The Bird Education Network (BEN) was created following
the February 2007 National Gathering, hosted by CEE. BEN is a
CEE initiative that seeks to connect and support a network of
bird education professionals.
BEN has initially
identified five priority bird conservation problems facing us
today. These five priority bird conservation problems are:
habitat loss, modern industrial life, insufficient public
awareness, insufficient funding, and inter-American
concerns. Understanding and explaining each of these
five problems and recognizing that they are both biological
and non-biological are essential to crafting an effective
modern bird education movement.
A BEN Committee
has been established to provide advice and guidance for this
important initiative, to advance "bird conservation through
education." Ultimately, we at BEN are connecting bird
educators at all levels to be more
effective.
|
|
|
 Breaking
the Color Barrier in the Great American
Outdoors
Atlanta, GA
September 23-26,
2009
The
purpose of "Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great
American Outdoors," a ground breaking conference, is to
showcase the broad diversity among Americans who are
involved in protecting our environment, conserving our
natural treasures, and performing extraordinary feats of
personal accomplishment in the Great Outdoors.
The conference will bring together:
●
Professionals from the agencies that manage our national
parks, historic heritage sites, forests and
wildlife refuges.
● The founders of longstanding
conservation organizations.
● Outdoor recreation
enthusiasts including cyclists, hikers, birders,
climbers, sailors, ski and scuba divers.
●
Academics, students and others.
"Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great
American Outdoors" will illustrate a little-known
significant fact: Americans of every race and
color are rising to their personal best as they embrace
the challenge of protecting our environment and follow
the call of the wild outdoors.
The
conference will raise awareness of the richness of our
publicly-owned lands by showing footage of the
incredible beauty and diversity of the scenery and
wildlife in these protected areas. Speakers and
other resource people will inform the audience of the
human resource needs of the agencies, how to improve
opportunities to be employed, and other ways to become
involved nationally and locally.
This
conference will enable the leaders of outdoor
recreation and environmental management including park
rangers, skiers, scuba divers, archaeologists, climbers,
birders, writers, and a plethora of other pursuits to
share the fire that drives them. A key feature of their
message will include the variety of ways in which
these leaders and mentors are preparing the "next
generation" in their communities.
The vital
issues of "Breaking the Color Barrier" are issues that
have concerned us as bird educators and that arose at
February's Bird Conservation Through Education Gathering
in coastal Georgia.
By bringing together
parties that are currently working in isolation, the
Atlanta conference is expected to generate a new level
of unified energy, awareness, and commitment to drive
the outdoors and conservation movements to new
heights.
For more information on
the conference in Atlanta, visit
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=x568g7cab.0.0.cvohqmcab.0&ts=S0403&p=http%3A%2F%2Fbreakingthecolorbarrier.com%2F&id=preview.
|
 How
Daunting is Environmental Amnesia?
Since E.O. Wilson coined the term "biophilia," in
the mid-1980s, we've examined the propensity, if not the
need, to affiliate with connections to nature. Even
minimal connections to nature can increase health in the
workplace, in the school, at home, in our daily lives.
But what is the perception of nature from age
group to age group, generation to generation? Peter Kahn
(University of Washington) and colleagues have raised
the concept of "environmental generational
amnesia" at least since 2003 ("Children's
affiliations with nature: Structure, development, and
the problem of environmental generational amnesia")
where we seem to continually lower our standard of what
nature actually "is."
In cross-cultural studies of values and
attitudes about open space, animal life, natural areas,
and water quality, Kahn believes that, with every
generation, we seem to be lowering our knowledge and
expectations for what is a normal interaction with
nature, creating a "generational amnesia" about the
natural world.
Daniel Pauly in 1995 called this a "shifting
baseline syndrome" in fisheries ("Anecdotes and the
shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries") where
fisheries scientists would accept as a baseline the
stock size and species composition that occurred at the
start of their own careers, using this to evaluate
changes. What results is a "gradual accommodation of the
creeping disappearance of resource species."
How many times have we met birders, old-timers,
who could regale us with stories of how the migrating
spring warblers, orioles, and tanagers used to fill the
trees? How many times have we heard stories from
experienced waterfowlers over how ducks and geese would
cover sky and marsh in the "old days"?
To counteract the downward shift in the
baseline of expectations across generations, we need to
regularly revisit the standards of the past, the
experiences and vision of bird populations of substance
and prosperity. We need to educate across
generational lines to overcome generational
problems.
Environmental generational amnesia is a
problem, but it is not
insurmountable.
|
 Jr. Duck
Stamp Winners
by April Diane Haight The 2009 Federal
Junior Duck Stamp Contest winners were recently
announced. This year marks the 17th year for this
program. This combines art and science to teach wetland
habitat and waterfowl conservation to students in
kindergarten through high school. Many students
will also visit a National Wildlife Refuge to view
habitat and study waterfowl while preparing their entry
for the Junior Duck Stamp Contest. Each state and U.S.
territory holds a contest to select a state "Best of
Show" that will compete in the national contest. "This
year's competition was very tough; the judges had so
many amazing entries to choose from!" said Elizabeth
Jackson, National Junior Duck Stamp Program Coordinator.
The national winner this year was Lily Spang, age 16, of
Toledo, Ohio. Her painting of a Wood Duck was chosen out
of 51 state "Best of Show" contest entries.
Lily's Wood Duck painting will be featured
on the 2009-2010 Junior Duck Stamp. Junior Duck Stamps
can be purchased for $5 at the U.S. Postal Service and
through Amplex Corporation. All proceeds raised from the
sale of these stamps goes towards environmental
education, scholarships, and support for the Junior Duck
Stamp program. The 2009-2010 Junior Duck Stamps and
Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation [Duck] Stamps
will be available for sale later this week on June 26 at
the First Day of Sale event in Nashville, TN at the Bass
Pro Shops Outdoors World and other participating Bass
Pro Shops across the country, post offices, refuges and
other outlets. For more information about the
2009 Junior Duck Stamp contest winners and the program
for the coming year, visit: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=x568g7cab.0.0.cvohqmcab.0&ts=S0403&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jrduckstamp.com%2F&id=preview
or http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=x568g7cab.0.0.cvohqmcab.0&ts=S0403&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fws.gov%2Fjuniorduck&id=preview. | | |
For more
information visit:
