Education and Outreach
Community outreach and education are integral to the Upper Columbia Basin Network’s vision of a long-term monitoring strategy. The UCBN has worked together with network parks and other organizations, and volunteers have played a key role in assisting with monitoring efforts. For example, in 2006 the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (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 our Camas Citizen Science Program at Weippe Prairie (Nez Perce NHP). Most recently, volunteers at Lake Roosevelt NRA have assisted the UCBN’s osprey monitoring through our Osprey Nest Watch Program, and the park’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. Additionally, AmeriCorps volunteers assisted with the development of the Camas Citizen Science Monitoring Program, which conforms with state science standards and exposes local high school students to natural resource monitoring methods.
For more information:
- See the UCBN Science Communication Plan
- Check out our Camas Citizen Science Monitoring Program webpages
- 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 (link to UCBN Reports - Newsletters & Presentations page)
- Visit the Aliens in your Neighborhood website