Presentation on Outdoor Teaching Tools

The 16th Annual Cherokee-Crane Festival is set for January 19-20, 2008 at the three venue event that includes the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, Hamilton County’s Birchwood School, and the adjoining Cherokee Indian Removal Memorial where the featured theme will be outdoor, conservation, and wildlife education. The star of the event each year has been the flock of thousands of migrating sandhill cranes that visit the Hiwassee Refuge from late fall to early spring. “Wildlife managers believe this year’s flock may set a new record for the total number of birds that both pass through the Refuge on their way south for the winter and also the number of cranes that winter there. Wildlife enthusiasts should get a real eye full this year based on the diversity of avian species. Last weekend visitors and wildlife experts documented at least nine Whooping Cranes, a flock of more than 20 Snow Geese, five Great Egrets, a Black Crowned Night Heron, Bald and Golden Eagles, and numerous waterfowl and songbirds in addition to the Sandhill Cranes and other indigenous wildlife,” said Tom Scott, Past President of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation and event co-sponsor. “This area is truly a treasure of Tennessee wildlife,” Scott added. Speakers at the Hiwassee Refuge will include, Mike Butler, Executive Director, Tennessee Wildlife Federation, History on Wildlife Management in Tennessee; Mike Hills, Southern Adventist University, Outdoor Teaching Tools; Len Bales, Ijams Nature Center, Regional Natural History; Bill Haley, Tennessee Aquarium, Appreciation for the Natural World; Kirk Miles, Bio-diversity Biologist, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Cumberland Plateau Wildlife Diversity; Ellen Hitchcock, Author, “Nature’s Magical Moments”; and Dave Vogt, President, Chattanooga Chapter, Tennessee Ornithological Society, Bird Banding a Wigg Meadow