AWR Reaching Out to People through Outreach and Education

From Bob Clark, AWR Outreach Director

AWR's Outreach and Education Program combines elements of traditional grassroots organizing with new electronic mediums to reach and empower thousands of concerned citizens nationwide. Through publications, video, web-sites, action alerts, public events, and person to person contact, our network of members and supporters continues to increase in both size and vitality.

Our grassroots team building workshops bestow forest protection and organizational skills to conservation activists living in isolated communities, while our town meetings and community events help to inform and motivate the public, often initiating lively debate on important wildland issues. AWR maintains a full time Boise, Idaho office to further our goal of regional ecosystem protection.

As the newest component of these organizing efforts, AWR has gone "online" and is reaching people on the web and internet. Electronic mail now enables us to maintain contacts with conservation organizations and activists alike, while saving time and money. AWR has an e-mail activist alert list; to recieve timely action alerts via e-mail, send me a note.

Our Award-winning Documentary Film, Beyond Borders, Wildlands of the Northern Rockies has been a huge success. In 1994, Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Greenfire Productions teamed up to produce this award-winning documentary. The question posed by Beyond Borders still holds true today: "What legacy will we choose to leave in the Wild Northern Rockies?" With the Northern Rockies Ecosytem Protection Act, H.R. 488 (NREPA), befor e the 106th Congress, Beyond Borders continues to act as an effective educational tool, stirring people into action to help enact the first-ever, multi-state, wilderness ecosystem protection bill.

The film won three awards at the 18th International Wildlife Film Festival. Beyond Borders was satellite uplinked to more than 250 PBS stations nationwide and was also aired on a national cable network. These national showings have generated hundreds of calls to AWR's 800 line. We've distributed more than 2,500 copies to schools, organizations, key decision-makers, and numerous individuals. One of the most successful pro-environment videos ever made, Beyond Borders will ultimately be viewed by millions of Americans. You can order Beyond Borders for only $5.00 (includes the postage costs). Order Beyond Borders by sending a check or money order made payable to AWR, PO Box 8731, Missoula, MT 59807 or contact Bob Clark via e-mail.

The 1998 Wild Rockies Rendezvous was a huge success, drawing together over 250 conservationists, supporters and inspiring activists. The event balances informative panels and presentations on key conservation topics with plenty of time for informal networking, brainstorming, campaign planning and live music and dancing. This annual event provides a great opportunity for geographically isolated activists to gather with like-minded folks and exchange ideas and information. We're already planning for the 1999 Wild Rockies Rendezvous.

AWR continues to promote Northern Rockies wilderness and wildlife issues in the national media. AWR had a prominent role in a Outside Magazine article on grizzly bear recovery in the Salmon / Selway Ecosystem. The recent Endangered Species Act listing of the imperiled bull trout put AWR in regional and national media. AWR Executive Director, Mike Bader, recently had a featured article published on the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 in the National Humane Society's newsletter, Wildlife Tracks, and another article on NREPA in Wild Earth, a quarterly journal on conservation biology and wildlands activism.

AWR is always on the look out for new outreach opportunities, and welcomes any suggestions from browsers of this site who might be willing to set-up or organize outreach events in their area. Please contact AWR's Outreach Director, Bob Clark, via e-mail for any of the articles listed above, or information on how to organize a successful event in your neck of the woods.

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Alliance for the Wild Rockies
PO Box 8731 • Missoula, Montana • 59807
Phone: 406-721-5420 • Fax: 406-721-9917
E-mail: awr@wildrockies.org

Content Copyright 1999 Alliance for the Wild Rockies, unless otherwise noted.

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