Developing a Virtual Nature Hike

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Boulder Valley ICO is an outreach program of the Sierra Club that takes children from low-income families on free nature outings and wilderness adventures. Our program is presently paused because of the pandemic but we anticipate program reactivation in the fall or winter. In advance of that reactivation we will need to train new and existing volunteers. That training should include basic concepts in natural science that relates to the open space and local mountains in and around Boulder and Denver. For this reason, we would like to develop a few online lectures (to be recorded) on various topics:

• trees,
• flowers,
• birds
• butterflies,
• fungi,
• mammals (and tracking)
• geology, and
• winter adaptations,

all centering on species and features observable in natural areas near Boulder and Denver. Thus, we are looking for people with knowledge in these fields to develop and/or present these online lectures.

The focus of each presentation should likely be on things that are likely to inspire wonder in the middle school students who predominate in our program. For example, communication among trees through networks of mycorrhizal fungi, adaptation of the red fox for ultra-dim and ultra-bright settings, foveal adaptations of birds of prey for aerial hunting, etc. Our goal is less to provide a top-to-bottom education in any given subject but, rather, to inspire wonder that translates in to wonder about and respect for natural places.

Volunteers should expect to work with one member of our leadership team to tailor the content to our target audience and standardize the appearance of the materials across presentations. We can also help with the audio-visual content for the presentations.