Connect with Jeffers Foundation
Jeffers Board of Directors
Mike Fairbourne
VP & Assistant Secretary
Galen Erickson
Director of Communications
Kelly Johnson
CFO
Suzanne Fuluvaka
CAO/Board Secretary
Dr. David Grack
Director of Educational ProgramsJeffers Advisory Board of Directors
Sil Pembleton
Associate Director of Education
Cara Rieckenberg
Jeffers Advisory Board
Anna Dutke
Jeffers Advisory BoardJeffers Directors Emeritus
Paul W. Oberg
Former CEO
Fergus R. Woolley
Former CEO
Dar Fosse
Former Board Secretary
Dr. Tom Westerhaus
Former Director of EducationA Message from Paul Oberg, former Chairman of the Board
A principle mission of Jeffers Foundation is to “foster environmental stewardship through education”. We at Jeffers have found that environmental stewardship cannot be ‘taught” but can only be “inspired”. Therefore, Jeffers has adopted a practice for our professional development workshops consistent with the “scientific method” in which ‘hands-on”, experiential learning is supported by teaching careful observation techniques using all our senses reinforced by journaling your observations with drawings and words in notebooks.
In close collaboration with local teachers, Jeffers has developed teaching support materials and programs available through this website and free of charge to those who participate in one of our workshops.
Jeffers Pond
Jeffers Foundation came into being as a result of a bequest from Bob Jeffers who owned and developed property in Prior Lake, Minnesota. A significant portion of the property was a hilly terminal moraine with a beautiful small, deep lake surrounded by pristine woods. As the property was developed, Bob desired that these beautiful natural areas be preserved for physical, spiritual and psychological renewal as well as for the education of all who visit.
Jeffers Pond welcomes you to its paths, vistas and special places to experience and enjoy nature, to learn, refresh and renew.
Jeffers Guiding Principles
Educated Children
Earth’s Best Environmental Stewards
It is our conviction at Jeffers Foundation that teaching children in and about the out-of-doors is an essential element in their learning to love nature and become responsible earth stewards. It follows that a major mission of Jeffers Foundation is to encourage and make possible for young people experiential outdoor education. We,therefore, support initiatives which encourage the establishment and development of Outdoor/Environmental Education Programs. We support teachers, with professional teacher development workshops, programs and materials designed to help young persons learn to love and be responsible for the world they live in.
Nature Preserved
Special Places to Share and Enjoy
At Jeffers Foundation, we reverence places such as Jeffers Pond for their healing, restorative and educational value. We therefore, reached out to several such natural "islands" in the world around us and secured them for future generations with conservation easements to be maintained by a suitable nonprofit entity which will make available forever and for everyone their special qualities and attributes.
Productive Partnerships
The Synergy of Like Minds and Diverse Means
Jeffers Foundation is only one resource. There are many others who have similar goals. We wish to establish productive partnerships with as many of these as possible to accomplish our mission. We seek to foster and support networks of like-minded organizations and individuals. We will partner with all who have as their goal the outdoor/environmental education of children and the preservation of natural settings. We desire to be a catalyst in creating synergistic relationships which involve partners at the local, state, and national level.