Dr. Noonan helping out during a power birding exercise.

Playing "pictionary" after the nature walk.

A group of physically challenged students enjoyed the time on Swallow Hollow Nature Trail.

The Canisius College for Conservation (CAC) is a program in which select college students experience field training and then go on to make pro-conservation presentations to school groups. This year, the program focused on wetlands and bird conservation at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. Visits by approximately 1500 middle school children were hosted by CAC during May and June of 2007, and the program received very positive feedback from both teachers and students.

During March 2007, six college students traveled with Dr. Noonan to receive training in wetlands ecology, avian biology, and in the politics of conservation. The equivalent of a three-credit course was squeezed into the college spring break period. Extensive reading and examinations were supplemented each day by hours in the field examining in situ examples of lessons learned. The field studies included visits to 13 national wildlife refuges (Iroquois, Bombay Hook, Chincoteague, Eastern Shore, Alligator River, Pocosin Lakes, Santee, Savannah, Okefenokee, Merritt Island, Crocodile Lake, Loxahatchee, and Ding Darling), and provided the students with direct exposure to 136 species.

School participants were recruited via a flyer that was mailed to middle school science teachers. The flyer was distributed twice to each of 130 middle school in the four counties of Western New York, once in February and again in April of 2007. An electronic version of the flyer was also emailed to each science teacher via a BOCES listproc.

In all, 1462 middle school children from 29 separate school groups participated. They were accompanied over those five weeks by 102 teachers/chaperones, for a total participant head count of 1564. Fourteen of the 29 school groups came from public schools; fifteen were from private/parochial schools. Six stemmed from inner-city districts; three from very rural areas. Three groups included handicapped (wheel-chair bound) children.

This years CAC program at Iroquois NWR was a partnership between Canisius College, Friends of Iroqouis NWR, Inc. and the Iroquois NWR.