BY BARBARA GREENBERG
DANVILLE — The outrage generated by the recent threat to close Kickapoo State Park and other state parks highlighted the important role these natural refuges play in the lives of residents.
Environmentalists have long recognized how parks allow for conservation of native plants and animals and also provide educational opportunities for adults, as well as children. The Vermilion County Conservation District will sponsor in January one such opportunity, an educator-training workshop called Flying WILD.
A new partnership of Lincoln Park Zoo, Illinois Audubon Society-Flying WILD and the Environmental Education Association of Illinois will bring the workshop to Kennekuk County Park.
Lara Darling, educator with the Vermilion County Conservation District, serves on the board of the Environmental Education Association of Illinois. She was one of 20 people selected for the facilitator training workshop conducted this summer at Lincoln Park Zoo.
“I was one of only two people selected from east central Illinois,” Darling said. “This is the first time this course has been offered in this area.”
Darling described the program as providing “interactive, interdisciplinary, standards-based activities to help students understand the importance of migratory birds and their conservation.”
She said the program is targeted for grades 5-8, but could be easily adapted to other levels. It also could be used in indoor settings.
“This isn’t a bird identification class,” Darling said. “It’s a way to teach about birds using other subjects.”
Jo Skoagland coordinates the Flying WILD program for the Illinois Audubon Society.
“Education is part of our mission at the society,” Skoagland said.
“Flying WILD is a program about topics like bird anatomy and bird migration,” she said. “We introduce a concept and follow it with a series of short activities that help students understand the concept.”
Skoagland said the Audubon group has noticed increased interest in nature.
“Lately there’s been a resurgence of parents who want their children involved in something besides sports,” she said. “People are more into the environment. They want their kids to learn about it, too.”
Before any of this can take place, the trainers must be trained. Darling will hold the first local workshop Jan. 15. Registration is due Jan. 8.
Participants will receive “Flying WILD: An Educator’s Guide to Celebrating Birds,” which can be considered a how-to book for implementing the program.
The workshops will be as hands-on as the students’ programs. Educators practice putting on the activities the book describes. Those range from how parent birds feed their young to how to put on a bird festival.
