Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows Receive $5,000 award from USFWS

The Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows is one of only eight organizations receiving awards of $5,000 by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the innovative project, #TagYourRefuge, designed by the Friends to engage new audiences through mobile photography. The project funds repairs and rebuilding of the observation platform on the Carter Meadow trail. The views from Carter Meadow are iconic. Sweeping grasses, song birds, and water fowl surround the Sunkhaze stream and the series of bog domes in its midst. You can join the Friends and the US Fish and Wildlife Service as they work on the project Thursday June 9, Saturday June 25 and Friday July 8th. In addition to the observation deck, the USFWS plans include expanding access to the platform by widening the trail and providing additional boardwalks where terrain may challenge some visitors.

The award also provides funding for an online interactive trail map which will be crowd sourced via an Instagram photo contest launching in September. Photographers will be asked to take photos of the refuge and using Instagram (tag) @SunkhazeMeadows with a comment. Photos with the most likes and shares will be included in the trail map and featured in an exhibit in January 2017. The interactive trail map will use QR Codes, a mobile technology that uses an app on your phone to access web pages, and metal signs staked at waypoints corresponding with the online images and narrative. When the map is completed visitors to the refuge will, from their mobile phones, be able to learn about the refuge including the photo stories told by contest winners. To help participants do well, in September the Friends will host two free and open to the public photography clinics with nature photographer Dave Small (http://photosbychance.zenfolio.com/) and Karen Robertson of Plan_it Marketing will pr ovide tips on social sharing and using geotags. The contest will be open to everyone but special prizes will be awarded to youth in different categories.

"The opportunity for people to connect with nature through a social media platform will enable a much broader and diverse audience to experience the refuge. Successfully managing National Wildlife Refuges in the 21st century must include the utilization of social media." said Steve Agius, Acting Refuge Manager. Follow the project at www.sunkhaze.org or on Facebook/.com/FriendsofSunkhaze/ . Email the Friends at FriendsofSunkhazeNWR@gmail.com.

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Source: Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows Receive $5,000 award from USFWS