Conservation Education - Hunting Heritage Activity Updates May, 2007

Elk Country Visitor Center The outdoor exhibits panel text is almost finished and the illustrator is working on illustrations. We hope to have a design template within the next couple of weeks.

Wonders of Wildlife (WOW) Portal The portal will be a type of search engine providing the public with instant access to conservation education sources throughout cyberspace. Real-time long-distance learning will be one of the features of the portal site.

Torstenson Wildlife Center (TWC) Blake Henning (RMEF staff) worked with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to draft a cooperative agreement allowing RMEF-selected youth (both boys and girls) to join the BSA Venturing program at the Double H. RMEF chapters can select and support kids between the ages of 14 and 20 for a weeklong backpacking trip guided by trained BSA staff. The BSA/RMEF agreement should be signed soon so that “RMEF kids” can get started on trips as soon as July.

Wildlife Leadership Awards We received 14 applications for grants this year. Work on finding a more effective method for advertising the awards. The selection team met by teleconference on April 23rd to select 4 recipients for 2007.

Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) Thanks in large part to Sara Dexter, we held a fun and very successful half-day BOW program at the 2007 Elk Convention. More RMEF-supported BOW workshops are scheduled for the summer.

STEP OUTSIDE The STEP OUTSIDE cooperative agreement with National Shooting Sports Foundation is signed. We will be piloting this with 8 – 10 chapters this year. STEP OUTSIDE is a program designed to introduce newcomers to traditional outdoor activities. STEP OUTSIDE provides activity guides to help you organize fun and successful events including shooting, hunting, archery, and angling. These guides are useful and easy to implement. Activities throughout the guides include lessons for youth, women, and men.

Elk Education Kits (Elk Trunks) In 2007 we will construct 10 elk trunks. However, the trunks will contain fewer animal parts than in the past. New trunks will contain elk skulls, antlers, hides and hooves, and deer antlers, and leave out bear, mountain lion and bighorn parts. By streamlining the contents, we hope to make the trunks more available and less expensive.

High Schools for Habitat (HSH) Tentatively planning to present an HSH teach workshop in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The curriculum will focus on our Black Hills Initiative and the need for elk country conservation in the area. The South Dakota Fish and Game department will be co-hosting the workshop. The workshop is tentative set for August 13-15.

Elk Mountain Homestead - PA Wilds Elk Country VC Governor Rendell Announces Partnership with Elk Foundation for New Visitor Center in Pennsylvania Wilds $5 million State Investment Leverages approximately $7.6 million in Private Funding

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in particular has been a strong supporter of the Elk Foundation’s mission in its efforts to further nature tourism. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Elk Foundation are making the Wildlife Education Center a reality. It is currently scheduled to open in 2009. This world-class facility will be built on the 245-acre property owned by the Elk Foundation atop Winslow Hill, near Benzette, Pennsylvania. Within a day’s drive from 46 million Americans, this will be the premier elk-viewing and wildlife education center in the East.

‘When complete, the facility will be a major contributor to the Elk Foundation’s outreach in education. This new center will give us additional opportunities to reach out to new visitors, give them a wonderful outdoor experience, and share the story of the conservation efforts that have restored the elk herd and many other natural and wild areas in Pennsylvania.

Site Plan

Building Plan

A projected 80,000 visitors per year will hike the outdoor trails and enjoy the amphitheater and elk-viewing areas. In November of 2006, 130 elk were using the property. The program also seeks to use the network of public lands and open space that span a 1 2-county area of north central Pennsylvania to connect visitors with the natural surroundings. The Elk Foundation also operates the Elk Mountain Homestead, an overnight lodging facility.

Elk Mountain Homestead

Elk Mountain Homestead