Natural Resources Youth Education: 4-H Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program

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The USFWS’s Youth in Natural Resource Careers initiative has a core need of encouraging and developing young people with the appropriate skill sets and interests to become conservation professionals. WHEP is a 4-H youth natural resource program dedicated to teaching wildlife and fisheries habitat management to junior and senior level (ages 8-19) youth in the United States. Studying a science-based manual, participants learn about wildlife terms and concepts, different wildlife habitats, to identify common wildlife foods, how to judge the quality of wildlife habitat, about wildlife habitat management practices, and about wildlife damage management. The winning senior WHEP team (ages 14-19) from each state earns the right to attend the annual National WHEP Invitational Contest. The Invitational is a competitive event including five components: wildlife identification, general wildlife knowledge, wildlife management practices, written management plan, and oral defense of written plan. Natural resources management is learned through participation in the contest and the associated field trips and demonstrations. The contest moves to a different state (and thus a different habitat type) every year allowing opportunities to interact with youth and natural resource professionals in from around the country. These practices are in alignment with the USFWS’s focus on Youth in Natural Resource Careers. Important components of WHEP and support for Annual Invitational include: the annual spring meeting used to make improvements and ensure program quality based on surveys from the previous year’s events; development of conference specific posters and display boards for professional conference's that are attended; and enhancement and maintenance for the WHEP website.

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