just recently retired, was instrumental in development of the curriculum for the environmental education program. Some environmental education was going on at the forest even before Ellingboe started there. She said high school teacher Dennis DeDeker used to go there with his students, who would then work with grade school teachers and their students. The forest has continued to use high school students in the same way. The Boston School Forest educates teachers as well as children, and encourages them to do environmental studies on their own school grounds. Programs at the forest are integrated with those in the classroom. Ellingboe, just back from a month-long camping trip to Alaska, plans to stay involved in environmental education through a couple of boards of which she's a member, as well as through the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources and the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station. After an appropriate interval, she'd like to volunteer at the Boston School Forest. The forest has changed over the years. Until the 1930s it was an 80-acre field. A movement was under way in Wisconsin to establish school forests, and H.R. Noble took it upon himself to get the ball rolling in Portage County. Harry Boston had two 40-acre tracts south of Plover and offered to donate one of them. He and Noble went there, and Boston asked which one he wanted. As Noble related it many years later, he couldn't make up his mind. First he liked this one, and then he liked the other one. Back and forth he went. Finally the exasperated Boston said, "Hell, take both of them." The forest was dedicated in 1937 and Gov. Philip La Follette planted the first tree. In the years that followed, school children planted the rest. Today, it's logged regularly as part of a forest management plan and it's beginning to look more like a natural woodland and less like a pine plantation. These days, the only trees planted there are ones that benefit wildlife species.