Students team up to raise awareness for viral bald eagles’ habitat in jeopardy
The hunting area of bald eagles Jackie and Shadow are threatened by development.
Students at a California elementary school are banding together to raise awareness and money to save the bald eagle hunting area at San Bernardino National Forest's Big Bear Valley, home of the viral bald eagles Jackie and Shadow.
Teacher Sara Stinson told ABC News San Francisco station KGO that her students at John Baldwin Elementary School in Danville, California, immediately wanted to help the bald eagles when they heard the birds' habitat was being threatened by development.
"I started sharing the information with them, and they felt so passionate about it. They were like, 'What can we do?'" Stinson said.
The fourth and fifth graders have since launched a multifaceted campaign to raise awareness in their community, writing persuasive letters to community members, celebrities, and lawmakers, but also taking action and posting flyers, picking up leaves, washing cars, holding bake sales and setting up lemonade stands, according to the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.
In a statement to ABC News, Baldwin Elementary teacher Nancy McCaul, who helped the students launch their letter-writing campaign, said it has been "a teacher's dream" to see their efforts come to life.
"Seeing this kind of passion in my students has honestly been a teacher's dream. Being able to shape our curriculum and create lessons around something students truly care about is why so many of us became teachers in the first place," McCaul said in part in an emailed statement.
She added, "I also feel incredibly lucky to work alongside Ms. Stinson, because she's really the one who introduced Jackie and Shadow to our students and helped create that care and connection in the first place ... these kids have worked so hard, because they genuinely care, and I could not be more proud of them."
The school district told ABC News the student's efforts have since turned into a school-wide effort as well.
According to the nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley, which runs a 24/7 livestream of the bald eagles' nest, part of the valley is slated to be developed into luxury homes, impacting the area where the bald eagles hunt, unless $10 million can be raised for the San Bernardino Mountain Land Trust to buy the land by July 31.
The nonprofit said over $2.68 million has been raised since Feb. 19 and about $7.3 million is needed until the fundraising goal is met.
"If we do not raise enough money by the deadline of July 31, we will look towards a financing option. It would require quarterly payments and long-term fundraising but failure is not an option," Friends of Big Bear Valley told ABC News in a statement. "This is the last undisturbed shoreline on the lake."
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