(Photo: "Takeoff" by Jim Pfitzer)
Editor’s note: The Wauhatchie School is a nature-based school in nearby Lookout Valley. It is raising funds for a SOAR (Save Our American Raptors)-related eagle's nest project at its forest school, which the Dade community is welcome to enjoy. But read on...
The Wauhatchie forest school campus is running a fundraising campaign to bring local naturalist, storyteller and "bird guy" Jim Pfitzer out to complete an Eagle Nest project with the school and larger local community before he hits the road for Alaska in March. The Eagle Nest Project is a multifaceted learning experience that teaches kids to identify and collect invasive plant matter and deadfall that they'll use to create a life-sized eagle nest.
Pfitzer (right) has done Eagle Nests at Rock City, Lake Guntersville State Park and Calvin Donaldson Elementary School. The new idea with the Wauhatchie Eagle Nest Project, though, is to create a semi-permanent and interactive art installment that can be added to and used as a learning tool for years to come.
“Eagle pairs return to their nests year after year, adding material and raising eaglets. I'm quite taken with the idea of creating a nest that students return to cyclically, as well,” says Pfitzer.
Upon completion of the nest, John and Dale Stokes from Save Our American Raptors (S.O.A.R.) will visit with a live bald eagle and more raptor education. As an incentive for donating to the fundraising campaign, the Stokes have agreed to allow benefactors who donate $100 or more to take pictures with a live eagle and the finished nest. Donors who donate ANY amount are invited to participate in all of the project activities.
“Conservation education begins with experiences in childhood that cultivate attitudes of respect and wonder that last a lifetime. We want community members to come out and join us for this project,” says Wauhatchie teacher Rebecca Westbrook Toker. “I hope people donate, and I want to see whole families on campus when we build the nest. It's going to be amazing!”
For more information on, or to donate to, the Eagle Nest Project, visit https://www.gofundme.com/eagle-nest-at-Wauhatchie.
For more on Jim Pfitzer, visit http://www.jimpfitzer.com/.
Wauhatchie Eagle Nest Project
Date: TBA
Time: TBA
Cost: $1+ donation
Contact: Rebecca Westbrook Toker 580.916.6435 caradelsol@gmail.com.
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