Wildlife Management as Alternative to S’mores and Campfires

[Cara J]

Summer presents an ideal opportunity to introduce young people, especially city youth, to wildlife management and its career opportunities. Staff in Illinois participated in two residential camp options this summer. The Youth Conservation Conference (YCC) exposes underserved youth (high school students at the sophomore to senior level) to environmental stewardship through an immersive, weeklong residential “boot camp” at Chicago State University. Collaborating with other Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service programs, Wildlife Services also presented learning activities for the 2015 Ag Discovery Program at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign. This month-long outreach program exposes teens to careers in plant and animal science, wildlife management, and agribusiness during residency at the college. Image Credit: USDA Wildlife Services Wildlife Services’ participation enabled the 15 YCC participants to learn about and practice wildlife management techniques, research principles, teamwork, and leadership skills. Presentations covered trapping as a crucial tool of wildlife damage management programs and an important technique in wildlife research. All participants became familiar with the parts, operation, and uses of several different types of traps. In a mock field exercise, students checked turtle funnel traps and identified multiple turtle species. WS also demonstrated radio telemetry and its application in research. Participants learned how [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/wildlife-management-as-alternative-to-smores-and-campfires/