Wildlife Activity Book
This book includes a variety of ready-to-use activities to integrate wildlife into basic subject areas.
The activities are ideal for use in classrooms, community organizations or anywhere young people
could benefit from learning more about the food, fiber and natural resource industries.
Why does an agriculture group want to teach
about wildlife?
Agricultural land provides much of the
open space that is home to many wildlife
species. It is estimated that 80 percent of
wildlife spend time on private property. Most of
this private property belongs to farmers and
ranchers. Farmers and ranchers enjoy the
wildlife that visit their land. Often, they manage
their operation to benefit wildlife populations.
Developing an understanding of what is involved
in managing wildlife is important. Agricultural
ground is important for sustaining wildlife.
In the past, people were very aware of
the role agriculture played in their lives. It meant
survival. Nearly everyone - men, women and
children - worked the land. On average, today's
youth are five generations removed from the
land. They no longer have a grandfather or aunt
on the farm. They no longer have first-hand
contact with farms and farming. You may want to
survey your class. How many of your students
have a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle that is
living and working on a farm or ranch? Through
projects like this Activity Book, young people can
understand that agriculture has a vast range of
impact on our society and way of life.
Importance of agriculture
Agriculture, with its related occupations,
is the nation's and the world's largest industry. It
generates billions of dollars each year and one
out of every five American jobs depends on
agriculture in some way. Agriculture has a huge
impact on the American economy and on the
prices Americans pay for their basic needs of
food, clothing and shelter. Agriculture influences
the U.S. balance of trade and directly affects
the number, as well as kinds, of jobs throughout
the world.
It is estimated that 20 percent of our
population is employed in agriculturally related
occupations. However, only about two percent of
U.S. citizens work in production agriculture. This
small group meets the food and fiber needs of
the entire nation as well as many people abroad.
Agriculture faces huge challenges to meet the
needs of a growing world population. Tomorrow's
citizens must be agriculturally literate in order to
make responsible, moral decisions about the
giant global lifeline. Building that literacy and
awareness is the goal of the Colorado
Foundation for Agriculture with its agricultural
education and Ag in the Classroom programs.
This Wildlife Activity book is just one of the agricultural literacy projects produced by the
Colorado Foundation for Agriculture. Comments, questions and feedback about this
publication are always welcome, please contact:
Bette Blinde, Director
Colorado Foundation for Agriculture
P.O. Box 10
Livermore, CO 80536
(970) 881-2902
www.growingyourfuture.com