Interpretation Flypaper

January Update

2012-01-13T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, Hope you had a great holiday. Looks like the new year will be a busy one. I have my US Army Corps of Engineers 4-day interpretive course at the end of January, and was just awarded the contract to teach the COE Advanced Interpretation Course for Supervisors and Managers, this May. My newest book "The Interpretive Training Handbook" should be released this month or early February, and I launched my e-interp web based training courses with "Introduction to Interpretation", and "Planning Interpretive Panels" as the first two courses. I am working on the third e-interp course "Planning Interpretive Exhibits" now, and hope to have it on-line by the end of the month. You can check my website for the details on the new books, training courses, and projects - www.heritageinterp.com. jv

Merry Christmas update

2011-12-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

Just a quick update. The e-courses are now up an running - links to them are posted at my web site: www.heritageinterp.com, and the new Interpretive Training Handbook is in final production and should be out early next year. Hope you all have a great holiday. Chat with you next year. jv

December Update - New Book

2011-12-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

My newest book "The Interpretive Trainers Handbook" is in final production and should be out shortly. We are also working an a new exciting project for interpretive training - e-interp - a new web-based interpretive training course program in association with cpd4education - a UK based internet training provider. These courses will be offered and available world-wide. Our first two internet courses will be "An Introduction to Interpretive Communication" and "Planning Interpretive Panels". When these two courses are officially "activated" I will post a link to access them. They will be fee-based training and offer a certificate of completion. In all, about 10 new courses are planned between now and 2013. Two courses in the planning and development stages are "Planning Interpretive Exhibits" and "Developing Marketing Brochures for Heritage Sites and Attractions" that should be available early next year. So it looks like 2012 should be a busy year. More new projects on the horizon for 2012 as well. Cheers - jv

New JV Interpretive Books

2011-11-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, I am pleased to announce that my new two-volume text-book set on Interpretive Master Plannning has been officially released. You can find out more about the books or order a set at: http://museumsetc.com/products/interpretation

Right now just finishing up some projects. We completed the St. Clair Light Station Interpretive Plan and are finishing up some some others too. My second new book on "Teaching Interpretation to Others" - a train the trainers book, is now in production. More on that later.

Happy November -
John V.

Slovenia Habit-Change Workshop

2011-10-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

Back from the Habit-Change workshop in Slovenia. They had representatives from many different EU National Parks and agencies. There is a group photo of the workshop participants. I had a chance for the National Park folks to take me on a quick tour of some of the outstanding sights of Triglav National Park in Slovenia. We did some interpretive sign crituques as well. All-in-all a great trip and I had the chance to meet some wonderful people.

Sweden Trip

2011-09-30T06:08:00.001-07:00

Hi folks. Just returned from my Sweden workshop with the Sweden National Property Board. We had a great workshop on using interpretation and interpretive planning for the interpretation of their historic buildings and landscapes nationally. Here is a pic from the workshop, attended by managers and staff from their marketing and communications divisions (bottom photo).

I also had a chance to meet over an extended lunch with staff from the Swedish Centre for Nature Interpretation (top photo) to talk about their work in developing interpretation skills and research projects. You can visit their website at http://www.scni.se/. Today is Friday, and I am off to Slovenia for the Climate Change workshop with EU National Park participants. More about that next week. Cheers, John Veverka

Off to Sweden and updates

2011-09-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

It's been mostly a quiet few weeks of writing reports and a new article on useing mass customization in interpretive planning - posted at my web site. My new interpretive master planning two-volume text book set should be out this month too - anxious to see them with all the updates.

From the 26th - 29th of Sep. I will be in Sweden, then the following week in Slovenia. Will do some posts from both locations. The Fort Gratiot Light Station project in Port Huron, MI (photo of the Light Station) is almost competed with the final draft sent off for reveiw. So that's about it for now. More at the end of September. - John Veverka

National Property Board - Sweden

2011-08-20T09:44:00.001-07:00

It looks like it will be an interesting autumn. I've been invited to present a seminar on interpretation to the National Property Board of Sweden. They're responsible for the palaces, royal parks, embassies, wild nature and historical buildings in Sweden. I will be doing the seminar for them at the end of September. You can visit their web site at: www.sfv.se/cms/english.html.

Lakeshore Museum Center Training

2011-08-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

We completed our 3-day workshop with the Lakeshore Museum Staff/interpreters and what a great group. At the end of the workshop the final presentations included staff trying their hand at 2nd and 1st person historical interpretation - and did they excell. With an average score of 95% on the course post test, and outstanding presentations, the staff at the Lakeshore Museum diserve a standing ovation. Here are some photos - including a depression era housewife talking about the challenging times of the depression, and meeting a "hobo" who talked about losing his job and being on the searh for work while his family stayed with relatives - and outstanding presentation.

UK Association for Heritage Interpretation Annual Conference

2011-08-11T13:46:00.001-07:00

I am honored to have been asked to provide a keynote presentation at the upcoming Association for Heritage Interpretation annual conference to be held in Huby (near York, UK) from 19-21 October 2011. The theme for the conference is "Interpretation - A survival guide" - My presentation will look at ways heritage sites can generate more new and repeat visitation using innovative interpretive planning and marketing strategies. Working smarter, not harder.
For more information on the conference and AHI, visit their web site at http://www.ahi.org.uk/. Hope you can make it - should be an important conference.

Habit-Change Workshop in Slovenia

2011-08-11T09:59:00.001-07:00

I have been invited to present several workshop sessions for the Habit-Change workshop in October to be held at Triglav National Park in Slovenia. My sessions will focus on developing climate change exhibits for National Park exhibitions. Habit-Change is an international organization dedicated to the adaptation of management in protected areas related to climate change issues. You can visit Habit-Change at: www.habit-change.eu.

Lakeshore Museum Center, Michigan

2011-07-22T10:01:00.001-07:00

Lakeshore Museum Center, Muskegon, Michigan. JVA will be providing a three day interpretive training program and "secret visitor" tour and critique of the Lakeshore Museum Center's facilities and programs. The interpretive training will focus on the basics of planning and delivery of professional interpretive tour presentations based on Tilden's Interpretive Principles and developing interpretive themes and tour objectives. You can visit the museum's web site at: http://www.muskegonmuseum.org/. The training course will be conducted August 14th - 17th, 2011.

Henry Ford Estate Interpretation

2011-07-02T12:53:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting and important new heritage project. I have been asked to provide interpretive planning consultation for the Henry Ford Estate. Ownership of the estate has been transferred from the Univ. of Michigan to the same folks that manage the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House (Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan). They are looking for innovative ways to "reinterpret" the estate.

New technologies for interpretation

2011-06-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

We are looking at the use of QR Codes for self-guiding interpretation options. Here is the QR Code for my website. These codes can be scanned with a smart phone with a bar code/QR code reader, and be directed to client videos, web sites, articles, or anything else. I am looking at using these for some up coming projects. Lots of new projects on the horizon, just waiting for the official notices to proceed to post them. Enjoy July... JV

EWI New Project

2011-06-15T13:03:00.001-07:00

JVA was awarded a contract to provide interpretive services for Exhibit Works for a project for one of their commercial clients. Our work will include: Interpretive Exhibit Label Copy, Developing a Docent Training Program and Interpretive Tour Guide Book, conduct a "Train the Trainers" program, and conduct exhibit pre-testing evaluation. You can visit this client at: http://www.ewiworldwide.com/specialties/exhibit-works/index.aspx

COE Training Course June 2011

2011-06-09T11:11:00.001-07:00

Our introductory interpretive training course included lots of hands on interpretive projects and experiences. The photos show teams working on interpretive panel designs for the Wheeler National Wildlife Reserve (our field trip host), and one of the creative interpretive panels on forest management (Who Cut One?)created by another team project. This introductory course will be offered again at least twice next year. Contat me if you're interested in having interpretive training for your organization. jvainterp@aol.com
Cheers, jv

Corps of Engineers Interp. Training

2011-06-03T05:57:00.001-07:00

Hi Folks,
This past week was spent working the draft interpretive plan for the Brown Family Environmental Center in Ohio and preparing proposals for some new summer projects.
Sunday I'm off to Alabama for the Corps of Engineers 4-day Interpretive Services Course. The photo is from the earlier IS course this year - our field trip and planning practicum at the Wheeler NWF. My new books should be out this month too.
Enjoy summer!
JV

Korean National Arboretum Project

2011-05-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

JVA, working with Dr. Ju-Hee Lee of Daegu University (Korea), will begin working on a new projet for the Korean National Arboretum, developing an interpretive training program/exibit planning training program, for Arboretum Staff. I will be working on a strategy for training people who want to be an expert on Interpretive Education and Exhibit Planning in Arboretum settings. I am also charged with developing the curricula for the training program as well as lesson plans, teaching aides and related materials, all of which will be translated into Korean. I just finished my new book "An Interpretive Trainers Handbook" which will be incorporated into the training program.
I will post more on this project as we develop it further.
jv

COE Advanced Interp. Training Course

2011-05-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

We are just finishing up our 2011 Army Corps of Engineers Advanced Interpretive Training Course in St. Louis, MO. This was a 5 day interpretation course that included having the participants do a critique of exhibits at the National Great Rivers Museum and Lock & Dam, on the Mississippi River. Here are some pics of the participants. The exhibits were generally very good, but the group had some excellent ideas for exhibit updating, and reinforcing the interpretive theme.

Bonnet Carrie Spillway

2011-05-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

Just saw the news that the levy at the Bonnet Carrie Spillway was opened to help releive water pressure on the Misissippi. We did the interpretive plan for the BC spillway, including auto tours in the basin, and many different interpretive kiosks and panels there too. Fountinately the interpretive media haven't been fabricated yet or all our work would be "underwater" now. Here is a pic of the BC spillway opening to allow the water flow into the basin (bottom photo). In the top photo, everything to the right of the spillway is now underwater!

Back from Panama

2011-04-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

Our Panama trip is over and back home again. Had a great time going through part of the Panama Canal, visiting rain fortest habitats, and visiting Indian villages. I did spend time looking at and photographing different interpretive panels and exhibits, and went on some museum tours. Here are some pics from the trip:
- A Kuna Indian marketplace, they make famous mola embroidery.
- Judi getting a "tatoo" from a Embera Indian woman during a visit to their village.
- Embera village dance performance.
- On a tour boat going through several locks in the Panama Canal.

Books to be out this summer.

2011-04-12T05:21:00.001-07:00

Hi folks,
Just got the covers for my two new books. One is the revised/updated version of my original Master Planning text book, and the other a collection of about 20 articles on various aspects of interpretation. They will be out sometime this summer.
Off to Panama tomorrow.
Cheers,
JV

Panama Coming Up.

2011-04-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to a get-a-way to Panama for a short 8 day trip. We are looking forward to visiting the canal - of course - as well as interpretive centers and other cultural heritage experiences. We'll be gone from the 13th - 20th of April.

JVA and Heritage Destination Consulting, our UK partner will have some other exciting news to post too in the upcoming weeks. Still lots of work on the desk to wrap up before the 13th. All-in-all, 2011 looks to be a busy year.

New Book Deal in the Works

2011-03-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is exciting news. My current text book "Interpretive Master Planning" which was published by Acorn Naturalists, just went "out of print", as Acorn wanted to get out of the publishing business. I have been looking for a new publisher, and as chance would have it, found a great one. MuseumEtc - (http://museumsetc.com/) located in Edinburgh, Scotland is going to publish the new "revised edition"of my book. The revised edition has several changes in it including new photographs and planning examples. In addition, I have many articles I have written on interpretation that they are interested in publishing as well, including some of my Interpretive Graphic Standards documents, and new concepts for interpretive planning. So we are looking at a two volume set:

Volume 1: Interpretive Master Planning - Strategies for the New Millennium.
Volume 2: Interpretive Master Planning - Interpretive Philosophy, Theory and Practice Updates

We are working on the details now and may have the two volumes available by mid summer 2011. Details will be posted at my web site: www.heritageinterp.com.

Check out the MuseumEtc. web site for their current book selections.

That's it for now. Still waiting for Spring.
JV

Brown Family Env. Center Project Begins

2011-03-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

It has been a busy past few weeks. The interpretive plan for the American Chestnut Land Trust has been completed and I am moving on to other projects, including starting work on the Brown Family Environmental Center interpretive plan. Spent several days on site walking trails, and enjoying the 70 degree weather. Hope to have a draft done for them this coming week. Also working on finishing up work for the Susquehanna Greenway and the Landscape Museum project in GA. So one down and many to go. Here are some pics of the Brown Family Environmental Center in Ohio from last weeks field trip: their EE Center facility and office (bottom photo), and a view from one of their excellent trails where we are looking at doing a viewing area to interpret their local watershed system and ecology (top photo). You can visit their web site at: http://bfec.kenyon.edu/welcomeset1.htm

March Updates

2011-03-10T09:06:00.001-08:00

Hi Folks,

Thought it was time for an update. The photo is from my April Army Corps of Engineers Interpretive Services Course - a 4-day course. In the photo, they are at our field trip site working on developing interpretive panels as part of an interpretive trail plan. A repeat of this course is scheduled for June, with a 4-day advanced interpretation course set for May.

What else is new:

* Working on the COE Atchafalaya Basin – Indian Bayou Area Interpretive Plan . A draft plan copy went out to the client last week.
* Finishing up the Interpretive Plan for the American Chestnut Land Trust - that plan will go out on Monday.
* Finishing up work for for Susquehanna River Corridor project - self-guiding auto tour booklet and pod-cast audio edits from interviews. That will go out next week too.
* Preparing for a project start up with the Brown EE Center, in Ohio - that starts in two weeks after some "snow delays" for the origingal trip last month.
* Sent draft interpretive objectives and theme for the Ft. Gartiot Lighthouse Interpretive project - that project is moving along.
* Getting ready for a trip to Panama in April.

So you can see why I haven't had time to blog too much lately. I am ready for spring - how about you?

Cheers,
JV

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse Project

2011-02-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we began our Fort Gratiot Lighthouse interpretive planning project with a site visit and tour of the several buildings in the complex, and of course, the lighthouse itself. Other buildings on site include the keeper's houses, foghorn building and coast guard crew quarters. All the buildings and grounds were just recently transfered from Coast Guard ownership over to St. Clair County Parks. The Coast Guard built a new complex and headquarters next door to this site. Yesterday we also did a public meeting to get development ideas and interpretive needs and subjects from the community.
As you can see from the photo, this is a cold, cold, cold place in winter. I was totally impressed with the wealth of heritage sites/museums in Port Huron, MI, the location of the Fort Gratiot Light. Some serious Heritage Interpretation and Tourism when everything is fully developed and connected.

Interpretive Training Updates

2011-01-29T06:22:00.001-08:00

Hi folks,

We just finished the first of two Interpretive Services Courses for the US Army
Corps of Engineers Rangers/Intepreters, here in Huntsville, AL. These are 4 day courses and we award 1.9 CEU credits for the participants. We will be repeating this course on Monday and complete this batch of training on Feb. 3rd. The course will be presented again in June.

JVA was also just awarded the contract to present the Advanced Interpretation Course, for COE Managers, Supervisors and Team Leaders. This course will be held in May in St. Louis, MO.

When I return to Michigan at the end of the week I only have a few days at home as Monhday I am off to Port Huron, MI to start the Interpretive Plan for our Lighthouse projet. It's good to be busy.

The photos are my class at the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge - our field trip site -where they are working on developing interpretive panels for several different trails there.

For more information on these projects you can check my web site: http://www.heritageinterp.com.

Getting Ready for 2011.

2011-01-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, Happy New Year. It looks like 2011 will be a busy one for JVA. We start two new projects this month noted in recent blogs. In addition, we have two training courses for the Corps of Engineers to teach at the end of January as well. We completed the Interpretive Plan for the NPS Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHS, and the Civil War Lanadscape Museum Project in Georgia in November/December 2010. It's cold with snow here in Michigan today, so I thought a Spring scene from the Snowdonia NP Training Center in Wales would warm things up. I will be back there in May for the start of our 2011 UK training courses. Hope you all have a great New Year. jv

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

Another Christmas is almost over - time sure does go quickly. My family and I want to wish everyone a great holiday and New Year. We have lots of new projects starting in 2011, so more on that later. Rest, relax and enjoy the spirit of the day. But be careful of what you wish for - I just wanted a monkey!!!

Never Stop Learning !!

2010-12-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note. I recently completed two E-courses offered by Illinois University, the Eppley Center and National Park Service:
- Foundations of Interpretation
- Training and Coaching Interpreters.
Even though I have been doing this for 30+ years, I feel that no matter how much you think you know, you can always learn more. These two courses were a good refresher, and the Training and Coaching Interpreters course gave me lots of new ideas I can apply in my next training course, with the Corps of Engineers in January 2011.
Here is the link for Illinois University/Epply center if you'd like to check it out. http://eppley.org/elearning/course-catalog/interpretation. I am starting a new project as well, but can't talk about it yet :) Lots of new work for a business Christmas Present. More news in a week or so. Merry Christmas.

New Environmental Center Project

2010-12-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

JVA has been contracted to develop the Interpretive Master Plan for the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College, in Ganbier, Ohio. The mission of the Center is to support the education goals of Kenyon College providing opportunities for the study of organisms and habitats, and by conserving the natural and cultural diversity and history of the Kokosing River Valley. We will start work on this project right way and target completion in March 2011. You can visit the Center's web site for more information about their on-going program and services at: http://bfec.kenyon.edu/welcomeset1.htm.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since my last entry. Busy mostly with writing up two draft interpretive plans and finishing up the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park (National Park Service) interpretive plan. JVA UK partner Cris Emberson is in Chili now for about 3 weeks working on a variety of project there, and I will be starting the new US Army Corps of Engineers project in Louisiana the week of Dec. 13th. JVA also has several new projects in proposal stage, and new projects on board for 2011. Given the economics of the times, having interpretive projects into 2011 is encouraging. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse - New Project

2010-10-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

Working as a subcontractor with Museumcroft, JVA has been awarded the contract to develop the Interpretive Master Plan for the St. Clair Parks and Recreation Commission Fort Gratiot Light, located at Port Huron, Michigan. The project will start in November and be completed in February, 2011. You can find out more about the lighthouse at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gratiot_Light.

New Corps of Engineers Project

2010-10-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

We will be starting a new project, subcontracting to MWH Americas, Inc., to develop the Interpretive Master Plan for the Corps of Engineers Atchafalaya Basin Project (Park), a 833,000 acre Basin Floodway. The Basin is one of the nation's last great river swamps. You can see the site brochure at: http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/bro/AtchafalayaBasinProject.pdf for more information on the site. We will be starting this project in the next few week.

2010-10-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Just back from Costa Rica. A great experience and the rain forests were just amazing. Had some very interesting interpretive experiences as well. A few photos, including an active volcano in the center of the country, Banana beatle found in the banana fields, and an unbrella tree leaf. New projects coming .. more later.

Off to Costa Rica

2010-09-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Just in the office this week tying off some lose ends and preparing to leave on Friday for 10 days in Costa Rica. Looking forward to seeing the National Parks, turtle nesting areas and hunting for poison dart frogs. Hope to see a sloth too.
More later next week.

Interpreter Training for 2011

2010-09-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

We have two new courses for presentation in 2011 at the Snowdonia National Park Training Center in Wales. June 1-3, 2011 - Marketing and Market Creation for Heritage/Interpretive Sites, Agencies and Attractions. August 30- September 2nd - Introduction to Natural and Cultural History Interpretation and Interpretive Guiding. More details will be available on our web site: http://www.heritageinterp.com. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. jv

Time to Write

2010-09-09T08:34:00.001-07:00

Just back from the Interpretive Master Planning Course at Plas tan y Bwlch in Wales (Snowdonia National Park Training Center). Just working at home for the next two weeks finishing up interpretive plan drafts and other odds and ends. Getting ready for a trip to Costa Rica at the end of the month. We are planning for next years courses, including a new course on Interpretive Guiding, which we offered a few years ago. The photo is of those course participants during a field trip expeirence to practice tour guiding techniques at Snowdonia National Park. More later.. jv

Back to Wales

2010-08-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

If it's the end of Aug-first of September it is time for my training course at the Snowdonia National Park Training Center, in Wales, UK. I will be heading off on Sunday and be there for the week teaching my course on Interpretive Master Planning.
Fall looks to be very busy with both current projects, several new projects starting up, and several projects in the proposal/bidding stage, including some work in Hawaii with the Corps of Engineers. Here is a general pic of the training center in Wales. More later next week. - jv

Heading to Atlanta

2010-08-12T06:56:00.001-07:00

This week has been slow - just working on planning documents and catching up on paperwork after returning from South America. At the end of September we will be heading to Costa Rica for 10 days. In the meantime, next week we are heading to Atlanta and a visit to the Atlanta Aquarium. At the end of the month I am off to Wales, UK, to teach my Interpretive Planning Course at the Snowdonia National Park Training Center. We hope to begin our "Landscape Museum" project in Georgia in early September as well. So lots on the plate. More later. jv

Santa Fe de Antoiqua - Columbia

2010-07-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

The conference on heritage tourism that was held at the historic colonial city of Santa Fe de Antioqua was a great success. Even though I was the only US speaker, I met many wonderful people and despite the language barrier we managed to have some great conversations. Columbia is a real undiscovered treasure for heritage tourists from the US, Asia, and Europe to discover. The small historic cities that were focused on during the conference are real historic treasures too. We experienced some really great regional food, music and cultural events. And the folks who put the conference together were wonderful and very professional. Also, there were no issues about security of safety either. This is a place ready for tourism development. All in all, I was impressed by what I saw and experienced and hope to return again. Some pics of the conference hotel.

Off to Columbia

2010-07-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I am off to Columbia, South America to participate in the Congreso de la Red de Pueblos, Patrimonio de Columbia. Some photos are shown on a previous blog entry. Will post more once I am there. Cheers, jv

Chestnut Trust Field Work

2010-07-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

Spent the past week at the American Chestnut Land Trust working on their interpretive plan and walking trails. They do have some amazing trails for the region. The land they manage were historically tobacco farm fields and they are interpreting the recovery and succession of those historic farms and fields back to a natural environment. Hot work in the 90+ degrees days. Some trail views.

Dalton Landscape Museum

2010-07-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

I was just notified that JVA was awarded the contract to do the Interpretive Master Plan for the City of Dalton (Georgia) Civil War Landscape Museum. The Landscape Museum concept is a fairly new one. Think of the city, region of County as "the museum", and each historic site or facility within it as the "exhibit galleries". Then each of the exhibits in that facility as the gallery exhibits. We will begin this new and innovative project in August with an extensive inventory of Civil War sites (historic homes, depots, battlefields, cemeteries and other related locations within and just outside of the City Limits of Dalton. Having done a few other projects in the area for Prater's Mill, I am familiar with many of the historic sites that will be included in the plan. Ultimately a driving tour "museum guide" will be developed as part of the heritage tourism plan for the city. The photo is of a civil war Confiderate Army Artillary cannon implacement earth work site located near Dalton, and a graphic of how the site would have looked when active.

Off to Columbia, South America

2010-07-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

I have been invited to present some sessions at the Congreso de la Red de Pueblos Patrimonio de Colombia for the town of Santa Fe de Antioquia, Columbia. All of the town is a historical site; the architecture that has survived through the years gives Santa Fe de Antioquia the aspect of a city "suspended" in the colonial era, which is the reason the city was declared National monument. My sessions will focus on heritage site interpretation for the town. I will be working there from the 27th of July to the 2nd of August. You can learn more about this historic town at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_de_Antioquia. Here are a few pics of the town.

Back in KY with Abraham Lincoln Birthplace

2010-07-06T15:42:00.001-07:00

Back in KY working with the NPS doing the Interpretive Plan for the Abraham Lincoln Brithplace National Historical Park (and the Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home NHP). We were on the trails today - 95 degrees here today too. Hope to have the draft interpretive plan done by next week. Heading home on Thursday. Here are some photos from the park and visitor center.

American Chestnut Land Trust Interpretive Plan

2010-06-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

I just finished the start-up meetings here in Maryland with the American Chestnut Land Trust. This group had begun with a few hundred acres of protected land and grown to over 3000 acres of land protecting and conserving important habitats and watersheds. With a paid staff of just three talented people, and a core of dedicated volunteers they now have about 15 miles of trails as well as offering guided walks and more. We finished our initial site visit and conducted a focus workshop to begin teasing out the main interpretive objectives that the interpretive plan will focus on accomplishing. Here are two photos of some of the landscapes. I will be back toward the end of July for a week of site interpretive inventory work and moving the plan forward.

Advanced Interp. Course

2010-06-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

Heading home from Huntsville, AL. We finished our Advanced interpretation course yesterday and we had a great group of participants from Corps of Engineer parks and offices from around the US. One participant came in from Alaska and one from Hawaii as well. Our team of instructors (Pat Berry, Nancy Rogers and myself) want to thank the participants for their course engagement, ideas, and contributions to helping make the course a real success. I get to rest a few days, then on to Maryland to start interpretive plananing with the Chestnut Trust. More on that next week. Here is the group photo of the participants and instructors.

Corps of Engineers Interpretive Course

2010-06-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

We finished our COE "Introduction to Interpretation" course here at the Tom Bevill Center in Huntsville, Alabama. We had 26 COE staff from around the US participate in the 3-day course. Here are some pics of them in action - critiquing the visitor center exhibits at our host field trip site - The Wheeler Wildlife Sanctuary - and planning/design of outdoor interpretive panels. This coming Monday we gear up for our Advanced Interpretation Course for Corps of Engineers Managers.

Interpretation for the 21st Century.

2010-05-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Conducted a one-day workshop on "Interpretation for the 21st Centruy" hosted at the National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff. We had about 25 partidipants resprsenting about 10 different organizations and museums in Wales. Here is a photo of the group I had the pleasure of presenting to. Back home in Michigan now - have a week in the office, then two weeks in wonderful Huntsville, Alabama for two Corps of Engineers Interpretation courses. Have a great weekend.

Roman Legion Museum

2010-05-25T12:01:00.001-07:00

Had a great day working with the Roman Legion Museum in Caerllion, Wales. Visited some of their remarkable outdoor Roman fortress remains, including an awsome amphitheater and the excivated remains of the Roman Legion Barracks (photo). The site dates from around AD 75, and the museum itself have amazing artifacts on the Roman occupation of Wales. You can visit their web site: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/roman/ for more information. Tomorrow I have a one day workshop at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, then head home.

Interpretive Media Course - Wales

2010-05-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. The interpretive media couse was a lot of fun and the the course participants a real treat to work with. Some of the topics included planning and designing an interpretive panel, as well as new technologies, web site development and more. Here are a few photos of the class (working on their panel project) - sample of a draft panel design - and a group photo at the National Slate Mine Museum of Wales, where we went to do a critique of their interpretive media for the museum manager.

Off to Wales.

2010-05-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a nice few weeks working here at my home office catching up on things, but my itchy feet are taking me to the UK on Monday. I will be spending most of my time in Wales teaching a course on interpretive media at the Snowdonia National Park Training Center (Plas tan y Bwlch)for three days, then off to Cardiff to do a day of site critique/advisory services for the National Roman Legion Museum, and finally a day workshop for museum staff in Cardiff. More details are posted at my web site: http://www.heritageinterp.com. Here is a photo of the training center grounds in Wales - a great site and location when it is not raining. More photos from there later on.

New Project - American Chestnut Land Trust

2010-05-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

JVA was just awarded the contract to develop the Interpretive Plan for The American Chestnut Land Trust (ACLT). The trust protects over 3,000 acres of wetlands, forest and farmland in rapidly developing Calvert County, Maryland. The crown jewel of the land trust is Parkers Creek — the Calvert Cliffs and sandy shoreline in the vicinity of the mouth of Parkers Creek look much the same today as they did 400 years ago when Captain John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay. You can visit their web site at: http://acltweb.org/about/index.cfm

On to Nova Scotia

2010-04-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

This week will be spent working with FORM Media, as a sub-contractor, providing interpretive planning consultation services to develop and deliver Mi'kmaq Interpretive Programming in Nova Scotia Provincial Parks. I really enjoy working in Nova Scotia, and this project working with First Nations is especially interesting. Likewise, FORM Media is a very well respected Canadian interpretation planning firm and I look forward to working with them.

Beauty and the Beast at Bonnet Carre

2010-04-20T19:43:00.001-07:00

Some of the pictures from Bonnet Carre Spillway this week. The beauty is some of the great natural areas and some awsome wildflowers. The Beast is the sand and clay mining going on at other parts of the spillway drainage basin. All stories to be told via our auto tour and cell phone interpretation.

Back at Bonnet Carre Spillway.

2010-04-20T08:22:00.001-07:00

Back in New Orleans and working on the interpretive media for the Corps of Engineers Bonnet Carre Spillway project. This week Matt Kaser, our outstanding designer, will be reveiwing the interpretive panel designs for the project. We will also be working on the self-guiding auto tour, doing digital interviews with staff for the audio auto tour and for cell phone interpretation about sites in and around the Bonnet Carre project. The weather here is great, with the afternoon temps. being around 80 degrees.

Baekdudaegan Arboretum Symposium - Korea

2010-04-04T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Back from Korea and participation in the International Symposium on the development of the Arboretum project. We finished the first phast of the interprtive master plan, which we presented. That included the main interpretive theme, policies, and storyline as well as exterior exhibits and demonstrations planning. We hope to begin phase II (planning and writing of the media we planned including self-guiding walking tours both printed and audio, visitor center exhibits, and more) in the next few months. This week is a week in the office writing label copy for our New Orleans project - Bonnet Carrie Spillway - and a few other odds and ends. A pic from the seminar. Till later... jv.

Back to Korea

2010-03-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

On Friday (tomorrow) I will be heading off to Korea again, to continue our interpretive planning work for the Baedkudaegan Arboretum. Our team will also be making a presentation at the Baekdudaegan Arboretum Planning Symposium, in Seoul on March 31st. Will post an update later on next week. Hope your upcoming weekend and week is a good one. - jv

Civic Tourism

2010-03-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

At the recent Susquehanna River Symposium I had the pleasure to spend time with Dan Shilling, author of the book Civic Tourism. This is an important concept that we have been enploying in our interpretive planning for the Susquehanna Greenway (all 500miles of it). His book focuses on being sure to develop tourism opportunities with community involvement, support and implementation. "Civic Tourism is an extension of and tool for other "place-based" approaches, such as cultural heritage tourism, ecotourism, and geotourism. The mission of Civic Tourism is to "reframe" tourism's purpose – from an end to a means; that is, from an economic goal to a tool that can help the public enhance what they love about their place. I found the several days of chatting with Dan, both formally and informally, beneficial and stimulating, and can certainly recommend his book "Civic Tourism - the Poetry and Policics of Place". You can order it from Dan's web site at: http://civictourism.org/

Susquehanna Greenway Symposium

2010-03-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,
In Lewisburg PA this week working on our Greenway Interpretive Plan implementation (driving tour, interpretive panels, and more), and participated today (Thursday) in the Susquehanna Greenway Symposium, giving an update on our interprtive planning media and services development. Back to Michigan tomorrow and I have a week of writing on several projects before leaving for Korea again at the end of the month.
Just a quick pic of one of the greenway river views. Most of the powerpoint presentations from the symposium will be posted at the Greenway web site: http://www.susquehannagreenway.org. More next week.

The Redwood Forest

2010-03-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today, Friday, was our last day visiting the many different Open Space District preserves. The redwood forests here were wonderful, and lots of spring wildflowers coming out (still 4' of snow on the edges of my driveway in Michigan!). Here are a few pics of todays sites, including the Banana Slug (about 6 inches long), Trillium and a general view of the area the trails go through. I will be spending next week in the office writing up the interpretive systems plan draft for this project.

More Open Space Preserves

2010-03-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

Another day out in the field looking at the special stories and experiences the preserves offer. The California Newts were breeding and we saw lots of them, heard Coyotes howling and crossing a road and visited the Open Space Nature Center. Here are some of todays pics.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

2010-03-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

This week I am working with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, located south of San Francisco, California. We are working on the Interpretive Systems Plan for the District, incorporating about 18 different preserves. It is "spring" here in California, a big change compared to last weeks work in chilly Korea. Today is Monday, and we have 4 more days of site visits and analysis to go. Here are a few pictures from some of todays visits. You can visit the Open Space District web site at: http://www.openspace.org.

Korea Trip and JV book may be published in Italy!

2010-02-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hi folks. I have been contacted by Marta Brunelli PhD, Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Educazione e della Formazione Università degli Studi di Macerata, in Italy about publishing my text book "Interpretive Master Planning" in Italian! As you may know, the book was just published in Chinese last year. Besides being a real honor, it is nice to know that our successful interpretive planning strategies are being used in other countries and by other interpreters. I will keep you posted as this project moves along. Getting ready for my Korea trip on Saturday. We will be looking at interpretive planning for outdoor exhibits and demonstrations for the Mountain Sanctuary and Climate Change Center project. The photo is of a planning review at the Mountain Sanctuary site last month reviewing the draft development plans.

Korea and California

2010-02-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

Enjoying a quiet day off (Presidents day). On Saturday I head back to Korea for a week to work on the planning for the Mountain Sanctuary and Climate Change Center, then home for a day and off to CA. JVA was awarded a contract to develop a Interpretive Systems Plan for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District's . Details are available at my web site: http://www.heritageinterp.com. More from Korea later.

Bangor Historical Society Plans New Museum

2010-02-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

Just back from working with a team from Architecture + Design to conduct an interpretive planning focus workshop for the Bangor Historical Society in Bangor Michigan. They are great folks who want an innovative approch to celebrating the history of their city and community. This will include a new museum building and includes a "the city as the museum" program that will locate interpretive panels located in the downtown area interpreting historic buildings, and developing a variety of interpretive walking tours. To learn more about the historical society you can visit their web site at:http://www.bangormihistory.com/

Back from Alabama - New Project Comes In!

2010-01-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

Back from Alabama with our Army Corps of Engineers training course. The photo shows the class going on their tour of the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge where they were going to do some exercises in Interpretive Trail Planning and Interpretive Panel Planning. While there I learned we were awarded the contract to develop the Interpretive Systems Plan for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, Los Altos, CA. The open space district has about 25 preserves in its system. We will start work on that project in a few weeks.

Heading Home - then Alabama

2010-01-23T01:06:00.000-08:00

At the Heathrow Airport in London getting ready to head home - for a day - then off to Alabama to teach our 3-day Introduction to Interpretive Services course for the US Army Corps of Engineers. As noted in the last post, JVA was awarded the contract to develop the new advanced interpretation course for the COE as well. It has been cold and rain most of this past week - lets hope Alabama weather is warmer.

New Training Project

2010-01-23T00:55:00.001-08:00

US Army Corps of Engineers - Advanced Interpretation Course for Project (Park) Managers. JVA was just awarded a contract to develop a new interpretive training course for Corps of Engineer Project Managers and management level staff. This course is now the next advanced level course from our introductory Interpretive Services Course we currently teach for the COE twice a year at the Huntsville, AL Tom Bevill Training Center. The first course will be offered in June, 2010 the week after our introductury course at the Huntsville location. The contract calls for developing a new 4-day training lesson plan, course manual, schedule of instruction, course resource CD, new powerpoint presentations and related field trip logistics for on-site learning experiences in interpretive planning. The photo shows one of our COE courses which includes lots of hands-on activities, like planning interpretive panels.

The Great Fen

2010-01-18T22:59:00.001-08:00

This week I am in England doing interpretive training for the staff of The Great Fen/Wildlife Trust. The photos show some of the scenes of this 17 square mile site. Mostly peat farmland (I have never seen such black soil), the plan is for restoration of the area into a Fen habitat, with new interpretive center, trails, interpretive and environmental education programs and more. Quite a bit different from the Mountain Sanctuary we were working on in Korea last week.

Chilly Korea

2010-01-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Made it to Korea and we are starting work on the new site. We are starting to call it a Mountain Ecological Sanctuary and Climate Change Discovery Center. The site itself is huge - but the visitor area is about 200 acres. They are expecing to attract about 700,000 visitors a year! We hope to have the interpretive plan done by April. In the meantime, it is really cold here, but the site is beautiful. A few pics of the Mountain Ecological Sanctuary.

New Year New Opportunities

2009-12-31T16:33:00.001-08:00

Well, it is almost midnight and the start of a new year - finally. For me every new year is a new opportunity to Teach, Learn, and of course, DO. Next Friday I leave for Korea for a week followed by a trip to England and then wrap up January with a 3-day training course for the Army Corps of Engineers. A very nice way to start the new year. I hope your new year gives you changes to Learn, Teach and Do as well. So Happy New Year! Cheers. jv

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T06:24:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone - I hope that Santa brought you approved grant funding, more staff, innovative technology, more visitors, and, for some of you, a new roof.
Interpreters give a lot to their visitors each year - thank you all for that. If you are an interpreter - every day can be Christmas and each of you a "Santa".
And the photo - well - just be careful what you ask Santa for....

Korean Alpine Arboretum

2009-12-21T12:38:00.001-08:00

Well, it looks like 2010 is going to get off of a very interesting start. We begin our New Orleans project the first week of Jan, but then I will start working on a National Alpine Arboretum project in Korea. We had been working on this in proposal stage for many months now and it finally came through. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the 14 hour flight! I have worked in Korea before, with my friend and associate Dr. Ju-Hee Lee, and we will be working on this projet too. I will post updates and some photos when I return from the first site visit.

On to the Susquehanna River

2009-12-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

The NPS Lincoln birth place and boyhood home were great sites and doing the interpretive plan should be fun. With a day of rest I am now off to work on the interpretive services development for the Susquehanna River Corridor. I did the interpretive plan for the corridor last year. This trip I'll work on the self-guiding auto tour including working on the audio CD for the tour. The photo shows a general view of the river in summer (probably be a bit chilly this coming week).

Off to Kentucky

2009-12-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

I was recently awarded the contract to develop the interpretive plan for Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, in Kentucky. The Park preserves two farm sites where Abraham Lincoln lived as a child. You can learn more about this NPS site at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_Birthplace_National_Historical_Park. I am heading off to Kentucky on Wednesday for a few days on site to start the interpretive plan. The photo is of the reconstruction of the Lincoln families cabin originally located here.

Mi'kmaq Program Plan

2009-11-26T09:18:00.000-08:00

Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and NS Tourism, Culture and Heritage. JVA has sub-contracted to Form:Media, a premier Nova Scotia Consulting firm, to assist in the development of a Mi'Kmaq Interpretive Programming Interpretive Plan, for the Provance of Nova Scotia. This project will inventory the wealth of Mi'Knaq First Nation stories in the Province, and how they might be interpreted in NS Provincial Parks. You can visit Form:Media at their web site: http://www.form-media.ca. The project is due to be completed by March/April, 2010.

2010 Interpretive Training Courses

2009-11-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

We are planning ahead for 2010 for my two interpretive training courses I offer in Wales, UK. The courses for 2010 include: 19 – 21 May 2010 – Planning and Design of Interpretive Media – Cost £264 and 31 August – 3 September 2010 – Interpretive Master Planning – Cost £357. These courses are offered at Plas Tan y Bwlch (Snowdonia National Park Training Center in Wales). If you would like more details on these coures send me an e-mail (jvainterp@aol.com) and I will send you the course content. We attract participants world-wide. We have have participants from South Africa, Sweden, Channel Islands, the US, and from throughout the UK.

The photos show the training center and one of the class activities from last year.

Louisiana Winter - umm good.

2009-11-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

Just got the contract to start work on a host of interpretive media for the Corps of Engineers Bonnet Carre Spillway, located a short drive from New Orleans and located on the Mississippi. We did the interpretive plan last year, and our recommendations were funded for 09/2010. These include several interpretive kiosks, a self-guiding auto tour, interpretive panels at select sites and visitor center exhibits. Matt Kaser, an interpretive designer from Texas will be working with me. It will be cold in MI, so working in Louisiana during winter months will be OK. The photo shows the "long view" of the spillway, which works as a safety valve for Mississippi River water. If the spillway is opened during high river water (a farely rare occurance), the spillway basin is flooded and the overflow is directed to Lake Ponchartrain and into the Gulf. This project will run from November 09 through May of 2010.

Off to England in January.

2009-11-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

I have been asked to conduct a 4-day interpretive training course for the staff of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough in the UK, with a focus in preparing for new interpretive media and services for the Great Fen for 2010. I do a lot of work in the UK and this is a very special site. Training sessions will focus on a general overview of interpretation and interpretive planning, then special sessions on design of interpretive panels, audio guides, school program development, special event planning and web site interpretation. The workshop is scheduled for January 2010. You can learn more about this special place at: http://www.greatfen.org.uk. The photo was taken from one of their on-line newsletters.

Swallowed up by Swallow-wort

2009-10-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Robert Wehle State Park in NY for a first look at the invasive Swallow-wort problem, and beginning to think about how to interpret to visitors how they can help in preventing the spread of the plant using proposed seed check stations and other strategies. Thought you might like to see what the plant does to any habitat it gets a root-hold in. Besides growing up to 6 feet a year and shading out native plants, it also produces a chemical that prevents other plants from growing near it. Everything that is brown in this photo blanketing the forest floor, is the Swallow-wort. It is "everywhere" here except in fields where it is mowed. In the fall (in the photo) it produces tons of seeds that look like milk-weed fluff. It even out competes other invasive plants, like garlic mustard!!

Invasive Plant Interpretation

2009-10-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

We received a contract from NY State Parks to develop an interpretive plan for using interp. as a management tool to help control the invasive plant Pale Swallow-wort (photo on the left). This will involve interpreting to visitors steps they can use to help control the spread of this plant, via seeds, etc. to other parks or their own homes. We will be looking at boot cleaning stations and clothing seed check stations with brushes so trail walkers can brush themselves off to remove any seeds that might be clinging to them. I will keep you posted on this use of interpretation as a management tool as the project progresses. If you have any interpretive programs to help control invasive plants, let us know and share ideas and successes. Some of our "interpretive ideas" for panel headers at boot cleaning stations include: "Spread the word - not the seeds", and "Give Swallow-wart the bursh off!".

Heitage Destination Consulting

2009-10-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

For the past several years I have had the pleasure of working with Cris Emberson in the UK, during his time as head of Norfolk Tourism. About a year a ago Cris and I decided to form HDC, with Cris as the UK Managing Director. We wanted to have a base to bid and work on UK, European Union and other world-wide interpretation, heritage tourism and tourism destination projects. This relationship has really grown and HDC is a huge success. You can visit our web site there at: http://www.heritagedestination.com/. Cris is currently working on a variety of projects in Chili, including a new and innovative interpretive trail. HDC has won a project in Osorno in Northern patagonia to develop a scarecrow sensory trail. The trail will offer a range of sensory experiences including a bare-foot path. Cris will post more information and photos about this innovative project as it develops.

Cris Emberson, Managing Director of HDC conducintg a planning session with clients in Chili.

2009-10-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

I recently had my text book published in China. Someone sent me this photo as an example of... well, you get the idea. That' looks like a long walk to hold your thoughts!

Interpretive flypaper

2009-10-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well, this is something new for me. I call this blog "interpretive flypaper", where I hope new ideas, problem solving and other innovations in interpretation will "stick". Over the past year I have had lots of folks sending me e-mails with questions about different interpretive aspects, from new media to questions about interpretive planning. I thought that this would be a good place for me to provide "free" consulting time to anyone I can help. I will try to answer your questions, give you other resource information or links, or just my best views. Of course, anyone can add to these responses as well. As one philosopher said, "there is nothing more dangerous than having only one good idea". So well see if this works.

I will also post other JVA things that are going on as well, updates on some of our interpretive projects and any innovating ideas we use in developing interpretive plans for sites. I will also list information on interpretive training workshops.

So lets have a conversation. I look forward to meeting you.

John Veverka