Ag & Range

Photo by Kamryn Kozisek A buck deer runs near Briggs Pond on the Harold and LaVerne Thompson Natural History Preserve, Nov. 2, wildlife idefication and tracking is one of many topics to be discussed during February by Game and Parks Commission.

Game and Parks releases event list for February

u By Kamryn Kozisek

Ag and Range Editor

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recently released a list of education events for February, both virtually and in-person.

Events for children include Nature Tales Story Times, Backyard Bird Count and a Homeschool Hike.

Nature Tales Story Times is for pre-K aged children occurring Feb. 1 and 8 at 10 a.m. This event will include outdoor educators from Game and Parks reading nature-themed books over Zoom. Feb. 1 theme is clouds and Feb. 8 is snails. Each webinar is available on the Nebraska Game and Parks YouTube Education Channel.

The Backyard Bird Count will be hosted by Little Saplings early childhood program at the Schramm Education Center in Gretna, 9 a.m. Feb. 2. The program is for children ages 2-5 and will feature the centers bird feeders for identifying species.

The Schramm Park State Recreation Area will be hosting a Homeschool Hike Feb. 16 at 9 a.m. The hike will be guided by an outdoor educator and all homeschool families will be able to attend.

Events for adults hosted by game and parks include an All About Amphibians workshop, The Science of … series, virtual wildlife tracking, Insect Investigations workshop, Nature Nerd Night, Nature Math workshop, Nature Experience learning Centers training, Plantology workshop and an invasive species speaker series.

All about Amphibians educator workshop begins at 6 p.m. Feb. 2 and will discuss Nebraskan amphibian species and ecology related to them. At the end of the workshop each educator will receive a curriculum guide, two hours of in-service and amphibian educational merchandise.

Each Thursday Game and Parks will be releasing a virtual webinar called The Science of… at 3 p.m. Each webinar will have a topic, Feb. 3 is geology and fossils, Feb. 10 is mussels, Feb. 17 is rodents and Feb. 24 is earthworms.

While the event is free, registration is required.

Virtual wildlife tracking Feb. 5 is a part of the Snowy Saturday Series. This workshop premiers on Facebook live at 9 a.m. and will teach participants how to identify wildlife tracks.

Insect Investigations educator workshop begins at 6 p.m. Feb. 9 and is for educators of kindergarten through fourth grade. Insect anatomy, life cycles and supplemental activities will all be discussed during the workshop, two hours of in-service will also be provided.

Nature Nerd Night will be discussing animal pair bonding and reproduction starting at 7 p.m. Feb. 15. Registration for the virtual event is required but the recorded feed will be posted on Nebraska Game and Parks YouTube Education Channel. Nature Nerd Night is for adults and occurs on the third Tuesday of each month.

Nature Math educator workshop is used as a tool to teach math concepts that are found in nature to kindergarten through fourth grade. The event begins at 6 p.m. Feb. 16 and will include lessons and Math and Nature literature books.

Nature Experience Learning Centers educator training educators of kindergarten through fourth grade and will cover animal tracks and identification. The workshop begins at 1 p.m. Feb. 21 and activities will be included.

Plantology educator workshop on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. will cover hands-on activities for teaching observation skills. Plant related literature books, activity guide and two hours in-service will be provided.

The final education event is the invasive species series for Schramm Sunday Speaker series. This event begins 2 p.m. Feb 27 at the Schramm Education Center in Gretna and will feature Allison Zach, program coordinator for the Nebraska Invasive Species Program.

Event registration and information for all events is available on the Game and Parks Website at calendar.outdoornebraska.gov.