PPRI hosts Youth Naturalist Program

Four-day event concludes with kayak trip on Platte River

  • Sarah Bailey and Lua Cao carefully inspect the organisms that find home in bison patties. On day two of the Youth Naturalist Program, the cohort spent the morning at the Crane Trust in Wood River, NE. Here, they went on a hayrack ride to see the Crane Trust’s bison herd and learned about the ecosystems that can be found in dark, warm, wet places–like bison patties.
    Sarah Bailey and Lua Cao carefully inspect the organisms that find home in bison patties. On day two of the Youth Naturalist Program, the cohort spent the morning at the Crane Trust in Wood River, NE. Here, they went on a hayrack ride to see the Crane Trust’s bison herd and learned about the ecosystems that can be found in dark, warm, wet places–like bison patties.

        From June 9 through June 12, Prairie Plains Resource Institute hosted its middle school education curriculum, called The Youth Naturalist Program.
      Sarah Bailey, Prairie Plains’ conservation and education director, led a group of 12 students through four days of hands-on activities in various places around south-central Nebraska. From netting in the wetlands at Bader Park to learning print-making techniques, these students got to dive deep into what this area’s natural resources have to offer.
       To conclude the Youth Naturalist Program, the group did a three-hour kayaking trip, starting at Gjerloff Landing outside of Marquette and ending at Stranberg Park in Central City. Along the way, the students got opportunities to stop at various islands to take a closer look at aquatic life along the Platte.