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

We 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 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,

3538 COTTONWOOD AVE. CODY, WY 82414 • 307.587.4863 INFO@DEWEYWILDLIFE.COM WWW.DEWEYWILDLIFE.COM

The Wild Sheep Foundation’s mascot, Rocky, poses with two girls at the YWCE.

a rock-climbing wall, BB gun and pellet gun ranges, trap archery, 3D archery, hover archery, stick-it archery, laser shot, CSI Wildlife, fly tying and live raptors. Additionally, the Nevada Department of Wildlife ran stations with casting, duck calling, target archery, hands-on hides, furs, skulls and snakes, as well as the Operation Game Thief trailer. The Nevada Department of Agriculture taught about entomology and offered flavored crickets as a snack. The First Hunt Foundation taught about firearm safety and offered kids the chance to practice those skills on their gigantic dart gun shooting gallery. The National Bighorn Sheep Center educated on wild sheep through various exhibits and hands-on learning. There were many more stations and about 100 volunteers a day to make these stations work.

On Saturday, the YWCE was open to the public, with all the hands-on learning stations running the entire day. Lines stayed constant as close to 700 children and their families came through the event on that day alone.

For almost a decade now, Leica has been the key sponsor of the Tracks Program, a special part of the YWCE for youth ages 12-17. These youth take a special raffle card through the exhibit hall and learn additional skills from Sitka, Stone Glacier, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Kenetrek, Northern Nevada SCI, Dewey Wildlife Studio and Leica. Each vendor punches their card after completing the learning task. An exciting raffle then took place back in the YWCE area toward the end of the day. Prizes included boots from Kenetrek, a Sitka package, a Stone Glacier backpack and the grand prize Leica Trinovid binoculars.

We thank all the presenters, participating Tracks Program exhibitors, and volunteers who made this event possible for the 1,162 youth who were excited and inspired by the many features of the event this year. WS

OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF THE TRACKS PROGRAM

We’ll see you at the Sheep Show® - January 2022See you at the Sheep Show® January 2023