Activity Plan for Respect Wildlife
Exploring Respect for Wildlife
This activity should take about 70 minutes.
What Your Group Will Learn
After participating in this activity plan, which calls for participants to
observe impacts on wildlife, participants will be able to
- Describe what activities cause impacts to wildlife.
- Identify the actions that
can be taken to minimize impacts to wildlife.
Your participants are going on an imaginary hike to a marshland area where
they will encounter a flock of ducks, a doe, and a fawn. This activity will help
them think about their potential impacts to wildlife and how these impacts can
Materials and Preparation
- A garden hose or some other means of marking the marshland
- Duck decoys, silhouettes, or pictures of ducks
- Pictures or silhouettes of a doe and fawn deer
- Read the entire lesson plan and the Background on the
Principles of Leave No Trace thoroughly.
- Lay out the garden hose or some other means or marking the
- Place the duck, doe, and fawn pictures or silhouettes in the
Grabbing Your Group's Attention (20 minutes)
Explain to participants that they will be hiking along a trail and will come
to a marsh area with ducks, a doe, and a fawn. Ask them to explain the actions
they will take so they do not disturb the ducks and deer.
Steps for Teaching the Activity (30 minutes)
How Wild Is Wildlife?
The participants will demonstrate the techniques they feel will help minimize
impact to wildlife in the marshland area. After demonstrating these techniques,
group members will move past the marshland. The activity will help them become
more aware of their potential effects on wildlife and how they can avoid
As they approach the marked marshland, ask group members to
demonstrate how they will avoid disturbing the wildlife and how they will be
able to tell if they were successful.
After participants have passed the
marshland, ask them why they used the techniques they did to minimize their
impacts to the ducks and deer in the marsh. Ask them if there are any other
techniques they could use. Emphasize that the best means of determining their
success is the degree to which the wildlife may have altered their normal
behavior. In contrast, if the ducks fly or the deer run away quickly, you know
you have gotten too close.
Quick movement and loud noises are stressful to
animals. Considerate campers should
- Observe wildlife from afar to avoid
- Give animals a wide berth, especially during breeding, nesting,
and birthing seasons.
- Store food securely so wildlife will not be attracted to
- Keep garbage and food scraps away from animals so they will not acquire bad
Remember, you are too close to an animal if it alters its normal activities.
Wrapping Up the Activity (15 minutes)
Your group is considerate of wildlife needs and knows how to respect
wildlife. Group members also know the techniques for minimizing their impact on
wildlife and means of determining if they have been successful. Do the
- Discuss some of the local areas participants might visit
that have wildlife. What additional techniques or specific precautions
should they use to avoid disturbing the wildlife species in these areas?
- Talk about the behavior of some group members or the
behavior observed of others on previous outdoor activities that may have
disturbed wildlife. What could have been done differently to avoid
disturbing the wildlife? How can the group help encourage others to keep
Congratulations on conducting a well-prepared meeting for your group!
Visit a local wildlife refuge and have the wildlife managers explain how they
recommend viewing wildlife species at the refuge without disturbing them in the
wild. Take a walk with the wildlife manager around the refuge to practice the