Another Earth Day has come and gone, yet the lessons and knowledge students obtained from HawkWatch International’s Closing the Nature Gap program continues to endure.

Closing the Nature Gap is a program championed by HawkWatch International, designed to put students in the driver’s seat of their own learning process. Essentially, students in the program undergo several weeks of learning, before transitioning into a teaching role for the event.

What exactly is it that these students are learning about? In the case of this specific program, it’s birds of prey, also referred to as raptors. Similar programs have taken place in the past, and many of them have been used as reference points for this newest iteration. However, all of them have been championed by HawkWatch.

While HawkWatch oversees the nuts and bolts of the program, at its core, it truly is a unified effort thanks to institutions like the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks (ZAP) program and mainstay community philanthropists like The George. S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the David Kelby Johnson Memorial Foundation. 

These benefactors were also invited to take part in the festivities and see “how this collaboration is creating the next generation of conservation leaders,” said Kirsten Elliott, the development and communications director at HawkWatch International.

Per their mission statement, programs like Closing the Nature Gap are designed to, “[empower] young learners to connect with nature, build confidence, and spark a lifelong passion for conservation.”

For 35 years HawkWatch International has been an important name in the world of conservation. Their focus is raptors, a series of hypercarnivores bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates like mammals and smaller birds. HawkWatch quickly filled an important space, as prior to their inception, there was little data regarding raptor migration patterns in the Western
United States.

Today, HawkWatch continues to not only fill in the blanks when it comes to mapping the data, but they’re also working toward creating the next generation of enthusiasts. 

“We started 35 years ago, just as a migration network and we really didn’t do anything else until much later, and now we have an international program, we have multiple science departments, a huge community science program, and so I think it’s that diversity that will allow us to move into the next stages,” explained Nikki Wayment, HawkWatch International’s executive director.

Closing the Nature Gap is one of the programs that HawkWatch uses to excite students about conservation efforts and mold a next generation of enthusiasts.

“It’s a really neat program where students at the Historic Scott School become the teachers after learning about birds of prey for several weeks,” Elliott said.

The Historic Scott School has been an integral part of the program, as they hosted the most recent Closing the Nature Gap evening. 

Per their website “[The Historic Scott School] is the oldest continuously operating school in the state of Utah, and South Salt Lake is proud to be the steward of this institutional campus through the Historic Scott School Community Center. The campus was the founding site of Granite High School, gradually growing and changing to become home to another Promise South Salt Lake Center and a community center for the arts.”

With help from ZAP funds, in 2009, the school was acquired by the city of South Salt Lake, relinquishing Granite School District’s control. 

For a few years now, HawkWatch International has jumpstarted their Closing the Nature Gap program with a series of events. This year, it happened on Earth Day, where students of the program got to demonstrate their knowledge. Live birds of prey were present alongside students, who shared the knowledge they’ve accumulated throughout the duration of the program. The event also served as an opportunity for HawkWatch International to showcase their working relationship with Promise South Salt Lake.

According to their website, “Promise South Salt Lake is a department of the city of South Salt Lake that provides dynamic, highly specialized community and out-of-school-time programming in 14 programs, at 12 locations throughout our City.” It further explained that “It is our commitment to give all youth and families in our community the opportunity to succeed in life. Our programs are free, open to all, and emphasize equity, diversity and putting children first. Promise SSL serves anyone who lives, learns, works, plays and prays in South Salt Lake.”

One of the focal points of the Earth Day evening was to discuss the Endangered Species Act and why it’s important. “Without the ESA, the peregrine falcon and the bald eagle, the United States’ national bird, may have disappeared from our country,” said HawkWatch presenters.

Students and HawkWatch representatives continued to discuss the ESA, and why it matters so significantly in the context of helping promote conservation. “When a species is listed as endangered, the ESA ensures that the species receives the attention and protection it needs. It triggers legal actions, including preventing the ‘take’ or killing of the species, protecting critical habitat, requiring multiple government agencies to create recovery plans, and providing financial support to other organizations, like HWI, which can provide additional resources to the cause,” said HawkWatch presenters.

Ultimately, the event made clear the importance of legal protections, collaborations, community support and the education of young minds. When it comes to the future, it’s these very students who will carry the baton, and help to ensure that birds of prey are able to thrive in their environment. As HawkWatch explained, “By creating a healthier environment for wildlife, we also create a healthier environment for people.” λ