July 10 2017 ;  Mike Buck

            Day two; was waking up a little earlier than the projected 630. It was after a pretty hardy breakfast of Fried Taters, sausage and scrambled that we as a crew The People of the Big River Field Class were put on the spot to work together to make it to the first scheduled stop two hours ahead of preliminary estimated time of arrival; so dishes and cleanup had to be done expeditiously. Upon arrival to the Lava Butte Cinder Cone located on the Deschutes National Forest Main Office and Park headquarters we were introduced to a host of great speakers and generally environmentally friendly people. The cohort of individuals spoke of many things and the main focus was The “Collaborative Governance” that takes place each and every day to maintain the various foresting and land management issues faced by the park lands. I found it most interesting that among the speakers I learned of the “Children’s Forest of Central Oregon program. The speaker Katy with which I forget her last name spoke of the significance of facilitating children in an outdoor setting. This really hit home to me and my personal belief in the appreciation factor of the “Get Outdoors” phenomena that I like to believe is being strengthened.

            I think it was a great learning experience to just sit and talk to new and old friends atop a 7000 plus year old volcano on the importance of collaborative effort to protect the environment in which we share