For Educators - Rainwater Basin - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

For Educators

"All the world is a stage..." according to William Shakespeare, and there is no better place to learn about nature than on its stage. Visit one of the sixty Waterfowl Production Areas in the District today and experience life on a different stage.

US Fish and Wildlife Service's Junior Duck Stamp Conservation Program

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The Federal Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program is a dynamic art- and science-based curriculum that teaches wetland and waterfowl conservation to students in kindergarten through high school.

Nebraska Entries:

Please send all Nebraska Entries with Entry Form (642KB PDF) to:

Lydia Patrick, NE State Junior Duck Stamp Coordinator, US Fish and Wildlife Service, 115 Railway Street, Scottsbluff, NE 69361

Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2018. State judging will occur on March 23, 2018.

More Information and Resources for Educators:

Please visit our US Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Program page for educational program ideas, or visit the Nebraska Game and Parks' Nebraska ProjectWild for ideas and workshops specific for Nebraska.

Shorebird Sister Schools Program

Shorebird Sister Schools Program is a science-base environmental education program designed to engage participants in learning about shorebirds and their conservation. The program was created to support a multinational effort to protect shorebird populations and their habitats along all the major flyways. The Program provides several activity books for you to download and use in your classroom.

US Fish and Wildlife Service's Junior Duck Stamp Conservation Program

Helpful links...

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Wildlife Refuge System

BirdSleuth Explorer's Guidebook: Geared toward fourth graders, this guide help you explore the National Wildlife Refuge System by sharing the various refuge habitats and the birds that utilize the refuges.

BirdSleuth Mini-Grants for schools and teachers is currently offering grants for binoculars. Please see their webpage for more information on and how to apply for grants. (For information only.)

BirdSleuth School Garden Grants : $500-$2,000 grant for gardening supplies, BirdSleuth’s Habitat Connections kit thanks to their sponsor, Alaska Fertilizer. Please view their website for more details. (For information only.)

Free Park Passes for 4th Graders

The Every Kid in the Park Initiative provides fourth Graders and their families with a pass to access all federal lands and waters. Learn more about how as a teacher you can provide this free pass to your students at Every Kid in the Park Initiative website.

Children and Nature Network

Natural Teachers Network: Tools and Forum for teachers using nature to teach various subjects including biology, writing, art, critical thinking, and more.

2017 Solar Eclipse in Review

Did you visit a waterfowl production area (WPA) during the eclipse? If you would like to share your photos, please email them to us at rainwater@fws.gov, and please indicate if we can share them publicly on our website or social media outlets with appropriate artist credit.

Thirty-nine of sixty-one WPAs were in the totality path of the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse. Of the rest, only 2 fall under 99.5% of totality. WPAs were wonderful places for people to see the eclipse either in totality or near totality. Several documents were uploaded here for information on WPAs in the path of totality, duration of totality, as well as WPAs parking lot GPS locations. Sixty WPAs are open to the public 365 days a year, sunrise to sunset.

Detailed WPAs maps within the 2017 solar eclipse totality. (6MB PDF)

Listings of WPAs with details of 2017 solar eclipse time, duration, obscuration, and WPA GPS location.

Please remember to be safe when viewing the solar eclipse. Important information is available on NASAs Total Eclipse safety webpage. http://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety .

Another helpful link is the NASA Total Eclipse website.http://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

On August 21, 2017 if you are unable to view the Solar Eclipse in person, check out the live streaming video at NASA Eclipse Live website.http://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive/

NOTE: If you are experiencing technical issues when trying to view or print a PDF, right-click the link to the PDF file, and then click "Save Link As" (Chrome or Firefox) or "Save Target As" (IE) from the sub-menu to save a PDF file to your computer's hard drive and view it.