What can I do as a 16 year old teenager to really help wildlife hands on?

Question

I want to know if there are programs or something that I can do to really make a difference to help wildlife, I've been on the WWF website and I've written letters to congress, and I don't have much money to donate. I've looked around and I can't seem to find anything more I can do with that site, but I really want to do more than that but I just don't really know how or where to look so if someone knows of ways I can really get out there and help that would be great.

Answer 1

u need not have big money to help wildlife if u r really willing u can make a group of people among u r friends neighbors and work on making people aware of importance of wildlife u can conduct seminars projects in u r school\college wildlife or simply approach to u r nearest zoo or national park and join them on holidays for helping them in their work or u can join private groups working for wild life in your area.

Answer 2

i do not know where you live, but the golden isles, of the coast of georgia, have an island called wassaw. it is a national wildlife refuge and a sea turtle nesting habitat. you can volunteer to work a week's time and and help tag turtles, move nests, and help with the hatchlings. it is a life changing adventure and as hands on as it gets. pretty expensive though so you would have to save up.

Answer 3

An often overlooked activity that really helps small wildlife is tha planting of flowers.

Bees and butterflys are in need of "corridors" to migrate and survive.  A "corridor" is an area that has enough blooming plant life for the insect to forage while it is traveling or to support it's colony.

In the typical town, there are blocks and blocks that have no blooming plant life, therefore bees and butterflys cannot move through these areas in safety.

Bees in particular are having a hard time this year due to the collapse of many hives reported by beekeepers.  Bees are responsible for the pollination of most of our vegetables and fruits.  Without bees, we will have a very hard time feeding ourselves.

Butterflys are losing feeding grounds along their migration routes, which leads to fewer butterflys to pollinate the flowers to produce more seeds.  

Birds and small mammals depend on butterflys, bees and other insects to survive.

If you get involved with your local council, schools and parks to plant more blooming flowers, you are actually making a big contribution to wildlife on a grassroots level.

You can write letters to the local paper about the need for more flowering plants.

You can visit your school pricinple, PTA group, local Girl and Boy Scout troops, church groups and small businesses to help organize plantings parties and raise funds to buy plants.

You can organize a Clean Up the Park day to clean out trash from the bushes and streams.

If you are into TV production or Film and have a camcorder, you could make a Public Service Annoucement about planting flowers or other conservation ideas and submit the video to your local TV station asking them to air it.

Answer 4

get your parents to help you make your backyard a certified wildlife habitat.

www.nwf.org/backyardTVshow

Answer 5

talk to your local parks dept. and conservation office they might have programs for you to try

Answer 6

join a local "friend of ....." group

im a friend of organ pipes national park and so far i have been recording bat data (capture from nesting boxes and release)

as well as recording any sugar gliders in boxes.

also if you can find some one doing a  uni thesis on animals there often more than happy to have some one help them record data and check traps and the like.