The earth's oceans are home to thousands of species of marine life, from tiny plankton to enormous humpback whales. The Great Lakes' contain more than six thousand shipwrecks - important pieces of history kept preserved in their icy waters. These waters are also the heart of many human communities, from native communities that have depended on the ocean for centuries; to vacationers who use the water to dive, surf and fish; to scientists who study marine life.
In this Into the Outdoors episode and related Into the Outdoors @Home topic videos, we see how National Marine Sanctuary designations across the country are protecting and preserving these precious natural resources.
Find links to the Into the Outdoors @Home topic videos below. These custom learning videos are designed to share with your entire classroom. You’ll also find other educational content, including custom lesson activities that blend peer-driven learning and hands-on activities.
For more information and resources related to National Marine Sanctuaries and Monuments, head to Sanctuaries.NOAA.gov
Welcome to Clovis Kids Cook-off as part of our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series.
As you’ll discover in this video, our hunting heritage offers you pathways to learning about how humankind historically and presently harvests wild game, and the rewards of sustainably preparing and consuming our renewable wild resources with your clan.
Okay, so there's several great ways to enjoy and share the "truly wild", wildlife and conservation education in this show.
First, you can kick back with family or friends to watch this entire half-hour television episode to get the full content in one sitting. Kinda like enjoying a full course meal. Yum-yum.
Then there's the shorter, custom segments on the noted links below. These are the custom "classroom" or learning videos with some bonus content designed to share with your entire classroom. On these links below you'll also find lots of other educational content, including custom lesson activities for your teacher to take your entire classroom on a three to four day journey of peer-driven learning blended with fun and hands-on pathways to try outdoor pursuits yourself.
Whichever way you decide to enjoy the fun and educational content, it's a win-win way for you to get engaged with pathways to discovering more about yourself and the great outdoors.
Until then, enjoy the journey of discovery in all of the content in our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series.
Official Hunter Safety Courses for Today’s Hunter
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Hey, teachers and educators!! Don't forget to check out the advanced overview for some quick-start birding lessons in your classroom plus the lesson plans below.
Did you know that more than 45 million people in the United States are birders? That means one out of seven people you meet enjoy searching for and identifying these important feathery animals.
Why are birds so important you may ask? Well first of all, they help grow and protect many crops that you eat during your mealtimes. Two thousand bird species and other animals help pollinate 90% of plants and 75% of crops around the world. Birds also eat 20 quadrillion plant-eating insects each year that destroy crops like corn, apples, strawberries, and lettuce. Not only do birds help us eat and grow, but their ability to fly at incredible heights, speeds, and distances inspired us to build airplanes. It is no wonder since the peregrine falcon can dive up to 200 miles per hour while the Ruppel’s griffon vulture can fly 37,000 feet off the ground. That is higher than the world’s tallest mountains, the Himalayan Mountains. Lastly, since birds are sensitive to changes in temperature, moisture, and oxygen in their environmental surroundings, birds can be indicators of climate change. Counting the number of species and individual birds in an area assists scientists in gauging the health of the environment. The higher the variety and amount of birds, the better. (of course not in all cases? Could be overpopulation, crowding effects)(scientists may record shifts in nesting or migration behaviors too)
Scientists are now predicting that almost half of our North American birds are at risk of extinction within the next 100 years. Currently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed 90 bird species as endangered, or in other words, near extinction. You may be wondering why so many birds are in trouble. There are multiple reasons accounting for this threat, such as the expansion of cities, pollution, or clearing of forests. However, one of the largest threats to bird survival is habitat loss. Habitats are like your house: they provide food, water, shelter, and space for the bird. And today, birds are losing their homes due to human impacts. For example, humans have converted 290 million acres of native grasslands into agricultural fields within North America. These rolling hills of grasses and flowers are one of the most rapidly disappearing habitats in the western hemisphere and are home to many bird species, such as a “ricebird” called the bobolink. With fewer and fewer grasslands to breed and live in within the last 40 years, our bobolink populations have decreased by 50 percent.
So what can we do to keep or regain habitat for birds? Organizations of people across the country aim to reduce the threat of habitat loss by building sanctuaries or conservancies. These sanctuaries and conservancies are refuges for birds because they protect, manage, and restore habitats that birds depend upon. Thinks of these places as hotels. When birds are in need of a new home, looking for places to find a partner and raise a family, or searching for a place to rest while traveling south for the winter, a bird will ‘check in’ to one of these hotels. Here, a bird may visit family and friends, eat lots of natural food, drink clean water, swim in the pool, and sleep in a safe space. Sounds fun, right?
Additionally, every bird species is unique and requires certain characteristics in their habitat. Therefore, a ‘hotel’ staff must work hard and long to create and maintain a sanctuary or conservancy that provides a vast array of habitats for as many bird and wildlife species as possible. For instance, you may find habitats ranging from tallgrass prairies and oak savannahs to mature hardwood forests and temperate rainforests to open wetlands and coastal beaches in a conservancy or sanctuary.
But sanctuaries and conservancies cannot build themselves. Watch these two videos and learn how avian stewards like you can help sanctuaries and conservancies reach to the skies and create quality habitat for birds.
Our educational partner, American Transmission Company (ATC), supported the video content above. To learn more about their pollinator program, check out the link below. Also, look out for ATC's new bird identification field guide! Book copies may be purchased at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Greenbay, Wisconsin.
This page offers a chance for you to see the entire Emmy-winning film in HD. It also provides link to the classroom educational films and lesson activities related to this production. Simply click on the link below to explore some of the classroom educational films, lessons and resources on river restoration.
Throughout this website you'll also find over 100 classroom educational films on science, nature and the environment, all with free companion lesson activities or discussion guides to empower students with peer-driven learning in school. Teachers will find abundant background and other supporting educational resources.
As you'll see, the story of the Ottaway is told through the hearts of minds of over 30 various stakeholders, as they confront the challenges of turning back the hands of time by removing the three upper dams and modifying a fourth to once again connecting the region’s major coldwater river with the waters of Lake Michigan. This film weaves together strong Native American values, the complexity of a changing society, and the unspoken voices of nature’s population of “environmental citizens” whose lives are interwoven with… the rebirth of the Ottaway.
With funding support from the Grand Traverse Band of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, this documentary film also offers a blueprint on how communities across Michigan can navigate the challenges of dealing with the state’s 2500 outdated dams that face similar fates as those near Traverse City.
Over two years in the making, this film was produced by Dan Bertalan, an Emmy-winning documentary producer with deep roots in Michigan and environmental justice. This film recently won an Emmy from the Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The film was broadcast via CMU Public Television and public television affiliates across Michigan. Also, the Outdoor Writer’s Association of America awarded the film honors as the top Conservation Documentary in their national awards.
Plans are already underway for a sequel documentary as the final chapter of the river unfolds with the building of a state-of-the-art selective fish passage that will once again connect spawning fish from the Great Lakes with historic waters they haven’t been able to reach in over 100 years.