Guidelines

Below is a basic list of things that might help you out in your quest to become an official Kansas WildLifer. It’s not hard, but it’s not easy either. Easy is for the couch potatoes, and THAT’S NOT YOU!

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO COMPLETE A CHALLENGE?

You have to take a picture of yourself actually doing each particular challenge.  If you have a digital camera and a computer, you can transfer each digital photograph from your camera to your computer, and then upload each photo into each challenge on this website as you complete it. On the "Tasks" tab for each challenge, you will see a few questions that you’ll need to answer regarding your experience during the challenge. Once you answer all of the questions, you’ll be able to then upload your photo and complete the challenge!

There are 20 challenges, but you only have to complete 15 of them. The reason we set it up this way is because we understand that not every challenge may be appropriate for you, or there may be a few challenges that you’re uncomfortable with. And we’re cool with that. Simply choose your 15 challenges that you would like to do and get going!

CAN I COMPLETE SOME CHALLENGES AT THE SAME TIME?

Yes. For example, you could canoe AND swim in a lake in one outing. Plan your trips around challenges that work well together. Again, we’re not trying to make this hard. We want you to finish! Still, try not to do all of the challenges in one day. If you do, you’ll be rushing through the program and not taking the time to get the full experience of the challenge. Believe it or not, some of the best experiences occur before, during and after each challenge. This is not a race. It’s a journey.

HOW HARD ARE THE CHALLENGES?

These challenges are not set up to be hard, but feel free to make them as hard to accomplish as you’d like. For example, in the "Pitch a Tent" challenge, you could pester your parents to take you on an overnight camping trip. But not all parents are equipped for overnight camping, so you may have to get creative with accomplishing the challenge. If you can’t actually go camping, then simply find some rope, tie it between two trees, throw a blanket over the rope and make your tent!

WHAT AGES CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE WILDLIFER CHALLENGE?

You’ll notice that we have not put an age limit on our participants. That’s because we know that there’s plenty of kids AND adults that have never experienced the types of activities in these challenges. Since most kids will be accomplishing these tasks with their parents, and maybe even grandparents, we’re willing to let any age participate! The only rule here is that every adult participant must have a kid’s approval! There is no participant limit per household, but each participant must be a living, breathing resident of the state of Kansas. However, the activities to complete the challenges may be completed outside of Kansas if you have the opportunities.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Don’t be shy. We want to see you in the photograph, and so will you when you get your certificates of completion! It’s not hard. Just make sure the person taking your picture zooms in on you and your surroundings. We have no desire to see a little ant taking a hike on the edge of a vast hillside. We want to see our WildLifer in training!

HONESTY

There are all sorts of ways to cheat in this program. Cheaters have no place here. If you plan to cheat, get out of here. You are not welcome. You’re not a WildLifer. You’re a cheater.

SUPERVISION

The WildLifer Challenge is a fun, exciting and new way to live life to the fullest. You are encouraged to figure out and conquer 15 challenges on your own under the ever-watchful eyes of your parents or other adult supervision. That means you ALWAYS have to have an adult around who knows what you're doing, before you're doing it. Got it? Some of these challenges could be dangerous if you're not careful, so having someone around to help you is not only required, it's helpful! Make sure you have permission on private lands, follow the laws of the land, and basically know what you're doing. Parents can help you with that. Don't worry...we're not trying to ruin your day by involving the adults. We just want to make sure that you're safe and sound with a life abound of outdoor experiences!

HOW MUCH DOES ALL OF THIS COST?

It’s FREE to participate in the WildLifer Challenge program. We are not trying to cause you or your family any undue stress, either physical or financial.  You can go all out and take each challenge to the extreme, or you can keep it simple. We really don’t care. We just want you to get outside and experience the challenge. What might work for a 6-year old may not be as challenging for a 16-year old. We get that. Do what you want (with parent approval) and knock out the challenge. The more creative you get, the more fun you’ll have. All we’re requiring for completion is that you follow the tasks in each challenge, take a picture and fill out the simple questionnaire, and submit it to us.

WHAT IF I HAVE COMPUTER PROBLEMS?

We’d love to help you in any way we can, but in the case of computer questions/problems, we simply cannot. We have a whopping staff of three people, and none of us are computer geniuses by any means. In light of this, we have created a very simple and direct website to handle our participants. The majority of participants won’t have any trouble, but if you find yourself struggling on the website (or your computer is struggling), don’t panic. Simply send an email to wildliferchallenge@sunflower.com with your participant’s name, address and phone number and we’ll send you a WildLifer packet to fill out. Complete with all of the available challenges, simply fill out each sheet,  print your photos, attach them to the appropriate challenge page, and mail them all back to us once you’ve completed 15 of the challenges.

SECURITY

If you’re worried about security, know that the only reason we ask for your contact information is so we can communicate with you during the process, and so we know where to send your prizes.  All of your personal information will remain secure and private and will not be used for any other use beyond your involvement in the WildLifer Challenge. That’s it. If you want more information on the Kansas Wildscape Foundation, visit our website www.kansaswildscape.org and get in touch with us. We’d love to have you as a Wildscape member, but we’re not going to send you a bunch of emails and literature if you don’t want it, and we’re certainly not going to use our WildLifer participants list as a general mailing list for our foundation.

PRIZES

We’ve got some really cool prizes to award to the first 500 participants that complete 15 challenges. Really cool prizes. We’d love to give EVERY participant really cool prizes, but it gets really expensive! However, EVERY participant will get a WildLifer t-shirt, poster, Certificate of Completion, sticker and car decal to proudly proclaim their accomplishment.

HAVE FUN

Above all, HAVE FUN! The entire goal of this program is to help you connect with the outdoors and realize that there’s plenty to do outside. Kids that grow up outdoors are stronger, healthier, more creative, more independent and, in our opinion, simply cooler!