Wild Voices for Kids $10,000
Wings Over the Rockies

The Wild Voices for Kids program is an environmental /heritage education program which connects students to the land, history and culture of the Columbia Basin. It was developed for the Rocky Mountain School District #6 (RMSD). The program is run in partnership with Rocky Mountain School District #6 and provides environmental education programming to students in schools from Golden in the North to Kimberley in the south.

In 2002, the program reached 94 classes or 2350 students by supporting 22 presenters who offered 33 natural science and cultural heritage programs. During previous years at the Wings Over the Rockies Bird Festival students have heard presentations, or participated in field trips with world-renowned artist Robert Bateman; TV’s Nature Nut John Acorn; and Bill Lishman (Father Goose). Presentations are made throughout the four seasons of the year making it a year round program. Presenters from events such as Living with Wildlife (September), Wild Voices Speakers Series (January – March) and Golden Festival of Birds and Bears also visit classrooms through the WVFK program.

This year’s new curriculum linked program is the “Water for the World” Initiative, which is being supported by the Upper Columbia Watershed Council as an action oriented water education program. The comprehensive project aims to integrate school children with their watershed; its properties, quality, quantity, and associated species.

Potentially there will be 4 modules in the curriculum:
1. Invertebrate indicator species counts;
2. Kokanee Salmon Counts (fall and spring);
3. Water supply and sewage plant visits (where does it come from? And where does it go?); and
4. Water testing.

The intent of the program is to get students out of the classroom and into the natural setting and to provide regular field trips where students will experience seasonal watershed changes. They will measure indicator species and develop an appreciation for human and wildlife interdependence. This will be achieved in part, by an interaction between students and local scientists, emphasizing experiential learning. At the secondary school level WVFK is exploring connections with a local Osprey Survey Research project which would link students with on the ground research and help them explore the links between water pollution and bioaccumulation of toxins the Osprey populations with it’s parallels to human health and water quality.

The community benefits directly from WVFK programs by inspiring stewardship actions in the youth of the area, breathing a renewed sense of responsibility ownership for the environment into both the youth of the area and their families. Sustaining ecosystem function and structure within the demands of a dramatically developing human landscape represents a daunting education and conservation challenge. WVFK program is one way to provide the much needed conservation information to the important student population of our communities.

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