Parks and Wildlife Refuges
- Provide tours of your park or wildlife refuge, with special emphasis on the endangered species habitat and native wildlife, birds, fish and plants;
- Plan a habitat restoration volunteer day where people help clean up a beach or other natural area, plant native plants, pull invasive weeds, or help with other activities;
- Organize a birding trip or other wildlife viewing to take people out to see native species;
- Give a presentation by scientists or other experts about the endangered species in the area and the latest news or research;
- Organize a scientific conference or one-day symposium to bring together government, university and other scientists and researchers to discuss the latest endangered species research;
- Invite local media, elected officials or other visitors to a press conference highlighting your work to protect and recover endangered species;
- Invite local schools, camps or scout troops to learn about endangered species.
- Visit local schools, camps or scout troops to give a talk about endangered species and invite them to participate in the Endangered Species Day art contest.
- Create an educational display of endangered species habitat in your area; Distribute educational pamphlets about endangered species habitat in the park or refuge; or
- Post signs or hang banners recognizing Endangered Species Day
Zoos, Aquariums and Botanical Gardens
- Organize an Endangered Species Education Day - Highlight endangered/rare species exhibits with presentations, docent talks, or other activities;
- Schedule docent talks about endangered species at your facility;
- Plan a volunteer day where people help with endangered species exhibits or other activities;
- Invite local schools, camps or scout troops to visit and learn about endangered species at your facility;
- Organize a scientific conference to discuss your endangered species research, conservation or breeding programs;
- Invite local media, elected officials or other visitors for a behind-the-scenes tour of your endangered species research or breeding programs;
- Create or use the included Endangered Species Passport that encourages visitors to visit each endangered species exhibit
- Post signs or hang banners recognizing Endangered Species Day
Community and Conservation Organizations
- Neighborhood Clean-up - Plan a clean-up of a local beach, park or open space;
- Tours - Offer tours, hikes, bird watching and other activities in local parks or open space;
- Film Festival - Invite your members to watch several movies about nature and have a discussion afterwards (We recommend Hoot, Furry Vengeance or other fun family films);
- Organizing a scientific conference or one-day symposium to bring together government, university and other scientists and researchers to discuss the latest endangered species research;
- Invite local media, elected officials or other visitors to a press conference highlighting your work to protect and recover endangered species;
- Invite local schools, camps or scout troups to learn about endangered species
- Visit local schools, camps or scout troops to give a talk about endangered species and invite them to participate in the Endangered Species Day art contest.
- Include Endangered Species Day articles in your newsletters, website other publications;
Libraries and Museums
- Display - Create a natural history display of endangered species in your area;
- Organize a reading of a few books on endangered species and the environment;
- Home school class - Offer a short lesson on endangered species for home school students and others who are interested.
- Guest Speaker - Invite a naturalist or other expert from your natural history museum. Contact your local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office, university or conservation organization for potential speakers.
Schools
- Lesson plans - Schedule one or more class periods to discuss biodiversity, habitat preservation and the necessity of protecting rare/threatened/endangered species.
- Endangered Species Day Art Contest - Students can draw or paint a picture of an endangered species and enter the national art contest for some great prizes.
- Field Trip - If possible, take students on a field trip to a nearby zoo, aquarium, park or wildlife refuge to see endangered species in person. Visit wildlife habitat (wetlands, forest area),
- Museum Tour - Spend a few hours at your natural history/other museum to learn more about your local environment.
- Adopt a Species - Have students select a local threatened/endangered species. They can read about the species plight and learn what can be done.
Girl Scouts
- Girl Scouts have introduced an Endangered Species badge for Endangered Species Day. Scout troops can plan activities that may satisfy Earned Award Program subjects such as Animals, Watching Wildlife, Wildlife, Earth Connections, Eco-action, Ecoexplorer, Earth is Our Home. For information and pictures of the endangered species badges, visit www.girlscouts.org
Boy Scouts
- The Boy Scouts of America have encouraged scout troops to recognize Endangered Species Day. Boy Scouts can participate in many activities that may satisfy one or more of the requirements for your Merit Badges in nature, wildlife, ecology, conservation and related areas and help meet one or more of their advancement requirements for Environmental Science and Fish & Wildlife Management merit badges, Cub Scout Conservation belt loop and Webelos Naturalist Activity Badge. For more information, visit http://scouting.org
Families and Individuals
- Field trip: Plan a family visit your local zoo, aquarium, museum, park or wildlife refuge. Bring your family, friends, and neighbors.
- Habitat project: Contact your local park, refuge or community open space about participating a habitat clean up or restoration project.
- Endangered Species Day Art Contest - Children can draw or paint a picture of an endangered species and enter the national art contest for some great prizes.
- Movie Screening - Invite your family, friends and neighbors to watch a movie about nature and have a discussion afterwards (We recommend Hoot, Furry Vengeance or other fun family film);
- Potluck with friends and family. Encourage your participants to sign and/or write letters to Congress urging them to protect endangered species.
- Family home project - There are many things around the house that you can do to help save your local wildlife, birds, fish and plants. Make your home wildlife friendly by securing garbage in shelters or cans with locking lids, feed pets indoors and lock pet doors at night to avoid attracting wild animals into your home. Reduce your use of water in your home and garden so that animals that live in or near water can have a better chance of survival. Disinfect bird baths often to avoid disease transmission. Place decals on windows to deter bird collisions. Millions of birds die every year because of collisions with windows. You can help reduce the number of collisions simply by placing decals on the windows in your home and office.
- Gardening project - Provide habitat for wildlife by planting native vegetation in your yard Native plants provide food and shelter for native wildlife. Attracting native insects like bees and butterflies can help pollinate your plants. The spread of non-native species has greatly impacted native populations around the world. Invasive species compete with native species for resources and habitat. They can even prey on native species directly, forcing native species towards extinction.
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