In 2014, urban wildlife refuge managers throughout Southern California responded to a challenge issued by United States Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) leadership to connect the urban dwelling population in the region with wildlife and urban refuges. Five years later, the SoCal Urban Wildlife Refuge Project's reach and impact are significant.…

Lead poisoning from ingestion of bullet fragments in gut piles and unretrieved deer carcasses continues to cause mortality in bald eagles. To address this issue, the Midwest region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) initiated an outreach program during 2016-2018 encouraging hunters to voluntarily use nonlead ammunition while deer…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Urban Wildlife Conservation Program invested in communicating the vital importance of wildlife conservation to urban audiences. Urban areas present a strategic opportunity to reach new audiences and expose them to the USFWS and opportunities to visit USFWS lands. Refuges close to highly populated areas provide…

The SoCal Urban Wildlife Refuge Project team responded to a national challenge and regional needs by developing integrated programs and services chiefly through partnerships with organizations throughout Southern California. The San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex has put a $1 million annual funding award to work by supporting a suite of…

Adams-Friendship High School sits in the center of Wisconsin, a few miles east of a national wildlife refuge, surrounded by farmland. Vincent High School, in Milwaukee, sits near the northern edge of the city, a few blocks from a highway. Two schools in the same state, separated by a three-hour car ride and a mile-long list of assumptions about…

An open field--with its wildflowers, grasses, and vole tunnels--became an instant classroom. Students' senses were awakened there, and upon entering a nearby forest, they immediately detected a difference: less light and cooler air. "Why are there no grasses in the forest? Why aren't there ferns in the field?" These and other questions emerged as…

This research explored the connections between place attachment and resident perceptions of tourism. Aspects of place attachment such as place identity and place dependence were tested against tourism dependence for strength of correlation and relationship to perceived impacts of tourism. Survey data were collected from residents of eight…

When schools swiftly transitioned to virtual learning, program partners across this established out-of-doors environmental education project were challenged to rethink and retool the learning experiences from place-based programs to virtual learning, as most Project-supported programs were delivered outside of the traditional classroom. Meeting…

A description of the participation by two rural youth from Princeton, Minnesota in a wildlife management training program at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. (EA)

This directory offers a comprehensive outdoor education reference source on more than 4,700 parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and recreation areas administered by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and by state park agencies. The Directory provides alphabetized, descriptive information on each…

Suggests indoor and outdoor activities concerning frogs and toads, including listening to a record of their songs, imitating their sounds, and observing frogs and toads at a wildlife refuge. (MH)

Describes a project using an interdisciplinary approach to environmental education in which students studied a broad-leaved woodland area and an area in the Great Swamp National Wildlife refuge. (BR)

The House of Representatives Bill 39, if passed, would designate new or expanded national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, wild and scenic rivers, and wilderness areas on less than 100 million acres of public land in Alaska. (Author/MJB)

Collected data from wildlife refuge visitors to examine relationships between service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Specific psychological benefits visitors obtained from the visit did not significantly contribute to perceptions of service quality. Results verified the existence of service quality and visitor satisfaction at…

This paper presents a set of interdisciplinary lessons for teaching about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska). Lessons include a petroleum product treasure hunt, an examination of life without petroleum, the development of a wildlife poster, an exploration of the tundra ecosystem and the plants and animals that live there, identification…