PPRI center put to good use by Youth Naturalists

A group of 10 students took a deeper dive into learning about the diverse Hamilton County landscape around them last week, enjoying a full slate of activities as part of the Prairie Plains Resource Institute’s Youth Naturalist Program.
Designed to build off the interest and base of knowledge initiated during Summer Orientation About Rivers (SOAR), this program offered more freedom for older students, mostly of middle school age, to get up close and personal with nature.
“We had a fantastic week with a lot of fun activities throughout the whole week with an array of different subjects,” said Sarah Bailey, PPRI’s greenhouse manager/naturalist educator. “We did everything from insect netting and looking at biodiversity of insects on the prairie to actually creating nature journals with an art teacher and then using them, all the way to getting to go kayaking. It was packed with a lot of fun things throughout the week so these middle school students could develop those naturalist skills and become more familiar with the Platte River and prairie landscapes all around us here and learn more about where they live.”
Much of the time during the four-day camp was spent outdoors, naturally, though students also had an opportunity to take breaks and continue learning in the cool and comfort of the new Charles Whitney Education Center west of Marquette.
“One of the really exciting new things this year, that we are getting to do with both the Youth Naturalist Program and SOAR, is use the lab facility upstairs at the education center,” Bailey noted. “So everything we caught and looked at from Bader Park and the wetlands and the river they got to take to the center up to the lab and look at under the microscopes and see things in more detail, even down to little tiny organisms like protozoa. It was just fantastic to be able to use the lab classroom in that way for the first time this year.”
Bailey was quick to note that the lab itself is stocked with new microscopes, thanks to a generous donation from Mike and Diane Stewart, long-time PPRI supporters.
This year’s program had 10 students enrolled, which Bailey said is similar to past years.
“We had quite a few students that had been in SOAR so they’ve kind of grown up either through that program or maybe started in the Youth Naturalist Program within the last year and came back this year,” Bailey said. “It’s been just awesome to kind of watch their interest grow as they get a little bit older, sort of taking them to that next level and getting to learn even more, do more and have more opportunities like recreation, where they get to go on a kayaking trip and things like that.”
Trent Stevens fit that description to a tee. Stevens, who will be a freshman this fall at Aurora High School, participated in SOAR camps in the past and enrolled last year in the Youth Naturalist Program, coming back for a second year.
“This gives you a chance to connect with nature and learn a lot more about it,” he said. “It’s a step up from SOAR as we do a lot more and go out into the prairie. I’m very interested in zoology and wildlife so this was a great experience for me.”
Stevens recognized a different teaching approach with the Youth Naturalist program compared to SOAR, which he said he appreciated.
“With the Youth Naturalist Program you basically learn your own way, so whatever you’re interested in you can choose most of the time in how you want to learn about wildlife. We had free time where we could look up animals online and ask questions if you needed to so there was more freedom and more responsibility in this camp since you don’t have someone constantly looking over your shoulder. Because this is an older group you travel more and do more experiences, which is really great.”
Jayne Jonas, an assistant biology professor at UNK, was one of many presenters during the week, spending time with the group out on Gjerloff Prairie June 29, collecting insects and then discussing their role in the ecosystem.
“We know insects provide a huge range of ecosystem services that are important to us as humans,” she explained. “They support plant productivity. They recycle manure. They pollinate, obviously that’s a huge one, and so I think this is a great age group of kids to talk to about the things that maybe you don’t see. If you get closer to look at the insects and start thinking about it, you see a different plant community, and what that means for the insects. I’m kind of tying together those two pieces of plant and insect diversity as being one important ecosystem.”
Jonas said she was also impressed with PPRI’s learning center and its ideal location on the edge of a natural, well-preserved prairie.
“Having education programs for potential careers in ecology and biology is key, especially for kids at this age,” she said. “This can be a critical age as far as Prairie Plains is concerned, supporting what they’re doing. My studies are focused more on plant insect interactions that are kind of developing as they restore different areas so having these resources here with the grasslands that we can continue to study and learn more about is so important.”
With the Youth Naturalist and Young Nebraska Ecologist programs now complete, the PPRI staff will turn its full attention these next two weeks to SOAR 2022.