Participants go east to study nature at Cave State Park
Taking the practice of being a naturalist to the next step for students, Prairie Plains’ Sarah Bailey hosted Young Nebraska Ecologists for students in grades 9-12 this past week.
Young Nebraska Ecologists is a group focused on expanding knowledge about the Platte River and prairie ecosystems.
“We started out at Gjerloff Prairie on Monday,” Bailey started. “We explored both the prairie and Platte River ecosystems.”
The group focused on ecology and management of prairies.
“Chris Helzer came as one of our guest speakers,” she said. “He took the group of students out on a prairie hike and we looked at different habitat structures in the prairie. This got them thinking about how all these differences mean different things within a habitat. It was basically a big pre-ecology overview.”
After a day spent close to home, the group took its annual camping and backpacking trip, this year at Indian Cave State Park in southeastern Nebraska.
“The entire park there is oak woodland along the Missouri River,” Bailey explained. “So, we were really exploring that eastern woodland kind of habitat.”
The trip was filled with a variety of different guest presenters and unique experiences for the students.
“Alex Briner, my husband, was our backpacking instructor,” Bailey voiced. “They learned the basics, things like how to pack a backpack and how to cook with backpacking cook stoves, which was really fun.”
The next morning, the group met up with professional biologists, Krista and Chance, at the park to learn more about the southeastern part of the state.
“Two of our other guest presenters included biologists that work at the park,” Bailey explained. “They talked about oak wood, wetland ecology and management and prescribed burning as well.”
Another guest speaker was a mycologist, a person who studies fungi.
“We got to look at the fungi in the park,” she said. “It actually ended up being one of the favorite things for a lot of the students. They got to learn about something they haven’t really thought about.”
On Wednesday afternoon, there was another presenter, this time herpetologist John Lokke.
“He presented on the reptiles and amphibians that are present at Indian Cave and in the area,” Bailey said. “We had a short hike with him that also involved learning about the history of how the area along the Missouri River has changed and what that means for some of the habitats.”
During the last day at Indian Cave, the group enjoyed a hike focused on the birds of the area. The presenter for the hike was with Brady Kragg, from Audubon, a society focused on the protection of birds nationwide.
“In the morning we had a birding hike,” the leader said. “That was with someone with Audubon, he works at Spring Creek Prairie outside of Lincoln. We did a lot of sight observation, but also a lot of birding by sound. We learned to distinguish some of the different calls. He also pointed out that a lot of neat birds are associated with woodlands.”
Wrapping up the week, leader and host Bailey said she hopes that the students were able to build on their existing naturalist skills and develop a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the state.
“I hope the students were able to keep improving on natural skills and find new ways to enjoy the outdoors and get used to spending more time outside,” she voiced. “Hopefully these skills, these back country kind of skills that they’re learning and, you know, just learning how to enjoy being outside, will be something they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.”