BP don’t pollute our environment, coz your ruining our wildlife from Felix Gonzales on Vimeo.

Darryl Walter Environmental toxicants, climate change, energy development climate change, conservation education, energy development, Environmental ethics

The Celebrating Our Wildlife Conservation Heritage or COWCH was created with the goal of preserving the history and evolution of the wildlife profession by interviewing influential wildlife biologist, educators, managers, and other pioneers.

To date we have recorded more than 60 COWCH interviews with distinguished leaders in the wildlife profession including students of Aldo Leopold, charter members of TWS, Aldo Leopold Award winners, past-presidents of TWS, and other trail-blazers in wildlife management and conservation. These interviews—along with many more we hope to do—form a priceless record of the roots of our profession.

Read more and watch interview excerpts here.

Darryl Walter COWCH, Wildlife professionals conservation education, COWCH, habitat protection, wildlife biologists, Wildlife Careers, wildlife conservation, Wildlife Society member

Oklahoma State University Professor Fred S. Guthery received the 2009 Outstanding Publication Award from The Wildlife Society for his book “A Primer on Natural Resource Science.”

The Outstanding Publication Award recognizes excellence in scientific writing characterized by originality of research or thought and a high scholastic standard in the manner of presentation. The award was presented at The Wildlife Society’s 16th Annual Conference in Monterey, Calif.

Read more here.

Darryl Walter TWS Annual Conference, Wildlife management annual conference, conservation education, habitat protection

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Chesapeake Bay Extravaganza at Pyle Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland. Yes, I had a personal interest in this; my twin daughters are sixth grade students at Pyle and were part of the 440 sixth graders that worked at least 10 hours during the school year on a project promoting cleaning the Chesapeake Bay. I was also fortunate to attend the first Chesapeake Bay Extravaganza two years ago when my son participated in it.

The evening included speeches from students, representatives from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Chesapeake Bay Program Office, and from Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler. We were told that this program is unique for a middle school program. The sixth grade science teachers do an amazing job in teaching the students about the Bay. As residents of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed it is vital that this information is taught to students (and it doesn’t hurt if the parents hear it as well).

The bulk of the evening was spent walking the halls of the school and listening to the students explain their projects. The projects ranged from teaching recycling techniques to building bird houses for endangered birds, to doing organized clean-up of the C&O Canal. Students worked individually or in small teams of 2 or 3. I was encouraged by the enthusiasm of the students.

For more information on this great program and a link to a teacher resource page, visit here.

Darryl Walter Uncategorized, endangered species Chesapeake Bay, conservation education, restoration project, student, volunteer

Going green is supposed to be good for the environment, unless you’re a bat.

Researchers are investigating the deaths of bats around wind farms where some of the dead animals show no signs of injury. But it’s not just bats that seem to be having problems with the farms.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Darryl Walter Animal behavior, wildlife conservation bats, bird research, conservation education, habitat protection

The Wildlife Society’s Annual Conference provides an excellent opportunity for students to make connections and expand their professional horizons. Those who attend the conference gain valuable tools and information, potential leads on jobs in their chosen fields—and memories that will last a lifetime. The Wildlife Society’s Student Professional Development Working Group (SPDWG) has compiled the following stories from four young people who have attended prior conferences—and who encourage other students to do the same.

Darryl Walter TWS Annual Conference annual conference, conservation education, student, student chapter

Boyce Thompson Arboretum near the historic copper-mining town of Superior, AZ, hosts the debut event of Arizona State Parks’ Aldo Leopold Centennial observance April 4, this Saturday, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Arizona and New Mexico, in conjunction with the Aldo Leopold Foundation, are hosting a year-long celebration of Aldo Leopold’s arrival in the southwest which happened in Springerville, Arizona in 1909.

Arizona State Parks is holding special centennial events throughout 2009, starting with the Arboretum’s on April 4 at 10 a.m.Among other activities that day Arboretum staff member Kim Stone will portray Aldo Leopold at this event speaking in character, leading a guided tour and participating with a “Where’s Aldo” geo-caching activity.There will also be activities for children in conjunction with the Arboretum’s “Arts in the Park” events also happening on April 4.Leopold was an ecologist, forester, and environmentalist.He was influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the movement for wilderness preservation.Leopold’s most famous book, “A Sand County Almanac,” contains insightful and moving essays related to his Wisconsin experiences. His biography is called “Aldo Leopold: A Fierce Green Fire.”

Read about 2009 Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration Events

Listen to an audio interview with Arizona Centennial Re-enactor Kim Stone:

Darryl Walter Section and Chapter News Aldo Leopold, conservation education, wildlife conservation

This past week around the dinner table there has been discussion of Earth Hour.  My kids have been talking it up and I have read a couple of stories about it.  We are looking forward to turning off the lights for an hour.

Earth Hour takes place on Saturday, March 28 at 8:30 pm (local time).  For more information on it, check out the Earth Hour site.

Darryl Walter climate change climate change, conservation education, volunteer

As part of The Wildlife Society Annual Conference registration fee for the 2008 meeting, we allocated $5 toward a carbon sequestration project.

Proceeds from the fund helped restore longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and wiregrass (Aristida stricta) habitat at the Peacock Slough Tract, part of the Sandhill Groundcover Restoration project in the Suwannee River Water Management District. This project was proposed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Wildlife Legacy Initiative and included matching funds and staff from national, regional, and local natural-resource management and conservation agencies. The project will:

• store carbon while contributing to restoration of a threatened native ecosystem
• occur on public lands dedicated to conservation
• include multiple agencies involved in regional conservation efforts
• help meet previously set goals for ecological restoration

To read an update on this please click here.

Darryl Walter TWS Annual Conference, TWS Sponsored Programs annual conference, conservation education, restoration project

Great news, the Spring issue of The Wildlife Professional is now available in print and online.  For TWS members feel free to log-into the digital version here.  For those not yet members of TWS, you can take a preview of the issue here.

Included in this issue is an excellent cover story on “Conservation at a Crossroad” and how hunting and fishing activities support conseravation efforts.

Darryl Walter Membership, Policy, TWS Annual Conference, TWS Sponsored Programs, Wildlife Policy News, climate change climate change, conservation education, energy development, funding for wildlife management and conservation, hunting, North American Wildlife Conservation Model, The Wildlife Professional, wildlife policy, Wildlife Society member