Number: 1983-07
WHEREAS, conservation education, integrated throughout our nation’s school curricula, is the principal long-term means for developing citizen awareness and understanding of the importance of a quality environment for all living things; and
WHEREAS, teachers at all grade levels are key to making conservation education a meaningful reality in our schools; and
WHEREAS, there exists a critical need for objective, high-quality conservation education materials which can be utilized in a variety of subject areas within the curriculum; and
WHEREAS, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the Western Environmental Education Council, with support from the National Wildlife Federation, have joined forces in the development of Project WILD, an interdisciplinary, supplementary conservation education program emphasizing wildlife for grades Kindergarten-12, which will be available in the Fall of 1983; and
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation, through a grant from the National Science Foundation, has completed and is making available to educators The CLASS Project, a conservation education program emphasizing a series of environmental investigations designed to help students in grades 6-9 gain the skills and knowledge important in carrying out a community environmental project;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 17-20, 1983, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hereby recommends that professional educators and citizens interested in good conservation education review Project WILD and The Class Project and, if appropriate, take action to help introduce these programs into their local schools.