Education and Outreach

Community outreach and education are integral to the Upper Columbia Basin Network’s vision of a long-term monitoring strategy.  To this end, volunteers have played and will continue to play a key role.  For example, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) has provided both students and staff volunteers as well as housing in exchange for Network-staffed education programs.  Most recently OMSI and the UCBN teamed up to offer high school students the opportunity to study bats at Hagerman Fossil Beds NM, aspen communities at City of Rocks NR, and camas at Nez Perce NHP. Since 2007, three local high school groups have participated in camas monitoring at Weippe Prairie (Nez Perce NHP). And Lake Roosevelt NRA’s River Mile program has benefitted from UCBN workshops on water quality monitoring strategies and on the use of GIS technologies.

Educational opportunities have also relied on dedicated volunteers and cooperation with regional educators.  “Aliens in your Neighborhood”, an invasive weeds curriculum for middle school sciences, was made possible with funding and support from NPS Parks as Classrooms, the University of Idaho, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, NatureMapping, XID Services, Inc., and CyberTracker World.  Following this curriculum, students can be directly involved with preventing weed invasion, increasing public awareness, assisting with Inventory and Monitoring, conducting research, and managing invasive plants.

For more information:

• See the UCBN Science Communication Plan
• See the Natural Resource Year in Review article: Native American science students study camas lily at Nez Perce’s Weippe Prairie
• See the High school students travel to the Hagerman Valley to study bats article
• See the Camas – Citizen Scientist Monitoring Program brochure
• Visit the Aliens in your Neighborhood website