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 City
Partner Meeting A
Success
Flying WILD recently held its first City Partner
meeting February 21, 2009 in Jekyll Island, Georgia. It
was a great time to share information, participate in
discussions, make new friends and enjoy the southern
coast.
As many as 12 City Partners were represented at
the meeting generating plenty of good ideas for growing
the Flying WILD program, expanding the City Partner
network, building on successes and identifying areas in
need of improvement.
Resources are now available online which include flip
chart notes and discussion group summary notes. For
City Partners who were unable to attend Bird
Conservation through Education: A National
Gathering, following the City Partners meeting,
presentations can now be downloaded online by clicking here.
An online photo gallery is also available for
public viewing by clicking here.
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 Flying WILD City Partner
Network Grows its
Flock
The Flying WILD
network is
continuing to grow with the addition of three
new City Partners!
Welcome the newest members of the
Flying WILD City Partner network:
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural
Resources, University of Georgia - Athens,
Georgia
The Warnell School of Forestry and Natural
Resources' mission is to prepare leaders in the
conservation and sustainable management of forests and
other natural resources; to discover ways to restore and
better use the earth's natural resources; and to put
into practice forestry and natural resources
knowledge.
Established in 1906, it is the oldest program
in the South that provides service and outreach programs
in all aspects of forestry and forest management, water
and soils resources, wildlife, fisheries, and natural
resources recreation. Outreach activities include not
only landowner assistance, short courses, workshops,
field days, and continuing education; but also on-line
classes, TV programming, publication of handbooks and
manuals, and presentations at professional conferences.
The Lahontan
Audubon Society - Reno, Nevada
The Lahontan Audubon Society (LAS), a chapter of
the National Audubon Society, based in Reno and serving
all of northern Nevada, represents over 1,000
memberships of conservation-minded individuals and
families.
The organization works to help restore,
preserve, and improve habitat for birds and other
wildlife while providing education about birds and their
habitats in Nevada and adjacent areas of California. LAS
also plays a major role the in the Nevada
Important Bird Areas Program, part of a hemispheric
program to identify and preserve key bird habitat areas.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural
History- Cleveland, Ohio
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History,
incorporated in 1920, is one of the finest institutions
of its kind in the world. It is noted for its
collections, research, educational programs and
exhibits. The collections encompass more than 5
million artifacts and specimens, and research of global
significance focuses on 11 natural science
disciplines. The Museum is a valuable resource for
scientists and students from kindergarten to
university. The Museum's Science
Resource Center is dedicated to providing educators
of Northeast Ohio with the skills, materials and
information to present science lessons in an
interdisciplinary manner that is accurate, effective and
engaging. The center houses more than 4,000
educational items available for loan. http://www.cmnh.org
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 Register
Your Bird Festival with IMBD
International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) is
fast approaching so now is the perfect time to register
your bird festival with www.birdday.org.
Today, IMBD is celebrated in Canada, the
U.S., Mexico and Central America through a host of
activities such as bird festivals, bird walks, education
programs, and Bird Day! Each year IMBD continues
to focus attention on one of the most significant
and amazing events in the life of a migratory bird
-- its journey between its summer and winter homes. This
year's theme, "Celebrating Birds in Culture," focuses on
the important role birds have played in ancient and
modern cultures.
Flying WILD City Partners like Genesee Valley
Audubon Society (GVAS) are already planning
exciting events. GVAS's Annual Migratory Bird
Festival will be filled with live birds, art,
children's activities and special guest
presentations. A brochure, complete with
a full schedule of activities, is available for
viewing by clicking
here.
For more information about IMBD or to
join this important celebration click here.
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 Flying WILD on You
Tube
Flying WILD has been launched on You Tube
through an exciting effort completed by the Council for
Environmental Education's (CEE)summer interns.
CEE's interns teamed up with students at
Houston's Nehemiah Center to coordinate an
afternoon of fun activities using Flying WILD's Bird
Olympics. In this activity, students learn
some amazing physical attributes of birds by comparing
their own physical abilities to those of birds.
Their work has been captured in a six minute
demonstration video that can be viewed on You
Tube by clicking here.
Thanks to all of our summer interns for their hard work
and to the Nehemiah Center for their generous
hospitality! |
 Social
Marketing Takes Flight for Bird
Educators
City Partners are making terrific use of
online tools and discovering ways to effectively
grow their networks by reaching new
audiences, manage existing networks and share
resources.
The Delmarva City Partnership, which includes the
Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Assateague State Park
and the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, has developed a
Google Group for their growing network where all
facilitators and trained educators are invited to join.
Now, as many as 84 members are currently using this
feature to share resources, information about
workshop dates, funding opportunities, photos and
more.
Other City Partners like the Genesee Valley Audubon
Society's (GVAS) BirdCOR program are using social
marketing resources to develop a stronger web presence,
announce training opportunities, and offer opportunities
to participate in topical discussions related to Flying
WILD and environmental education. Visit
Facebook and Twitter to see
how GVAS is using these net resources. "We
recently created a BirdCOR Facebook global group
and other social media as new ways to post
events and host topical discussions," says GVAS's
David Semple. "We hope these will be
effective tools in advancing our program both within our
existing network of Flying WILD educators and with new
audiences over time." | |
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