Whooping Crane Teacher Workshops Implemented with Chevron Grant Funding

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) recently held its first two whooping crane education “Give a Whoop” Workshops, as part of a grant provided by Chevron and facilitated by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation and the Louisiana Environmental Education Commission (LEEC).

The workshops were held at LDWF’s White Lake Wetland Conservation Area in Gueydan on Aug. 2 and 7. The first workshop was offered to environmental educators throughout the state and the second was held as part of an in-service professional development day for the life science teachers of Calcasieu Parish.

Louisiana educators of middle and high school students learned about the complexities and challenges of the reintroduction program, received how-to demonstrations on the classroom lesson activities and engaged in field work related to habitat identification and using GPS units. Participants also visited the crane pens via a boat ride through the remote marsh area.

Workshop participants received a handheld GPS unit for classroom use, the lesson series of nine engaging, GLE-aligned lessons covering topics such as taxonomy, bird reproduction, ecosystems, adaptation, endangered species and other related items.

The next whooping crane workshop will be held at the Louisiana Association of Teachers and Mathematics and the Louisiana Science Teachers Association (LATM/LSTA) conference on Nov. 12 in Shreveport. Additional workshops will follow.

Contact Venise Ortego at 337-948-0255 or vortego@wlf.la.gov for information about future workshops. For more information on the re-introduction of whooping cranes to Louisiana, please visit www.wlf.la.gov; or contact Sara Zimorski at szimorski@wlf.la.gov or 337-536-7292. For photos, video footage and research documentation please visit: http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/wildlife/whooping-cranes.