by Denny Olson Invasive plant species have been described as a slow-motion nuclear bomb going off. While this sounds like hyperbole, we have to remember that the this “bomb” can affect entire bioregions, and invasives can reduce tree cover, cause increased erosion and reduce water quality, increase fire risk, have noxious effects on humans and…
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Conservation Educator’s Niche – October 2019
By Denny Olson We are social animals, and our ‘kind’ – the pack (or village) animals (wolves, chimpanzees, gorillas, orcas, etc.) — are almost desperate to know where they fit in their social environment. Of course, social animals receive conformity messages from the pack or herd or club. But in most cases, there is still…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – September 2019
by Denny Olson Well, we are nearing the end of that chronically over-planned, not-enough-time-in-the-universe-as-we-understand-it, time we call “summer”. And I have to say … it has been fun! Five weeks of teaching senior citizens about birds and life in Glacier, four days of Audubon and Road Scholar grandparents and grandkids with talented FAS volunteers, many…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – May 2019
by Denny Olson “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby (and still have a ways to go)” Despite our recognition that women have played a very important role in our knowledge of science (see last month’s column), the background shows that cultures, and prevailing thought, do not change overnight. Gender inequality is still the norm in…
Read More“Of Women and Audubon”
by Denny Olson, Conservation Educator “Who has the right to decide that the supreme value is a world without insects, even though it would be a sterile world ungraced by the curving wing of a bird in flight. The decision is that of the authoritarian temporarily entrusted with power.” — Rachel Carson,…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – March 2019
Big Possibilities for Local Bird Education by Denny Olson Partly because our local schools are cash-strapped for bus money, opportunities for public school outdoor education seem to be shrinking. With our local economy increasingly tied to outdoor experiences – and with what we know about how important natural outdoor experiences are in the intellectual and…
Read MoreEducation Committee News – March 2019
by Gail Shay Linne, Education Chair Denny Olson, Conservation Educator, presented an ambassador training on January 7, 2019 at the Lone Pine State Park Visitors Center. Shannon Donaldson and her son Bridger Donaldson, Jennifer Dodan, Pat Jaquith and Pam Willison attended the three-hour workshop. FAS Education Committee members Amy Jacobs, Rod Wallette and Gail Linne…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – February 2019
by Denny Olson At Flathead Audubon, we have a lot going on these days behind the scenes to build our school field trip presence in our own Owen Sowerwine Natural Area and assisting the Flathead Land Trust and Fish, Wildlife and Parks with in and out-of-classroom student bird education in the West Valley Ponds (“The…
Read MoreConservation Educator’s Niche – January 2019
Education Committee Trunk Training Opportunity
Audubon members are invited to a training to learn about the contents of FAS’s educational trunks. We will share the materials from three or four trunks, the contents of which feature birds, climate and conservation. Participants will learn how to present educational trunks to area groups such as schools, community organizations and senior centers. Another…
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