https://cpw.cvlcollections.org/files/original/f6ba3003e5569b4fb2f328ff37bfd900.pdf 04a7f157501dbf3d485993904a105405 PDF Text Text C O L O R A D O P A R K S & W I L D L I F E Education, Outreach, and Partnerships 2020 Annual Report © CPW © CPW © CPW © CPW © CPW/ MIKE DELLIVENERI STATEWIDE AND REGIONAL PROGRAMS cpw.state.co.us �Contact Us Statewide Jennifer Anderson Education, Partnerships and Volunteer Section Manager (303)291-7271 jennifer.m.anderson@state.co.us Heather Hubbard Statewide Education Coordinator (303)291-7165 heather.hubbard@state.co.us Mary McCormac Statewide Interpretation and Wildlife Viewing Coordinator (303)291-7252 mary.mccormac@state.co.us Erin Kendall School Programs Coordinator (303)291-7312 erin.kendall@state.co.us Dan Zimmerer Statewide Partnerships Coordinator (303)291-7258 daniel.zimmerer@state.co.us Bryan Posthumus Statewide Hunter Outreach Coordinator (303)291-7248 bryan.posthumus@state.co.us Becky Mares Statewide Volunteer Coordinator (303)291-7299 becky.mares@state.co.us Position Open Statewide Hunter Education Coordinator (303)291-7264 Position Open Statewide Angler Outreach Coordinator (303)291-7512 Andre Egli Hunter Education Program Assistant (303)291-7233 andre.egli@state.co.us Melissa Neal Hunter Education Program Assistant (303)291-7470 melissa.neal@state.co.us Regions SOLE’s Paddlesports Workshop was a success amongst the 20 families who signed up. Jennifer Standlee NE Education Coordinator (303)291-7328 jennifer.standlee@state.co.us Jeanette Lara SE Volunteer Coordinator (719)227-5204 jeanette.lara@state.co.us Pepper Canterbury NE Hunting & Angling Oureach Coordinator (303)291-7291 pepper.canterbury@state.co.us Kathleen Mawhinney NW Education & Hunter Outreach Coordinator (970)255-6181 kathleen.mawhinney@state.co.us Lori Morgan NE Volunteer Coordinator (303)291-7369 lori.morgan@state.co.us Trina Romero NW Watchable Wildlife & Volunteer Coordinator (970)255-6191 trina.romero@state.co.us Tracy Predmore SE Education Coordinator (303)227-5207 tracy.predmore@state.co.us Cathy Brons SW Education & Volunteer Coordinator (970)375-6709 catherine.brons@state.co.us �© CPW/ DONNA FORREST ELK Urban Rangers learn the basics of leading a guided hike during Certified Interpretive Guide training. From the Education, Partnerships, and Volunteer Section Manager: Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) employs some of the most talented staff committed to inspiring future generations and connecting people to meaningful outdoor experiences. Whether it’s leading a guided hike, presenting to a local school group, teaching hunting or fishing skills, or working events with valued partners, CPW staff and volunteers continuously demonstrate their dedication to one of the most important sentiments in our mission: educate and inspire current and future generations to serve as active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources. How we accomplish this vision, along with connecting to our Strategic Goals, manifests across the state and across disciplines, in a myriad of ways. One only needs to peruse the next few pages of this report to see that. To say 2020 was an unusual year for outreach programs might be an understatement! However, staff met the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions with creative and innovative resolve. From virtual outreach seminars and trainings, Wild Classroom videos, 100% virtual Hunter Education classes, to self-guided educational experiences via the Agents of Discovery app, CPW staff managed to provide important content and experiences to both internal and external customers. As you review the next few pages, please keep in mind we also launched a new data tracking system for programs, so while these numbers are a good reflection of last year’s efforts, they are certainly not comprehensive (and they’re only as good as the data entered - plug to please enter your outreach numbers each month). As our team’s inaugural report, we hope you find inspiration in what your fellow CPW staff and volunteers accomplished during a uniquely challenging year for education, interpretation, outreach, and partnership programming. Jennifer Anderson �Education and Interpretation By the Numbers Team Programs Participants Statewide 56 2333 NE 890 12074 NW 625 3182 SE 166 3328 SW 23 211 Schools and Outdoor Learning Environments (SOLE) As school in-person programming was shut down due to the pandemic, SOLE quickly pivoted and piloted two distance learning options for our member schools. SOLE also provided videos, online trainings, conferences and resources for teachers and classrooms, as well as in-person interactive workshops for teachers and families. The SOLE program did offer a few family programs this past year, with the standout being our paddle sports workshop held in August. Families experienced both a water sampling & macroinvertebrate observation led by River Watch, as well as an introduction to stand up paddleboarding or kayaking led by SOLE staff. Formal Education The Statewide Education team launched Wild Classroom, an educational video series developed to engage K-12 students and increase their understanding and connection to Colorado’s outdoors. These videos have been shared on CPW’s social media channels, where they are averaging around 20,000 to 25,000 views. One user commented: “This is great stuff! I’d love to see more nature science videos that could be used in schools. Something like a nature based Bill Nye!” A teacher practices the fundamentals at the Basic Archery Instruction workshop. © CPW © CPW We are also building activity sets (related to the videos ) for various age levels that will be housed on our website. In addition, we have developed “backyard science,” which incorporates GOCO’s 100 things to do outdoors list and hands-on experiments to help students engage with nature in different ways. The SOLE Teacher workshop was successfully held outside at Barr Lake SP. Hunter Education Hunter Education made some quick changes to class format in 2020 in response to COVID-19 group size restrictions. Instead of relying on our dedicated instructor corps to lead classes across the state, Hunter Education transitioned to an online-only opportunity for all students age 11 and older in early April. This transition allowed CPW to continue offering our customers the training needed to get out into the field for the 2020 hunting seasons. The CPW Commission also approved a second-time option to obtain an apprentice certificate, instead of the previously once-in-a-lifetime standard. The goal of these changes was to meet demand while keeping everyone safe. The online-only course proved to be extremely popular, with 24,556 students completing Hunter Education this year, almost 10,000 more than 2019. �In addition to changing course offerings, the Hunter Education program implemented an aggressive surveying strategy targeting online students to help us understand who was taking the course. Results demonstrated that the online course was reaching an audience who, for a variety of reasons, weren’t able to attend our in-person classes. Many who previously had family obligations or work conflicts, could now take the online course at their own convenience. © CPW/ ANDRE EGLI Hunter Education will continue offering the online-only course until it is once-again safe to gather in groups. Once restirctions are lifted, we will transition back to instructor-led courses. Students partcipate in a live-fire exercise during a Hunter Education class held at 6060 Broadway. Interpretation CPW field staff know Stay at Home orders did not apply to our outdoor spaces! With limited staff dedicated to interpretive programming, the Statewide Interpretation program launched the Agents of Discovery mobile app to further learning opportunities within the parks. Agents of Discovery provides place-based, educational “missions” that are self-directed, requiring no staff, and that support social distancing protocols. All you need is a smartphone to participate in these educational augmented reality experiences! Launched in the winter of 2019, 13 state parks offered over 20 educational Missions for a total of 6,116 users. In August, the Statewide Interpretation program provided Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) certification training for 11 Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) Urban Rangers. This professional certification teaches the foundational skills for creating meaningful experiences and providing quality public educational programs that connect people to Colorado’s outdoors. The CIG certification is an internationally and nationally recognized accreditation for educational professionals in parks, zoos, aquariums, museums and other non-formal settings. It was also a great resume-builder for this class of Urban Rangers. NW Highlight: Following the applicable Mesa County COVID-19 restrictions, the Northwest region helped support Owloween at Highline Lake State Park, seeing nearly 400 attendees for this first-time event. The event was held completely outdoors with built-in social distancing at all stations. This was a great new event we pulled off with the help of many volunteers and staff! Agent Barry Black Bear is the Agents of Discovery mascot for Cheyenne MounSW Highlight: The Uncompahgre River tail-water below the Ridgway Reservoir dam at Ridgway State Park is popular with anglers. The section grows huge fish, especially brown tain SP. trout. Because of its popularity, significant trash is left along the bank of this beautiful area. To help protect the resource, Park Ranger Nolan Tappenden organized a clean-up on Oct. 21 that attracted about 30 volunteers, many of them from local fly shops and guide services. �© CPW © CPW An interpretive station at the first Owloween at Highline Lake SP. Volunteers and their haul at the Pa-Co-Chu-Puk Cleanup. Outreach By the Numbers Team Programs Participants Statewide 33 2920 NE 84 1101 NW 56 1496 SE 65 987 SW 29 363 Angler Outreach The Statewide Angler Outreach Coordinator position was vacant for most of 2020, therefore, most angling programs took place in the regions. The statewide position did offer a “How to Teach a Fishing Clinic” workshop to the new Parks and Wildlife officers, as well as a fishing opportunity for the Ranger class that included catching and eating fish. SE Highlight: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, 2020 Get Outdoors Day Colorado Springs was canceled. In response, regional staff offered a drive-thru fishing pole give-away the Friday before free fishing weekend. Area 12 DWMs also gave fishing poles away at trunk-or-treat events in the fall. Staff also offered a number of ice fishing clinics across the region. NW Highlight: The statewide and Northwest Coordinators collaborated on building a new Fishing Trailer for Area 7 in Grand Junction. The trailer is supplied with general fishing, fly-fishing, and ice-fishing gear. Hunter Outreach Hunter Outreach took this year as an opportunity to expand learning opportunities for potential hunters into the virtual world. The program launched the Learn to Hunt webinars, a 7-part series addressing topics from turkey hunting to scouting tools. The series reached 1,869 participants live, and has been viewed an additional 5,190 times since then on CPW’s YouTube page. Staff and partners addressed a total of 813 participant questions throughout the webinars. @huntingincolorado Instagram post. �Hunter Outreach also worked on its online presence; 2020 is the one year anniversary of the @huntingincolorado Instagram page. The Take a Friend Hunting program reached its one year anniversary as well, boosted largely through social media. Finally, the program created some never-before-seen swag products and produced some much-needed hunting imagery content for the agency. © CPW © CPW SE Highlight: Despite COVID challenges, the Southeast region made necessary adaptations and continued offering the Rookie Sportsperson Program (RSP) for 33 new hunters. Many participants expressed their appreciation for the experience and for many, it was the highlight of a very difficult year. While staff and volunteers were unable to hold spring turkey hunts, they did offer gun range days, a family Bang & Twang, dove hunt, pheasant hunt, and 3 big game hunting camps, in addition to several virtual classes. Participants pose with their harvest at a RSP sponsored pheasant hunt. Partnerships Hunters glass for movement at a Ranching for Widlife sponsored youth cow moose hunt. Partners in the Outdoors The Partners in the Outdoors Program seized the opportunity presented by the realities of 2020 and hosted its annual conference in a virtual format. As a result, we were able to expand our reach to include new faces and new organizations, reaching a total of 1,265 individuals representing over 375 different organizations in Colorado and beyond. © CAPTURE THE ACTION Leave No Trace Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) recently signed a partnership agreement with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics (LNT) to help educate people on how to recreate responsibly to conserve Colorado’s natural resources. CPW is the first state agency in the U.S. that oversees parks, fish and wildlife to commit to this level of partnership with LNT, creating a new level of partnership that will hopefully be a model for other states. The Partners in the Outdoors Conference in 2021 will be held virtually, running from late April to early June. Check back for more details! �COLORADO PARKS & WILDLIFE • 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO 80216 • (303) 297-1192 • cpw.state.co.us � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reports Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Education, outreach, and partnerships 2020 annual report Description An account of the resource Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) employs some of the most talented staff committed to inspiring future generations and connecting people to meaningful outdoor experiences. Whether it’s leading a guided hike, presenting to a local school group, teaching hunting or fishing skills, or working events with valued partners, CPW staff and volunteers continuously demonstrate their dedication to one of the most important sentiments in our mission: educate and inspire current and future generations to serve as active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources. How we accomplish this vision, along with connecting to our Strategic Goals, manifests across the state and across disciplines, in a myriad of ways. One only needs to peruse the next few pages of this report to see that. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Colorado Parks & Wildlife Extent The size or duration of the resource. 8 pages Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2021-04-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/">No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Colorado Parks and Wildlife Subject The topic of the resource Education and interpretation Outreach Partnerships