The Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network (CBEEN) continues to offer its Wild Voices for Kids program, despite some changes to funding.
Earlier this year, the Columbia Basin Trust made the decision to focus its funding to on-the-ground action to restore ecosystems and support climate resiliency in the Basin.
This means funding environmental education for organizations such as Wildsight and CBEEN ends in 2023.
READ: Wildsight urges Basin residents to lobby for environmental education
However, CBEEN will carry on with Wild Voices for Kids, says Mia King Program Manager.
“The Wild Voices for Kids program is funded through many different regional grant sources, including CBT. With CBT’s decision to change its program funding for environmental education, this has resulted in our ability to offer less fully and heavily subsidized Wild Voices for Kids presentations this school year compared with past years,” King said. “These fully and heavily subsidized Wild Voices presentations allow for more quality, place-based environmental education programs to be accessible by all students in the Basin.”
So what will be offered this spring? All kinds of interesting programs, mainly delivered outdoors, where students learn about and explore the local environment through hands-on activities that explore things like the local watershed, the local flora and fauna and wildlife behaviour.
A few examples of our Spring programs include:
1. A Day with Aquatic Macroinvertebrates
2. A Short History of the Columbia River
3. Agriculture in the Classroom
4. Animal Survival Instincts
5. Backcountry Food Preparation
6. Endangered Mountain Caribou in the Kootenays
7. Food Forests & Ecosystem Diversity
8. Grizzlies in the Kootenays
9. Identifying Trees in your Neighbourhood
10. Introduction to Michif Language
11. Let’s Get Growing! Garden Planning for Classrooms
12. Lichen Collection for Mountain Caribou
13. Métis Jigging
14. Outdoor Careers in the Kootenays
15. Stories of the Forest: Reading the Forestscape
16. The Marsh-ians Have Landed: A Pond Study
17. The Wonders of Water
18. Turtle Truths
19. Watershed Connections: A Web of Ecological Diversity
20. What Does a Wildlife Biologist See?
You can find out more about CBEEN programs at cbeen.ca/wildvoices
READ: CBEEN announces Excellence in Environmental Education awards
carolyn.grant@kimberleybulletin.com
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