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| 4/23/2008 12:01:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article
Comment on this article | Portland Girl Scouts visit wildlife refuge
WILLAPA BAY - A troop of Girl Scouts descended on Willapa National Wildlife Refuge outside Ilwaco for a weekend. These girls were part of ECO-GIG - an acronym for Ecology-Girls in Green.
Troop leader and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee in Portland, Ore., Julie Concannon, provided the energy, initiative and skills to develop this program. Girl Scouts in the Columbia River Council area work towards a silver or gold leadership award project (somewhat like the Boy Scouts' Eagle Scout), which related to conservation and scientific activities that the refuges needed. The girls were allowed to select four to six wildlife refuges in the northwest area to do their service component of the award (40 to 60 hours, depending on the award). Concannon received an overwhelming response of 40 girls throughout the area, and a committed group of 25 girls who signed onto the program. These girls came from 14 middle and high school programs (including homeschooling) throughout the Portland area.
The weekend of April 12, ECO-GIG went to Willapa National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Kris Thompson of Willapa NWR asked ECO-GIG to collect amphibians for her fourth grade classroom project and conduct some preliminary monitoring information. Seems simple enough, right? Actually, 15 ECO-GIG members had to plan a yurt camping trip at Cape Disappointment State Park, plus learn about the amphibians they were going to collect, and show up with really positive and open attitudes about the weather and work.
During the weekend, Thompson, Willapa NWR visitor services manager and Taylor Pittman, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service external affair officer in Lacey, gave the girls an invaluable amount of experience, including how to collect field data for amphibians, record observations, and how to journal their thoughts on nature.
Concannon, a conservation biologist, stated her goal was "to replace myself with the next generation."
For more information, please contact Kris Thompson, Visitor Services, at 484-3482 or (kristine_thompson@fws.gov).
For more information on their work and the people who make it happen, visit (www.fws.gov).
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