Nebraskaland Magazine
[ Submitted by Amanda Filipi]
Snow, snow, snow!! Yes, your reading it correctly, it snowed several inches at the beginning of May! The Western Outdoor Discovery Program was scheduled for the beginning part of this month. The first day of the program went wonderful and we several great activities and presenters. Unfortunally, we had to cancel the second day of this event, due to snow. Special thanks to Kirk, the Lake Minitare staff, Boating Safety Crew, and the Communications, Law enforcement, Fisheries and Wildlife folks from the Northwest District for their help
Holy field trip season Batman!! We hosted several school field trips this month at the Nature Center. Our schedule was packed full of field trips, usually two a day, every day until the last week of May! The favorite part of the field trip for most schools was the guided Nature Hike. We saw several animal tracks, scat, birds, wildflowers and Antlions! (which as every kid knows are pretty cool little critters!)
The first program in our partnership program series with the Forest Service/Hudson-Meng Education & Research Center, kicked off this month at Fort Robinson State Park. Several program participants braved the rainy conditions to learn about The AtlAtl; the oldest weapon in North American. This program will run every Friday night throughout the summer starting at 7:00 pm. The location will alternate between Fort Robinson State Park and Chadron State Park.
Staff conducted several classroom programs for area schools and after school programs. Some of the topics include “Frog, Toads and Turtles”, “Animal Habitats”, “Plants, Birds.” Angus, a small bull snake, stole the show again this year during his visits to area classrooms.
The last homeschool program before summer break was held in May. The topic was worms. We had a great time inspecting night crawlers, digging for worms around the center and even got to do a little worm painting (we used plastic fishing worms)
Two Project WILD workshops were conducted in May. Project WILD provides participants with several, hands-on activities dealing with wildlife, aquatic critters and habitats. Staff from the local YMCA Camp, Nebraska Forest Service, South Dakota Forest Service, area educators, NRD staff and NGPC staff attended these workshops.
The 6th Annual Wildcat Hills Wildlands Event occurred in May over Free Park Day. Several participants took part in the 8k Fun Run with the winners in each age division winning Park’s Bucks. Folks also enjoyed Kids Crafts, Wildflower Hike and a Bighorn Sheep Hike.
Staff also conducted several programs for area library’s and their summer reading program titled, “Dig Into Reading!”
