Welcome to the launching of Wildlife Research Team's newest vessel: The Canoe View News! It's simply based upon all the questions folks in our canoes have asked us over our 15 years of paddling every waterway we can find. We didn't always know the answers that day, but as "Research" is our middle name, we sought out the answers and had a lot of fun in the process.

It continues to amaze us how diverse a population has paddled our canoes since 1993. We joke about painting the flags of each country so represented on the sides of our canoes: it would look like the United Nations!

Wildlife Research Team was founded on hope; and in these challenging times for our nation, we are determined to paddle the roughest seas to bring forth an optimistic viewpoint based on sound scientific research.

For Wildlife Research Team, "The Environment" is more than today's buzzword. That's where we live. We've been providing primary experiences to our community while creating environmental stewardship for a good long while now. We've watched children grow up in our canoes who are now outstanding citizens. It's very gratifying!

As our primary founder, the late Dr. Tom Kazo, loved to say, "Kids learn best when they get wet and dirty," But how often do today's children get that chance to learn from hands-on experience? They've spent most of their lives parked in front of sophisticated monitors, watching images of nature that are sanitized, edited and secondary. Technology is not bad: it just isn't enough.

A few years ago, we had a bright, pleasant ten-year-old boy in our canoe camp. He loved sharks. He had learned everything about them from tv and the internet. But when we pointed out a one-foot-long (and harmless) nurse shark to him, he went white with terror. Later, he used his drinking water to wash off the wet sand on his feet, instead of swishing them over the side as the rest of us did. I am still sad about his reaction when faced with reality.

Our children today are raised in a world of fear and nameless terror, not hope. They are rarely given opportunities to test themselves in unsupervised situations where everything hasn't been prearranged by a worried adult. How do we expect them to care about global warming when we won't let them out of the air conditioning?

It's for this reason that Wildlife Research Team has had an ongoing program, The Canoe View Classroom, all these years. Yes, we are widely known for our waterway and coastal cleanups, but the latent effect is hands-on environmental education. Anyone who's volunteered with us is highly unlikely to drop trash in the waterway, or let a balloon loose that will probably end up wrapped around a mangrove root. I've cut many free myself.

As a mom, I personally believe that teachers are some of the most important people on the planet, because we hand over our precious children to them for most of their childhood. Yet how often do we help teachers to fulfill their vital mission? Our Canoe View Classroom invites teachers to ramp up their curriculum with field trips in our canoes. Why not combine the best of both worlds? The Canoe View News will serve as an electronic canoe, transporting direct, continuous knowledge between the virtual classroom and the Canoe View Classroom.

What's truly important to Wildlife Research Team is that kids are provided with the stepping stones to arrive at a satisfying career helping the planet. For that reason, a regular feature will be "Environmental Careers" where we will profile or interview a person who has found such a job.

As we use canoes for all of our projects, we will be teaching our readers how to properly handle a canoe. We will seek out paddling destinations and report on them so that our readers can get out on the water with a bit more knowledge.

The tone of this publication will always be conversational, as if we were in the same canoe together and you asked, "What's that plant?" or "Do manatees live in this river?" So, expect a friendly, natural, welcoming style of prose in our pages! But: each article will be based upon sound scientific research, and if references are not cited, will be available on request. Please feel free to write us with your comments and questions; perhaps you will inspire a whole feature article!

Wildlife Research Team offers free subscriptions to The Canoe View News. As it's published only online, there are no printing costs. "No trees shall die for The CVNews" is our rallying cry! But, like any nonprofit organization, especially in this absurd economy, we must seek every avenue of fundraising so Wildlife Research Team can continue to provide hands-on direct experience to our community.

So we sell advertising space in our ezine. Please support our advertisers! They support The Canoe View News, and therefore, Wildlife Research Team. In these days of careful spending, the products and services they offer are of sound value. As you read this issue, you will see colorful rectangles to the right of our text box, indicating that Your Ad Could Be Here! For more information on advertising, please write us at . That's also the address for all of your questions. We are a small group, no overhead on giant offices for us!

You will see on our website's front page that our Team suffered a severe setback recently when the engine suddenly failed on our only Wildlife Research Team-owned vehicle. More details are on the front page. We've had to cut back on our scheduled waterway and coastal cleanups as a result. We are still doing them, thanks to our dedicated volunteers, but just not as often.

Please enjoy this premiere issue of The Canoe View News with our compliments! We have worked very hard to deliver solid, educational and entertaining information to our readers. So, we'd sure be really happy if our readers said, "Thanks!" with a small donation. Sometimes the trip may be long and daunting, but every stroke of the paddle brings us closer to our destination. If only 500 appreciative readers each donate just $10, our vital tow vehicle will be put to work again.

There's a reason that our Dr. Tom chose the word "team" for our name; he knew that the only way to accomplish anything meaningful in this world is for all of us to work together as a team. Everyone's contribution is appreciated in our Wildlife Research Team.

One more thing; as Valentine's Day is upon us, please consider the environment. Don't release balloons into the sky! Come out with us and see where they end up! Maybe you and your sweetheart could treat each other to a canoe picnic and enjoy the wonders of nature as your own unique team.

And don't forget to write us with your questions at . Thanks and happy reading!

Donna M. Kazo
President and co-founder
Wildlife Research Team