Teachers, Scout leaders and other educators can get first-hand wildlife instruction about bears to pass on to the next generation with a three-day workshop planned at Harriman State Park.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game Project’s “WILD about Bears” workshop is designed for educators and others who want to learn and teach about bear biology and conservation. The Harriman workshop is scheduled for Aug. 5 to 7.
“The whole goal of the program is for us to teach the teachers so that they can bring conservation and wildlife concepts back into the classroom,” said James Brower, regional communications manager with Fish and Game.
Project WILD coordinator Lori Adams said the workshop has room for 25 participants and 10 slots are still open.
“I’d like to fill those remaining slots,” she said Tuesday.
The workshop includes two nights of lodging at the Scoville Conference Center at Harriman State Park, food is included in the fee. College credits are also offered for an additional fee.
“Anyone looking for ways to incorporate nature and wildlife in the lives of young children should take part in these workshops,” Adams said.
Brower said the class will be taught by experts from Yellowstone National Park and Fish and Game biologists. If a black bear is caught during the workshop period, class members will get to see biologists in action.
“We usually go up to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana, to see the bears up there,” Brower said. “We bring in our bear biologist Jeremy Nicholson. He presents the trapping portion of things — how he traps in Island Park, what it takes and what all is involved. If he does have a black bear in a trap that coincides with our time frame of the class then we may have the opportunity to go and watch him release it and perhaps put a collar on it.”
Brower said participants will also get to see videos from camera traps placed in the area.
“He shows some cool videos from the camera traps,” he said. “We go inside the life of a bear and the life of a bear biologist, which is exciting.”
Project WILD held a workshop titled WILD about Salmon at the MK Nature Center in Boise last week. Another workshop titled WILD about Early Learners will be held July 23 and 24 in Boise aimed at teachers of children pre-kindergarten through second grade.
To register for a workshop or learn more about the Project WILD about Bears program, go to idfg.idaho.gov/education/project-wild or email lori.adams@idfg.idaho.gov, or call 208-863-3236.
WILD About Bears
“We give (educators) a lot of tools, educational programs, tips and tricks, educational supplies so that they can go back to their classroom and have conservation-oriented games, puzzles, diagrams and biology that they can incorporate into some of the topics that they will be learning in class,” Brower said. “It goes really well with a lot of the Idaho curriculum on biology, ecology and Idaho history.”
