HighlightsOn this page, we highlight education events throughout Idaho. These events are often duplicated, providing outdoor education for students, adults, and everyone alike! Check with your local BLM office for similar opportunities in your area. BLM Offers 2nd Annual Owl Hoot Program
Free Family Event at Blackwell Island Coeur d’Alene, ID – What do Hedwig, Errol, and Pigwidgeon have in common? Ask your sixth grader who Hedwig is and they are sure to reply, “Harry Potter’s owls!” Thanks to Harry, owls have made a fashionable comeback from their exile into superstitious darkness. Come learn about the secret lives of the Harry Potter owls, as well as other local owl species, at the Second Annual Owl Hoot. This fun family event, sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), will take place on Saturday, September 26th at the BLM’s Blackwell Island Recreation Site, located at the first right after crossing the Highway 95 bridge. According to BLM Wildlife Education Specialist and event organizer Beth Paragamian, “While owls play a great supporting role in the Harry Potter series, many people don’t get to see these beautiful creatures up close or to learn about their lives beyond their mystical messenger services. This event will appeal to people of all ages so bring your lawn chairs and blankets and dress for the cooler evening temperatures. We’ll have handouts and goodies to munch on and, at the end of the program we’ll gather around a campfire for s’mores and share owl stories.” The evening’s program will be from 6:00 – 7:30 pm and include live owls, as well as preserved specimens. The presenters will describe the variety of owls that live in our area and discuss how they live. Last year’s Inaugural Owl Hoot was a big success, with over 100 people in attendance. There is plenty of room so mark your calendars for this fun family experience! 
A screech owl Environmental Educators Teach Teachers about Natural Resources: On October 23-24, fourteen educators attended a Project Learning Tree (PLT) Workshop on Natural Resources and Municipal Solid Waste. A BLM partner, the PLT workshop was held at the Idaho Fish and Game office in Idaho Falls and was presented by PLT facilitators who work in area resources. The 15-hour workshop introduced where things come from, how they are used and where they end up when they are used up. Participants had guest speakers from local businesses dealing with biomass and curbside recycling. Field trips ventured to the Bonneville Transfer Station and the Wastewater Treatment Plant. At the end of the weekend, participants had to teach their peers on such topics as energy use, conservation and natural resources. Educating educators on proper waste disposal and recycling efforts has the hopeful trickling effect in the schools and communities to reduce illegal dumping on BLM lands. BLM Teaches Local Children about Bats
A local kindergarten classes and the 3-B Detention Center both had a BLM presenter teach them the wonders contained in the wildlife biologists traveling ‘Bat Trunk’. The younger students were surprised that the bats were more interesting than scary and that they had many similarities with bats. Students were led to a bat cave in the corner of the classroom (a computer table covered in blankets) where they formed a bat colony placing their feet on the bottom of the table forcing them to hang upside down while they listened to how bat moms recognize their own young among hundreds of bat babies in bat nurseries. The older detention students discussed echolocation and measured their wing span, comparing that to a flying fox bat. Sixty-six students attended the bat trunk presentations. Upper Snake Field Office Teaches Leave No Trace Recently, over 90 fifth grade students and their adult chaperones and teachers attended an overnight session of Environmental Studies at Pine Creek Lodge in the Targhee National Forest. Students ran a relay learning and demonstrating the seven Leave No Trace Ethics followed by an adventurous hike in the forest to practice the principles they'd just rehearsed. The boys had a shock when they were given information that developers were thinking of removing the Pine Creek Lodge they loved so much. The walk back was filled with serious reflection on just how valuable the resource was and how they would treat it differently knowing it might not be there forever. Sixth Graders Learn About Leave No Trace Grace Lutheran sixth graders from Pocatello in preparation for their annual week in Yellowstone also ran the Leave No Trace Relay. Twenty-seven students practiced "staying on the tail and trashing your trash" with a BLM representative. Students focused on respecting wildlife and other people which ethics they decided would be most important while visiting Yellowstone National Park. (Contact: Wendy Reynolds, 205-524-7555) Upper Snake Field Office Education Specialist Participates in Career Days
Local elementary school students learn about careers in natural resources Upper Snake Field Office - The Idaho BLM Upper Snake Field Office Education Specialist Deycie Luke recently visited with 314 students between preschool and fifth grade, describing the different federal jobs within BLM. Students were shown pictures of natural resources in their area, such as bugs, trees, wildlife, grass, water and sand, and they discussed professions associated with caring for those resources. Students were encouraged to do well in school and to learn all about their favorite science area if they would like to someday get paid to care for what they loved with a BLM career. Luke enjoyed her experience and said, “This was amazing to visit every student in every class and to feel welcomed by staff and students. What a wonderful experience! The students were surprised that there were so many different career possibilities working with natural resources.” Gooding Envirothon Team Sweeps State Competition Fourth Year in a Row
Issues kids deal with in envirothon are much like what BLM works on every day Shoshone Field Office - The annual state Envirothon competition was again held in Challis, Idaho. For the fourth out of five years, the Gooding Envirothon Team placed first out of a field of 18 competing high schools from around the state, earning an all-expense paid trip to the national competition in Asheville, North Carolina in early August. This year’s topic was Biodiversity in a Changing World. Invasive species issues made up the central current event theme for the competition. Shoshone Field Office Outdoor Recreation Planner David Freiberg and his wife Becky, a Gooding High School biology teacher, serve as advisors for the team and the event.
According to Freiberg, “These kids once again did a remarkable job and earned their berth in the national competition. I would encourage BLM employees to consider involving their local schools as part of the Bureau’s Take It Outside Initiative. The issues the kids deal with in Envirothon are very much like what we in BLM are working on every day.” Envirothon is a program in which high school students compete with one another to solve natural resource-related problems. State competition winners advance to a national competition sponsored by Canon Corporation, with over $75,000 in scholarship awards for the top-ten winners. 
The Gooding Envirothon Team
Shoshone Archaeologist and Recreation Planner Host Cave Tours for Nearly 200 Students
Important to instill proper conservation and respect for public land to prevent future destructive behavior Shoshone Field Office - As part of a Take It Outside initiative, Shoshone Field Office Archaeologist Lisa Cresswell and Outdoor Recreation Planner David Freiberg recently hosted nearly 200 students on cave tours. Different groups of students toured Dynamite Cave south of Shoshone, and Tee Cave and Maze Cave north of Shoshone. During each tour, students were treated to a Leave No Trace ethics presentation as well as a volcanic geology, wildlife and caving techniques discussion. The most popular questions from the students had to do with the wildlife living in caves. Some students also expressed concern about the caves caving in. “If we can instill proper conservation and respect for public land at an early age, building ownership in young minds, it can only increase their level of respect for public lands as they get older – and hopefully prevent destructive behavior later on,” said Freiberg. 
Freiberg guides the students through the cave
The local cub scout troop
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Idaho BLM Environmental Education
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Barb Forderhase holds a raptor skull used for education
Students learn about careers
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