The Birding for All Project has always been about finding ways to include
persons of all ages and abilities in the outdoor recreation experience of birding. Birding can be enjoyed while sitting and
just watching and listening, or out walking along a back woods trail or a city street. Birding is a wonderful activity because
it can use different senses and still be enjoyed by persons of all ages and abilities.
Two years ago, the Birding
for All Project began a new assignment.
The PAW Director had
been driving across the country, when she stopped at a famous birding site. She was very surprised and disappointed to find
that the outside areas of this well endowed site had not met even the basis requirements of the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA). On the site was a small viewing blind.
The path to the blind was dangerous even to able-body visitors with tree roots sticking up in all directions along
the mud filled path. The blind itself had a very high step making it impossible or at leased very difficult for children to
safely access the blind and definitely ruling out any person with a mobility impairment. Once back home, the Director called
the site’s director and asked about the blind. His response was it was built by Boy Scouts so it didn’t have to
meet ADA. The conversation went no where after that.
The PAW Director asked
the students from the Colorado School of Mines to design three viewing blinds that were wheel chair accessible, had a budget
of $500 or less and could be built by high school students. They did. PAW’s
Director then visited with Ann Timberman, Refuge Manager of the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, a long time partner of the
Birding for All project. She agreed to fund the construction of two of the blinds, one a permanent one that would be located
along the Refuge's boardwalk and the second one would be designed to be moved by a skidster or bobcat along the auto
tour at the Refuge.
The CSM students during
the Fall 2010 semester developed a detailed materials list and began work on the manual for the high school students. The
project will continue during Spring 2011 with students finishing the instruction manual and testing the design using the manual. Once the manual and designs have been tested they will be available to youth groups
across the country for the cost of shipping and handling.
