Bird Education Network News

Bird City Wisconsin

Making our communities healthy for birds...and people"

You've heard of Tree City. Now a powerful partnership of leading bird organizations in Wisconsin has established a similar effort to help birds.

It's called Bird City Wisconsin, and communities are invited to apply for recognition honoring them for their work to protect birds and their habitat.

Flying WILD is sponsored in Wisconsin by the Wisconsin Society for Ornithologyand Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative (WBCI) Education Committee. Both organizations are part of the Bird City Wisconsin coalition working in close coordination to deliver the full spectrum of bird conservation statewide, emphasizing voluntary stewardship.

Steve Kupcho, experienced teacher, an avid birder, and the current coordinator for Flying WILD in Wisconsin through WSO (Wisconsin Society for Ornithology), is leading taking a major role in promoting this innovative effort in Wisconsin.

Bird City Wisconsinseeks to encourage communities to implement sound bird conservation practices by offering high visibility public recognition to those that succeed in doing so. Andy Paulio is the key WBCI member getting this off the ground. Andy was also instrumental in including Flying WILD bird education as one of the criteria for becoming a recognized "Bird City."

To be certified, communities have to meet at least seven criteria. They range from providing additional bird habitat in parks to conducting an education program to control free-roaming cats.

Flying WILD is the first criteria under public education. Participants are asked to "demonstrate that schools in your community participate in Flying WILD, helping ensure that the nation's students are knowledgeable about the conservation needs of migratory and other birds."

Part of the Bird City Wisconsin mission is to educate the public about bird conservation issues. The Flying WILD criteria allows educators the opportunity to take the lead in bird education on a statewide level to increase environmental literacy and stewardship in schools. The Council for Environmental Education and the Flying WILD National Office are pleased and honored to be included in such an ambitious initiative to help Wisconsin educators achieve broader academic goals. Now, more new educators in Wisconsin are going to have access to Flying WILD's hands-on learning about birds!

The program received $8,000 from Together Green, which is an alliance between the National Audubon Society and Toyota Motor Corp., and $5,000 from the Milwaukee Audubon Society. The Milwaukee Audubon Society will select the first five Bird City Wisconsin communities in 2011.Communities receiving the designation will get street signs showing they are members of Bird City Wisconsin. Wisconsin's effort is one of the first of its kind in the nation, and could be a model for states across the country to adopt.

Congratulations to all Bird City partners for making such an innovative, bold move for bird conservation and education. To learn more about Bird City Wisconsin visit http://www.birdcitywisconsin.org/Index.htm.

Flying WILD, a program of the Council for Environmental Education, introduces students to bird conservation through standards-based classroom activities and environmental stewardship projects. Flying WILD encourages schools to work closely with conservation organizations, community groups, and businesses involved with birds to implement school bird festivals and bird conservation.