For ten days this January, students in Prescott College Professor Walt Anderson's
wildlife management class visited areas in southern Arizona to build upon
what they learned in class and apply it to the real world.
They visited Buenos Aires, Imperial and Cibola National Wildlife Refuges;
Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve of The Nature Conservancy; and the Research
Ranch of the National Audobon Society.
"This kind of work allows students to go beyond stereotypes and the
abstract models they've learned about in class and to see how things are
implemented in the field," said Anderson.
The class also met with professionals working at the Tucson offices of The
Wildlands Project, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Damage Review and the
International Wildlife Museum. They got to band rare grassland sparrows,
visit the captive breeding program for the endangered Masked Bobwhite and
count family groups of Canada Geese landing around them at sunrise along
the Lower Colorado River. Meeting with scientists, activists, and land managers
and exploring protected areas, they examined the complexities and paradoxes
of trying to manage land and wild creates.
