Canisius Ambassadors for Conservation

Program Overview

Michael Noonan

Professor of Biology and Psychology

Canisius College

Buffalo, New York 14208

INTRODUCTION

The objective of this program is to develop groups of Canisius students into advocates of conservation through on-site studies of wildlife. After these field studies, the students then return to WNY to serve as "Canisius Ambassadors for Conservation" (CAC) that convey their knowledge and passion about wildlife to others. In this way, the program promotes conservation by stimulating community-wide affection for certain animal species.   

A similar cycle of activities is repeated each year.

• In the Spring, selected Canisius students travel with DrN to distant field sites to gain firsthand experiences related to the stewardship of wildlife. Each year, there is a different destination and a different focus.
• During the summer months, the CAC team makes presentations at our local wildlife institutions.
• Our CAC team also develops video and multimedia Web pages that promote conservation messages about endangered species and the importance of preserving nature.

BENEFITS

The Student: The students participate in a once-in-a-lifetime experience in which they explore ecosystems dramatically different from the ones with which they are accustomed. They obtain the many intellectual benefits of thoroughly exploring a single topic in a fully interdisciplinary manner. They develop their public speaking and other communication skills.  They acquire proficiency with technologies such as digital photography, multi-media computer-based presentations, video production and web design. Through their participation, they serve at different times as naturalists, public speakers, teachers, public policy advocates, and computer programmers. These experiences substantially enhance their resumes while allowing them to explore these lines of work as potential career paths.

The College: Canisius College students make presentations to thousands of school children and their accompanying parents and teachers.  An important secondary goal of this project is for the public to make an association between Canisius College and excellence.  Each CAC student is trained to serve as an ambassador for the College and the recruitment of prospective students to Canisius is a component of our outreach activities.

The Community: Locally, our wildlife parks are enhanced by the special experiences that our CAC team provide to their visitors. These institutions are also served by the web presence which we create for them. Distant schools, libraries and zoos are able to assess our CAC programs via our web site, which is designed to enhance scientific knowledge and a better understanding of animals. The conservation themes which are stressed help shape public policy regarding our collective stewardship of nature and natural resources.

PARTICIPANTS

Participation is open to all Canisius students and an effort is made to choose participants from varying backgrounds. The program’s appeal and relevance readily applies to all majors. The ingredients of this program are sufficiently attractive to reasonably anticipate a competition for available places. Applicants are weighed on a variety of factors including their commitment to the preservation of nature, their enthusiasm for college recruitment as a secondary mission, their people and communication skills, and their ability to handle the on-site requirements of animal studies in natural habitats.

THE STUDIES ARE INTERDISCIPLINARY

In each year, our study site serves as an anchor around which we tie a web of interconnected lessons. These derive from:

• ecology (the interconnectedness of the biotic community and the ways in which focal animals compete with others)
• geology (how geology influences animals by providing nutrients, breeding sites, hazards, etc.)
• meteorological considerations (how short and long term weather conditions affect animals and their communities)
• anthropological sciences (how the original natives of each area interacted with the ecosystem)
• history (the process of European settlement and the ways in which the ecosystem has needed reacted)
• public policy issues (the ways in which agriculture, ranching and hunting impact the ecosystem; the myriad federal and local regulations which pertain; policies that influence decision making and the ways that competing interests are balanced).

LOCAL PRESENTATIONS

The presentations made by CAC students are interactive.  They include videos, photographs and graphics that illustrate the many lessons learned in the field.  Charismatic animal species are used to bring out themes about conservation and the interdisciplinary perspectives that the CAC students have learned in their own studies. The goal is to talk with the visiting public even more talk at them.  The idea is to stimulate a give-and-take exchange that taps each visitor’s interest in the animals they are seeing, and in this way coax them toward a more pro-conservation life style.

We have also learned that one of the best routes to distribute our message is via video.  In this format, our message is packaged in a self-contained program that a teacher can use in any school anywhere.  As a consequence, much of our CAC efforts are now directed to the collection of good video footage and on the preparation of our CAC video programs. 

THE ROLE OF WEB PAGES

The CAC team also develops web versions of our presentations. These pages mix text and images in a multimedia format. They contain student-written accounts of natural history and conservation lessons.  In this way, our web site serves as a valuable resource for school children all over the world.   

A POSITIVE MESSAGE

A major goal of the CAC approach is to keep our message positive.  We don’t want to tell people that the ecology of the world is going down the drain and that the future earth will be terrible place.  We do try to provide honest appraisals of the state of wildlife and the challenges faced.  But we try to combine discussions of the challenges with examples of positive conservation success stories.  We do this because we truly feel that good people can make a positive difference in the world, and that there are plenty of reasons to be positive about the future of wildlife on our planet. 

To review the web pages posted in past years, please go to http://www.conservenature.org.

If you are a Canisius student who is enthusiastic about wildlife and you are looking for a way to make a positive contribution, I hope you’ll consider joining the CAC team.  If so, please click here to learn more. 

Cheers,

DrN