Hope Learning CenterMany have asked where June’s cubs Cole and Ember are. Nobody has seen them since they left the community feeding site and went to the deep rock den where we caught images of them on the trail cam. We don't know where they are now because we couldn’t radio-collar them. There’s no way to find them. All we can do is wait for spring to see if they are seen together or not. We believe they will be okay.
Midnight tonight begins Give to the Max Day (November 14, 2013) at www.GiveMN.Razoo.com/Bears. Max the Bear will be blogging all day tomorrow and into the night at www.MaxTheBear.com. Max is trying to convince Honey that he can stay up through the end of GiveMN. Please share Max’s blog and the link to GiveMN with family and friends.
Hope Learning Center opposite viewThe photos show two views of the Hope Learning Center classroom (HLC) and a view of the Ecology Hall. Though empty now, imagine the HLC filled with students learning what black bears are really like and perhaps growing up willing to coexist with them. The 16-foot wide screen (already in place) pulls down to the floor to show larger-than-life video at eye level. Smartboards, tables, chairs, and computers will aid education for older students. Or imagine the tables and chairs folded up and over a hundred younger students engaging in hands-on activities or sitting on the carpeted floor watching the screens and asking questions. Microscopes and big wall-mounted monitors will add to the mix. Other hands-on activities will require water to work with specimens or to wash up afterward, so water, a sink, and paper towels are on the far wall in one of the pictures.
The little room and window in the corner is the nerve center of the HLC. Dozens of Cat 6 data cables go from that room to the tables, computers, Smartboards, and projector as well as to the World Broadcast Room for distance learning (not shown). The gray squares on the floor of the HLC classroom are electrical outlets and data cables for computers.
Ecology HallImagine the Ecology Hall filled with the sounds, videos, mounts, and information about most of the wildlife and habitats that black bears interact with or use in the area. We are happy that people who share our vision of giving back to the area are stepping forward to make the Ecology Hall and the Hope Learning Center all they can be to spark appreciation for the area and its wildlife. They will round out the Bear Center with a broader view of black bear ecology. In the process, they will broaden the materials we can share on site, through distance learning, and on the website about bears and the wildlife and habitats they interact with.
The sensory experience of bears on the large screen, together with surround sound, will be awesome in the HLC classroom as will the surround sound of the signature sounds of the Northwoods in the Ecology Hall.
Everyone who donates to the NABC during Give to the Max Day will be able to download a beautiful photo of June by Jim Stroner that has never been used before. Anyone who gives $100 or more will be automatically entered in a drawing to win a special gift basket (value $100) from the Bear Necessities Gift Shop.
Thank you for all you do over and over to fulfill the educational mission of the North American Bear Center.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.