Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory's Birds Beyond Borders, or Aves Sin Fronteras, is an international exchange program that links classrooms in the U.S. with classrooms in Mexico through our shared resource of migratory birds. Throughout the school year, students take field trips to local natural areas to see and learn about birds first-hand, have classroom instruction to enhance their field experiences, receive educational materials in Spanish and English, and exchange three letters with their sister school. Each participating class is also encouraged to create and carry out a conservation project to benefits birds. More than 7,000 students and 120 teachers have participated in this innovative program since its inception in 1995.

This program provides bilingual educational materials, which correlate to state content standards in science, reading and writing, geography, and math. In addition to content learning, BBB provides students with an opportunity to learn about another culture, or in the case of some of our Native Mexican participants, an opportunity to connect with their homeland. Our hope is that program participation will help students to see that geographic borders need not be barriers when we are all working toward a common goal. This lesson, learned at a young age, increases the likelihood that these students will become open-minded, environmentally conscious adults imbued with the idea that eliminating boundaries is not only possible, but essential to ensure worldwide conservation efforts.

For the 2003-2004 school year, RMBO would like to add a new component to its Birds Beyond Borders program. In keeping with the BBB goal of encouraging participants to care about birds and the habitats that birds need to survive, RMBO will facilitate conservation projects with each of the BBB participating schools/classes. Some possible projects include native habitat development on school grounds, clean-up or habitat improvements at local natural areas, installation of nesting boxes for a variety of bird species, and the development of avian sanctuaries. We feel that by involving students in an active, participatory project which operationalizes the BBB goal of providing for healthy bird habitats, we are providing an opportunity for them to see an outcome of their caring