Wyoming Wildlife May 2024 - 24

CONSERVATION CRATES
These are precisely as they sound - resource
bins that include Game and Fish-approved lesson
plans for students at multiple grade levels and all
the instructional materials required for teachers to
implement them in the classroom. The Game and
Fish education team developed lessons approved
by content experts and correlated with Wyoming
education standards. All regional Game and Fish
offices have a set of conservation crates people can
check out, use for a specified length of time and
return to the office.
The six conservation crates cover topics such as
migration and habitat, management models, invasive
species and diseases, animal adaptations, bear
identification and safety and pelts and skulls. The
goal of the conservation crates was to create an allin-one
box that a teacher could open, instruct and
utilize to cover a vital conservation topic in an easy,
do-it-yourself manner and then hand it back to
Game and Fish for others to use.
HUNTER EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
Wyoming had a few schools and some after-school
programs already implementing hunter education.
Still, Game and Fish wanted to expand the reach
and opportunity. The department partnered with the
Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board to
create a hunter education endorsement.
The hunter education curriculum and certification
programs are identical to any offered by the
department. The difference is Wyoming teachers who
become certified as hunter education instructors can
now apply through the Professional Teaching Standards
Board to have the endorsement recognized on
their teaching licenses and the professional development
credit earned toward their recertification. As of
February, the hunter education teaching endorsement
went through rules promulgation and the governor
signed it into effect. The optional endorsement is now
available for Wyoming teachers who are interested
in teaching hunter education in their classrooms.
Teachers can offer the course in a condensed format
or extend it to a semester-long course, build it at the
end of the school year to fill some open space or
offer it as an optional course after school. To date,
23 schools offer hunter education to students.
RECRUITMENT, RETENTION
AND REACTIVATION
Better known as R3 in the conservation world,
this is the way we recruit, retain and reactivate our
sportspeople and wildlife enthusiasts to support
wildlife management and conservation efforts. The
core of R3 is engagement and every part of a great
education program inside a classroom or out in the
field has engagement. All of the educational efforts
and countless others are part of the greater R3 model
24 | May 2024
Attendees at the Whiskey Mountain Conservation Camp participate in the game Oh Deer. This game is a useful
tool in teaching people how deer populations fluctuate throughout the seasons due to pressures such as hunting,
disease and predation. (Photo by Emalee Smith/WGFD)
Becoming an Outdoors-Woman instructor Pat Deibert teaches participants about animal tracks in a wildlife
viewing class. BOW is hosted annually to help women become more familiar and comfortable with numerous
outdoor activities. (WGFD photo)

Wyoming Wildlife May 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wyoming Wildlife May 2024