NYS 4-H/FFA Wildlife Habitat Education Program (WHEP) Training

This experience is primarily geared toward adult 4-H/FFA club leaders, parents, and volunteers interested in natural resources and outdoor education trainings; teen leaders are also welcome to attend.

NOTE: There is a registration fee of $30 which covers lunch and a physical copy of the textbook for participants to keep. 

Location: Cornell Biological Field Station, 900 Shackelton Point Road Bridgeport, NY 13030

Trainer: Matthew Springer, Ph.D., Associate Extension Professor of Wildlife Management, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Kentucky, Past-Chair of The National WHEP Committee, State Committee Member, Kentucky 4-H WHEP.

Date: Wednesday February 11th, 2026

Time: 9:30am - 3:30pm

Location: Cornell Biological Field Station at Shackelton Point (900 Shackelton Point Rd., Bridgeport, NY 13030)

Training Summary:

This training will introduce the basic components of the 4-H/FFA Wildlife Habitat Education Program including how to use the textbook for educating participants, understanding the basics of wildlife terminology, how to acquire practice/training materials for your team, introducing all four components of the competition, and suggestions on how to practice for the competitions with your teams. The instruction will occur both indoors and outdoors as the program is primarily an outdoor based competition. Morning will start in the classroom introducing the textbook, ecoregions, species, and then transition to the explanation of the competition components. After that we will begin with wildlife challenge examples then transition to outdoors to walk through the Management Plan and Wildlife Management Practices. We will end with Oral Reasoning’s example questions and a discussion on how you can create/diversify the contest either regionally or statewide.

Registration for event has CLOSED.