FWP donation gives Lincoln High School wildlife class insight into Montana's animals

Lincoln School's wildlife class received a donation of eight wildlife cameras this fall from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, which helped them to continue their hands-on studies throughout the remote learning process.

"We learn by doing rather than book work," science teacher Nancy Schwalm said about the wildlife class. There are nine students in the class, so the donation, combined with two personal cameras Schwalm had, allowed each student to place their own camera to try to capture images of local wildlife.

Placing the cameras to get good pictures has been a learning experience in itself, said Schwalm.

"It's not just camera position, but you need to think about what is your target species? And putting your camera where you're most likely to find those target species, cluing in where wildlife use trails," she said. Without a lot of snow this year, Schwalm added that it has been more difficult to identify tracks and know where different species are.

"We have kind of just a fun contest going between all of us, who can get the species we've not yet captured," said Schwalm. "We've gotten bobcat, mountain lion, wolf, black bear, beaver, ducks, geese, otter, deer, elk, red fox. In a perfect world, we'd get all the species that Montana has."

Most recently, the students have captured pictures of two species they haven't seen on camera before: bald eagles and moose.

Throughout this school year, Schwalm has worked with FWP to get additional resources for students in the wildlife class.

"Word was out that I was teaching this class and I was just desperate for anything that I could do online. They've been really generous with me. They hooked me up with fishing equipment, fly-tying equipment. They gave us a free fishing permit. They've been awesome about giving me any resources that I could possibly even want," said Schwalm.

Schwalm has also been able to work with local and regional residents for fishing access, local hikes, and to arrange guest speakers on topics like trapping and using falcons for hunting.

"There's so many people willing to come into the schools and engage students in science stuff. It's just coordinating the open doors and getting it done," Schwalm said, noting that COVID restrictions have impacted the ability to arrange field trips and other experiences for students.

In addition to hands-on exploration of local wildlife, Schwalm said the class focuses on conversations about different wildlife management issues, such as hunting, fishing, trapping and the reintroduction of species. The material seeks to introduce students to the types of topics they would be dealing with if they were to go into wildlife management, she added.

Grizzly bears are one of the topics the class has discussed recently, as it's an issue coming before the state legislature this year. Senate Bill 98 would mark the grizzly bear population in the state as recovered and remove it from the federal endangered species list, as well as changing the circumstances under which landowners could kill grizzly bears.

"Every issue we bring up, I just try to emphasize there's a lot of grey area, and there's a lot of social and economic drivers that make these decisions," said Schwalm.