Can we teach about wildlife these days?
By Bert Raynes, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
August 20, 2008
Never before in the history of our nation has such a large percentage of its citizens been so ignorant of the lives of animals, wild or domestic.
No this is not another indictment of the fate of public education in the United States, although ... gee whiz. It’s simply that not so long ago, nearly every kid grew up having to know how to avoid or hunt wild animals, or how to care for domesticated animals.
The U.S. was once agricultural, rural and small-town. Now it’s largely urban and suburban, technologically oriented, and there’s not much opportunity or, indeed, need for people to interact with their fellow creatures. Schools, zoos and PBS documentaries aren’t sufficient.
Assuming it would be good for mankind and animals to be familiar, how to accomplish that?
Wish I knew.
I’ve been trying to understand how children (or adults) learn these days in modern America. I’d sure like to know how to teach in these days of computers and blogs as newspapers, periodicals and books are in decline. Indeed, how best to try to reach people? Television? Text messages (sigh)? Headlines only? Lectures? Demonstrations? Opportunities in school curricula?
Wish I knew.
What would be the potential benefit, anyway? So what if the general public is totally ignorant of other life forms? A few people every year get mauled or trampled or both. Hardly anybody knows where meat or food parts get to the store. Or the predator/prey relationships. How to think about wolves and bears, let alone prairie dogs, old-growth forests or sage grouse. Sure, but the cell phones work.
How to feel about wildlife versus unrestrained growth in Jackson Hole and elsewhere is important to your future.
Unfamiliarity with, or simple misunderstanding or ignorance of, masks issues and leads to lousy policy.
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Field Notes: Unaware (we assume and hope) of the bureaucratic struggles over them, sage grouse families of hen and half-grown young are wandering their habitat. In a couple of months, these grouse might be listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
This decision is not wanted by the gas and oil industry or the Bureau of Land Management. It could hinder that industry’s pace of building wells and associated infrastructure.
The state of Wyoming doesn’t want the grouse listed either and has proposed a “Core Area Management Plan” to try to head off a listing. Interest groups, researchers and “experts” have weighed in.
One wonders if there’s any cooperation. That’d be nice.
The decision will be important to everybody and especially for the greater sage grouse. An October surprise?
Mountain bluebirds and grasshoppers together in South Park (Kirby and Stephanie Williams). Scores of each animal, so it’s nice to know bluebirds prospered, here or elsewhere.
Migration for some birds is underway, including some warblers and sparrows (Susan Patla).
Fledging for some bird species means to be flying quite well in a short time. Not for osprey and eagles; a “first flight” for one osprey baby took it from its nest to Wyoming Highway 22, and the almost inevitable occurred. Good Samaritans rescued its sibling.
Should you see a bird sighting in some vulnerable place from your car, try to avoid it. Or help it.
Alice Richter spotted a peregrine falcon in Skyline Ranch on Aug. 13. Black-headed grosbeak have completed nesting (Darby Egan).
Hummingbirds are spotty, in good numbers here but absent elsewhere. It may take a weather change to move birds around.
Karen Haminick was interested when a bear, light tan and not a cub, crossed the highway between Bondurant and the Rim. Many berries are ripe, and bears are looking for them and other food sources. Look out for them.
Adult ground squirrels have gone underground to hibernate. Some young have yet to disappear. Most likely will soon.
Fall sneaks up.
© Bert Raynes 2008
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Bert Raynes writes weekly on whatever suits his fancy with a dash of news on nature and its many ways.
