Outreach and Education

Community Tree Planting
Lakelands Golf Club, Queensland, Australia
National Tree Day is Australia’s largest tree planting event, which brings together thousands of volunteers to restore and revegetate Australia's landscapes.  For the past several years, members and staff at Lakelands Golf Club, a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, have participated by planting nearly 2,000 trees and shrubs on the golf course.  Their efforts have improved habitat, increased environmental awareness, and helped the club attain ACSP re-certification.  Equally important, they have contributed to the work of more than 320,000 volunteers who collectively planted over 1 million trees and shrubs on 3,800 sites this year.  Superintendent Darren Moore reported that getting involved locally was easy, and made the club recognize the importance of its conservation actions.

Fall Fun Day
Stonebridge Golf & Country Club, Ottawa, Canada
More than 180 residents attended the Fall Fun Day at Stonebridge Golf & Country Club in Ottawa, Ontario, organized as part of outreach and education activities for the club’s Audubon certification.  In addition to building bird houses, community residents were treated to a barbeque, hayrides, miniature golf, a reptile show, and educational information about Audubon International, the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, and Integrated Pest Management.  The event also raised funds to support Hurricane Katrina
victims.

Hands-on Environmental Education and Improvement
Tidewater Community College, Chesapeake, Virginia
The Tidewater Community College campus is located on 69 acres of land on a tributary of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, within the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area.  Biology Professor Lisa Behm spearheaded Tidewater’s ACSP certification, incorporating wildlife monitoring and habitat improvement into her curriculum.  Each of Behm’s Biology 102 students was required to complete eight hours of wildlife observation in the natural areas on campus.  In addition, students and staff undertook a number of conservation activities, from enhancing habitat areas to improving energy efficiency to community outreach.  Among its many accomplishments, Tidewater created nature trails and developed a summer Bird Camp for children as a way to connect local citizens to their environment and promote strong relationships with city residents.  They also conducted campus cleanups, hosted a variety of Earth Day activities, and involved students in nest box construction and monitoring.

Nature Field Trips
Malagos Garden Resort, Philippines
Malagos Garden Resort in Davao advertises itself as a place to be one with nature, and, indeed, it’s a good place for that.  The 30-acre garden resort features a mountain setting that is home to the endemic waling waling orchid, hundreds of butterflies, and exotic and indigenous birds.  The resort’s focus on nature has been a perfect fit for ACSP involvement, and now includes opportunities for both guests and local students to learn about plants and wildlife.  Malagos recently developed nature field trips with structured learning modules that bring school classes to the resort. “We remember that learning becomes easier when children actually see and touch what they are being taught,” says Angel Puentespina, General Manager.  School classes choose from four modules: The Creek Ecosystem, Butterflies and Moths, A Forest and Orchard, and Mushroom Culture.  The resort also offers an overnight kids’ camp.

Outdoor Classroom
Montessori Community School, Charlottesville, Virginia
The Montessori Community School has more than embraced its commitment to build environmental awareness and integrate the outside environment into classroom studies.  As part of its participation in the Audubon Partners for the Environment Program, the private pre-K through 8^th grade serving 150 students harnessed the enthusiasm of students, teachers, parents, and community volunteers to develop bird friendly habitat and organic gardens on its six-acre grounds.  The outdoor classroom environment is well used by the school’s budding naturalists.  Children keep nature journals of observations and sketches, study birds, participate in Cornell’s Feeder Watch Program, and take part in everyday upkeep of their sanctuary. 

Visitor Education
World Wide Sportsman, Islamorada, Florida
World Wide Sportsman, the only certified marina in the Audubon Signature Program, uses attractive signage to inform visitors about how they can help to protect the Florida Bay and the Keys.  The information comes to life when visitors see the many egrets, brown pelicans, gulls, and occasional manatee near the marina’s docks.  Though the 2.5-acre property has little area for wildlife habitat, owner John L. Morris preserved mangrove trees along the Florida Bay shoreline and other native trees and shrubs line a boardwalk near the shore as part of the management plan for the property. 

Virtual Nature Trail
The Sanctuary, Charlotte, North Carolina
Nothing beats taking a hike on the 20 miles of nature trails that run through The Sanctuary on Lake Wylie in Charlotte, North Carolina, a Certified Gold Audubon Signature Sanctuary.  But if your hiking boots aren’t handy, you can take a virtual tour of the nature trails at this Gold Signature residential development.  The Sanctuary’s website offers the virtual tour, led by on-site Natural Resource Manager Sarah Anderson.   Whether virtual or in-person, the nature trails introduce homeowners and potential residents to the wilderness areas, stream corridors, boulder outcrops,