| Association
of Interpretive Naturalists (AIN)
(Excerpted
from "The History of Heritage Interpretation in the United States" by
Tim Merriman and Lisa Brochu)
 In the 1950s, the Great Lakes Parks Training
Institute (GLPTI) regularly convened an annual meeting.
This rich combination of professional networking and
socializing was held at Pokagon State Park in northern
Indiana. It attracted a variety of park professionals
from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and a few other
surrounding states and, as of this writing, continues
to meet annually. A group of naturalists who worked
with metropolitan park districts was especially keen
to convene its own meeting. In 1954, they agreed to
have their first naturalist conclave the following
year at Bradford Woods, an outdoor education center
for University of Indiana. From then on, these founding
members met annually separate from GLPTI, initiating
their own special network of colleagues, eager to share
their frustrations and successes. Bradford Woods continued
to provide a spiritual home for this informal network
for many years. A decade passed and the meetings became
more valued by the participants, leading to discussions
of formalizing an organization.
Structure came slowly, but in 1958 Robert Kelly of DuPage County Forest Preserves
in Illinois suggested that the time had come to create a formal organization.
A steering committee chaired by Howard Weaver and composed of Kenny Dale, William
Hopkins, Roland Eisenbeis, William Price, Alan Helmsley, Walter Tucker, and Robert
Kelly met April 3-5 at Bradford Woods to initiate a process. In 1961 the group
elected Harold Wallin of Cleveland Metroparks as president and Howard Weaver
as vice-president. Robert Kelly became secretary-treasurer and John Kason headed
the membership committee. The other steering committee members served on the
first board of directors.69
Charles M. Goethe was named the first honorary member of AIN for his philanthropy
in conservation and foresight in bringing the nature guide idea to Yosemite National
Park after observing programs at Switzerland’s “Lake of the Four
Forest Canions.” Freeman Tilden became the second honorary member in 1963
in recognition of his contributions to the field through his publications about
interpretation in the national parks. A professional code of ethics policy was
presented in 1962 at a meeting at Glen Helen, a facility of Antioch College,
in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In 1964 the revised code of ethics was officially adopted.
Dr. Howard “Howdy” Weaver at University of Illinois filed papers
in 1965 to create an Illinois nonprofit corporation with a 501(c)3 Internal Revenue
Service designation using the name of the Association of Interpretive Naturalists
(AIN). Consequently, AIN seemed to originate in Illinois because the IRS tax-exempt
ruling letter and articles of incorporation were filed in that state, despite
its longer history of informal meetings in Indiana.
Membership in AIN grew slowly and steadily to over 600 by 1974. Maryland Capital
Parks and Planning Commission (MCPPC) in Derwood, Maryland, offered AIN free
office space. The growth in numbers of AIN members made it necessary to hire
a paid staff member to manage membership records. Peggy Van Ness became the first
office manager for AIN in 1975.
Members of AIN in its first two decades tended to be interpretive naturalists,
recreation planners, and managers of natural history programs. AIN required that
a prospective member get the signatures of three existing professional members
to qualify for membership. Students could join the organization but were not
allowed to vote until they became professional members. AIN continued to grow
steadily until it had almost 1,000 members by 1985.
AIN’s constitution allowed the formation of sub-units based upon geographic
proximity. Members in ten areas across the United States submitted petitions
to the board of directors to request recognition as regional units of AIN. The
numbering system for regions was based on the order in which the region became
recognized, so the southwest became Region 1, since it was first to petition
the board of directors. Regional workshops and newsletters became important networking
services that bound together these fledgling groups. Eventually, each state and
some provinces in Canada had a regional home, allowing regional directors to
become the logical choices for serving on the national board of directors as
representatives of the members within their geographic region.
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