Education and Outreach
Throughout its history, the Museum and its staff have connected with the community on multiple levels — to teach, share, build and inspire change. These efforts continue today with events, workshops and community programs that bring conservation and environmental issues to the forefront.
From the monthly Natural History Pub at McMenamins Old St. Francis School in Bend, Oregon, to the on-site Oregon Wildlife Watch events and workshops to the adventures of High Desert Project and Kids Camps, education and outreach are a huge part of what the Museum does to forge deep connections to the region.
Conservation in action
Monthly events hosted by the High Desert Museum and its partners and sponsors focus on educating the public about conservation and habitat restoration. The Natural History Pub is just one of those events, occurring at McMenamins Old St. Francis School in downtown Bend. The monthly talks highlight local and regional efforts to support native wildlife and protect habitats. A recent talk highlighted the threat of the American bullfrog on the population of Oregon spotted frogs, noting that community involvement and participation can change the scope of those efforts.
The result? Learning never ends. Museum staff and the community have taken hold of these events, making them both fun and informative. The Museum is dedicated to sharing and teaching about the ongoing efforts for habitat restoration and rehabilitation.
In this ongoing community science project, the Museum is working to make trail cameras and trail-camera training available to the public. Workshops are held at the Museum and in the field. By lending out trail cameras and training participants to engage with community science platforms, project generates usable data for scientists. The project also promotes responsible, non-invasive methods for the community to view and engage with wildlife.
The result? Three regional public libraries now offer 70 trail camera kits available for free check-out. And so far, community scientists have checked out more than 20 camera kits, generating more than 1,300 observations of 86 species, including those of conservation interest such as gray wolves, porcupines and more.
Every day at the Museum, visitors can get up close with the animals in our care, from birds of prey to bobcats and beavers. The Mammal Encounter, Otter Encounter and Bird of Prey Encounter connect visitors to the animals. Visitors learn about the role these animals play in the ecosystem and how we can protect them.
The result? Visitors look forward to these events and the opportunity to learn about the natural world and the wildlife that co-exists with us. Special schedules expand the offerings for the community including the addition of Raptors of the Desert Sky. Visit our Daily Schedule for more information.
Museum volunteers and staff encourage visitors to experience nature and wildlife during free, daily interpretive talks. Each talk discusses the species that live in the area, changes to their habitats and how we can protect them. A few of those interpretive talks include:
- Nature Walks
- High Desert Hooves
- Horses on the Range
- High Desert Fish Tales
- Carnivore Talk
- Wolves in the West
The result? Each talk and walk gives visitors the chance to see wildlife, nature and conservation in a whole new light. The Museum and its volunteers are dedicated to educating the public on topics such as land usage, invasive species, climate change, water quality and more.
An ongoing project, Culturally Sustaining STEM explores conservation education through a series of place-based, culturally relevant STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) family workshops. Informal STEAM educators from the Museum as well as the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Texas and The Wild Center in New York collaborated with local professionals and community partners to create the workshops. The workshops themselves focused on rural youth (ages 8-11) and their families. At Caddo Mounds, families engaged in a rivercane restoration project, an important species for the Caddo Nation. Families at the Oregon Coast Aquarium participated in riparian restoration and community science projects, such as CoastWatch, where they documented natural and human-caused changes along Oregon’s sandy beaches and rocky shores. Museum families joined a community science initiative using iNaturalist and trail cameras to document the biodiversity of Oregon’s landscapes. The material in this project is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant 2115488.
The result? So far, about 140 people have participated in the family workshop series across all four locations! Ongoing research is focused on understanding the full impact of these workshops on families, including their long-term community engagement, sense of identity, increased knowledge of conservation, actions taken to support conservation, and strengthened cultural and community connections.