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NatureMapping / Project Wild
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Project WILD helps teachers and educators address the Washington Environmental Education WAC

WAC 180-50-115..."instruction about conservation of natural resources and the environment shall be provided at all grade levels in an interdisciplinary manner through science, the social studies, and the humanities with emphasis in solving the problems of human adaptation to the environment".

What is Project WILD? | The Mission of Project WILD | Project WILD Materials

Workshops | Washington Project WILD | New WILD Initiatives | WILD Action Grants

What's At Stake | Project WILD Sponsors | How Can I Get Involved?

What Is Project WILD?

Project WILD is an interdisciplinary conservation and environmental education program emphasizing wildlife. The program is designed for educators of kindergarten through twelfth grade. Project WILD educational materials are provided to educators through practical interactive workshops.

The Mission of Project WILD

...is to provide wildlife-based conservation and environmental education that fosters responsible actions toward wildlife and related natural resources. Project WILD accomplishes this through:

• An international network of students, educators, partners, community leaders, educational administrators, and representatives of resource agencies and conservation groups.
• Materials that are balanced and fair, presenting neither pro nor con on value sensitive issues.
• Practical, interactive workshops for educators.

Project WILD teaches students how to think not what to think.
Project WILD is praised by professional educators, wildlife biologists, parents and students.

Project WILD Materials

Materials include two activity guides for K-12th grade educators: the Project WILD K-12 Activity Guide focuses on wildlife and habitat, and the Project WILD Aquatic Education Activity Guide emphasizes aquatic wildlife and aquatic ecosystems.

North Tapps Elementary developing pond habitat with Project WILD Action Grant

• Project WILD K-12

Special interest topics

• Endangered Species
• Deserts
• Landscaping for Wildlife with Project WILD
• Discover WILD Wetlands (offered in partnership with WA Dept of Ecology)
• WET and WILD with Project WET and Aquatic WILD activity guides (offered in partnership with WA Dept of Ecology)

Value to teachers:

• Earn college credit or clock hours
• At each workshop usually 10 hours long, educators receive materials, as well as practical hands-on training.
• Grants available for habitat enhancement on the school grounds or community, through Project WILD Action Grant Program.

Washington Project WILD

• Project WILD has trained over 9000 K-12 teachers since 1984.
• 30 Trained Project WILD facilitators conduct workshops around Washington on request.
• Over 90 Washington schools have created habitat for fish and wildlife since 1988 using WDFW Project WILD Action Grants
• WILD about Elk initiative, offering teacher training and class presentations with hands-on elk trunk

New WILD Initiatives

• 1996 "WILD in the City" grant of $6000 will make available Project WILD, NatureMapping and a wildlife curriculum integration framework to all 36 Tacoma School District elementary schools through training, establishing a resource center with materials, data gathering tools and software in each school. Grant awarded by National Project WILD and Phillips Petroleum.
• 1996 Environmental Education and Training Partnership Grant of $10,000 awarded to Washington Project WILD by National Project WILD and EPA. Grant will facilitate OSPI's Model Links Schools to develop teacher training workshops for schools interested in using Environmental Education as a tool for student learning improvement. Model Schools will demonstrate value of WDFW's curriculum integration framework and Project WILD through regional workshops.
• Project WILD facilitators crafted a sequence of 5 workshops called "Project WILD and Beyond" for educators at an Ecosystems Education planning workshop in March 1996.

Project WILD Action Grant Program

• Mini-grants for habitat enhancement were made available starting in 1988.
• Project WILD Action Grant schools receiving grants become demonstration sites and agree to mentor other schools displaying an interpretive sign (Recent innovation).
• In 1993, expanded grant opportunities for schools creating the Project WILD Action Grant Program with National Project WILD grant.
• Project WILD Action Grant Schools invited to use NatureMapping to measure the impact of habitat enhancement.
• Washington Project WILD is supported by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Governor's Council on Environmental Education (consisting of directors of 8 resource agencies)

What's At Stake

• Washington State is losing fish and wildlife habitat, open space, wetlands, hunting grounds, working landscape, wild spaces, stream side and river banks at the rate of 80 acres per day...some thirty thousand acres a year are lost.
• Washington has a total of 640 vertebrate species, of which 22 are endangered fish and wildlife species. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is concerned about the population status of 209 additional species.
• The protection of Washington's fish and wildlife and its habitat is the protection of our economy and our quality of life

Project WILD Sponsors

Project WILD was developed through a joint effort of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) and the Western Regional Environmental Education Council, INC. (WREEC). WREEC is a private nonprofit organization comprised principally of representatives of state-level departments of education, and state natural resource-related agencies. WREEC administers Project WILD at the national level and co-sponsors Project Learning Tree and Project WET (Water Education for Teachers).

How can I get involved?

For more information about Project WILD, please contact:

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Ecosystems Education
600 Capitol Way North
Olympia, WA 98501-1091
Phone: (360) 902-2485

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