OutdoorsJuly 20, 2000

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Students who are bored by microscopes and petri dishes might find this scientific endeavor -- tracking the elusive Bigfoot -- a bit more interesting.

Most scientists doubt the beast exists, but looking for it is a good way to get children interested in science, says Steve Robertson, education director for the Audubon Society of Portland.

"We don't want to give people the wrong idea, that the Audubon Society believes there's a Sasquatch," Robertson says. "The idea is to use the Bigfoot as a vehicle to increase children's wilderness awareness skills, to get them to carefully interpret the animal signs they encounter."

The weeklong camp, called "Bigfoot: Fact of Fiction," begins Aug. 21. Students in fifth- through eighth-grade will look for signs of the creature -- hair, scat or broken branches -- in the foothills of Mount Hood in Oregon and Mount St. Helens in Washington.

"We aren't expecting to run into a Sasquatch, but we'll run into a lot of other animal signs," Robertson said.

If they're lucky enough to find a Sasquatch footprint, they'll make a plaster of Paris mold.

If they actually encounter Bigfoot, they'll have a video camera to capture it on film.

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"We're going to take a real nonbiased look at this, just listen to people, evaluate evidence as it is presented, and do a minisearch ourselves," Robertson said. "We'll talk about what qualifies as science and what doesn't."

Robertson said the class will consider eyewitness accounts, such as a recent one by a Grants Pass psychologist who reported seeing a Bigfoot while hiking with his family at Oregon Caves National Monument in southern Oregon.

But some educators say Bigfoot research may not be the best way to introduce children to science.

"Sasquatch is totally open to speculation. Why not use something we know exists? ... Let's go out with cougar, bear or wolf biologists," says Donna Rainboth of Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, who develops science curriculum for primary and secondary schools.

But Robertson says Bigfoot has an edge when it comes to keeping youngsters alert in the forest.

"Picture going out looking for a black-capped chickadee in the afternoon; then picture going out in the woods in the dark at 10 o'clock at night looking for Sasquatch. You're going to be as aware as you've ever been."

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