CONSERVATION EDUCATION by Ryan Brock WSF Youth Education Coordinator
A volunteer with the Lahontan Audubon Society teaches participants about unique markings on birds of prey.
YOUTH WILDLIFE CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE
W
e had another successful year at Sheep Show® with the Youth Wildlife Conservation Experience (YWCE). The first two days of the event, school groups were bused in for a private educational experience. Thursday, 269 sixth and seventh-graders and Friday, 226 fifth-graders attended for five hours to learn about wildlife conservation and outdoor hobbies. The school group days began with a presentation on wild sheep, which moved into how wildlife is conservated and paid for and how 126 WILD S HEEP® ~ SPRING 2022
hunting organizations like the Wild Sheep Foundation, do our part. Next, students participated in three of nine outdoor career seminars to attend. Seminars included presentations from: Wonrate Gear, Antler Creek Wildlife Creations, Nevada Department of Wildlife, 2% for Conservation, Teller Wildlife Refuge, Journeys Outdoor School, Wasting Arrows Indoor Archery, Carson Creature Captures, and Reno Animal Emergency Center. As students ate lunch, our two scholarship recipients for the Life Member Fund Scholarship, Jake Hill
and Logan Thomas, gave keynote presentations on what wildlife conservation is to them and their journey towards degrees in these fields. Following the keynote presentations, the school groups then had over two hours to rotate on their own through the hands-on learning stations in the youth area. Even with a few groups having to back out last minute due to COVID related issues, we still had 29 stations. These included a 10,000-gallon kayak pool run by Pass Pro Shop / Cabela’s,
