Wildlife Stewards creates habitat at local schools

By THERESA HOGUE

Gazette-Times reporter

Students' lives are becoming too disconnected from the natural world, but a 4-H program that rebuilds that connection - right on school grounds - has just won a new award, according to

4-H faculty member Maggie Livesay.

The OSU Extension Service

4-H Wildlife Stewards program has been named the 2008 Fish and Wildlife Service - 4-H Natural Resources Conservation Award. It's the first award of its kind. Representatives from several Oregon counties involved in the program, including Jahnsam Richardson of Benton County, will accept the award March 26 in Phoenix, Ariz., at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resource Conference.

Livesay said the program, found at many local schools, is enriching public education in Oregon.

The program exemplifies wildlife conservation and environmental education efforts, and demonstrates an emphasis on sound stewardship of fish and wildlife resources, according to Cathann Kress, director of the National 4-H headquarters. The program is receiving $5,000 as part of the award.

The Wildlife Stewards program trains volunteers to help teachers, students and parent groups turn tired patches of school grounds - tired lawn or even old asphalt - into thriving natural habitats for birds, beneficial insects and other wildlife. Ponds, native plants, trees, bushes and interpretive signs sprout where gravel and weeds once ruled. Soon butterflies, frogs and birds follow. Students then use those habitats as a natural laboratory for learning everything from conservation, biology and botany to math and mapping skills.

The program, which began 10 years ago, now operates in 54 schools in 19 counties. Local schools include Jefferson, Lincoln, Hoover, Kings Valley Charter School and most recently, at Mountain View Elementary.

Livesay, Youth Development Faculty for 4-H Outreach, said the program has received a number of national awards over the years, for expanding instruction of the natural sciences by providing volunteers at schools. They bring enthusiastic new faces into the schools to provide instruction on everything from stream rehabilitation to reintroduction of native plants.

"It's all about getting kids outdoors," Livesay said. "They don't see the outdoors much."

For instance, Friday morning Livesay was with a group of elementary school students looking at a blooming willow tree.

"None of the kids knew what it was," she said. "It blew me away."

Richardson, who will represent Benton County at the awards ceremony next week, is a 16-year-old sophomore at Corvallis High School. He joined 4-H when he was in the third grade at Inavale School, where his mother volunteered as a wildlife steward. He now is a junior leader with 4-H, and he leads educational activities at Corvallis elementary schools, sharing what he learned as a wildlife steward.

"During my years at Inavale, I planted native trees and shrubs and bought and planted camas (a native flower with purple blossoms) in the wetland part of the native habitat trail we built," he said in an essay he wrote about his 4-H experience. "My class mapped the native area and limbed, weeded and watered the native plants."

Richardson said he is continuing to be involved in the wildlife stewards program as a camp counselor, and is trying to expand the program beyond the elementary school level, by bringing middle and high school students together to develop outdoor activities for younger students.

For more information on the program, see http://wildlifestew ards.4h.oregonstate.edu.