Encountering enthusiastic young people has been a driving force for us in our work as naturalists. While it’s easy to criticize the youth of today (as it has been since the beginning of time), we find it more rewarding to search for those with passion and interests that could carry them through their lives and …
“Wildlife First” is the basic premise behind national wildlife refuges. So why is it important to reach out to school children, visitors, hunters, birders, and others who might decide to come to a refuge either out of curiosity or for recreation? What purpose does interpretation serve on lands set aside to protect and perpetuate animals …
“Do you want to see the moose head?” A fellow volunteer escorted Chuck and I out behind the workshop of the National Elk Refuge to see the head of a large bull moose, complete with enormous rack, that had been removed from a carcass earlier that day. The moose had been gored by a fellow …
One advantage of working as naturalists on the deck of the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, is meeting some of the young visitors who come through on vacation. While many people bemoan the deterioration of today’s youth, we witness first hand some of the dedicated and caring folks of our future. Many of the …
“You can come and help out, but I hope you don’t get bored. There might be a lot of down time.” After inviting us to a bighorn sheep capture and collaring, Desert National Wildlife Refuge biologist Lindsay Smythe warned us in advance that we could be disappointed. “Sometimes the sheep don’t come down,” she said. …
[box type=”info” style=”rounded”] In an era of “If it’s not on the standardized test, it’s not worth learning” attitude and tight budgets, the benefits of field trips and classroom presentations by experts in their fields have been forgotten or ignored. All too often, the value of a class returning from a great destination and tour …
You don’t stop learning because you grow old; you grow old because you stop learning. When we spotted this slogan in a café in a remote town in Colorado years ago, we realized that one key to youth is continuing education. Influenced by this objective, we recently purchased a small home near Tucson, Arizona, where …