FWP lead two stations at the 40+ annual Valley County 5th Grade Outdoor Classroom held at the Downstream Campground in Fort Peck last week. Around 100 Valley County 5th grade students were there.
FWP fisheries staff (including Hayden Cody, Tyler Haddix, John Hunziker, Jordan Frye, Austin Gaffney and Chase Feller), had a popular fishing station, where several bluegill and large mouth bass were caught. Along with fishing, they had students ID’ing and learning about fish netted in the Missouri River that morning, including catfish, sauger, common carp, shovelnose sturgeon, northern pike, and cisco.
Com-ed manager Marc Kloker lead a birding station along with biologist Aaron O’hara and retired FWP Region 6 supervisor Mark Sullivan. Marc gave an introduction in birding and binocular use, and then lead the new birders through various habitats looking for different species. Mark then kept track of the number of species recorded for each group. One group recorded 15 species in just a 15 minute walk! A total of around 24 species were observed throughout the day, with the favorite being a great horned owl that several groups were fortunate to see.
Other stations lead by various agencies/groups included a rolling river, invasive species, fire education, worms and soil health, all about poop, animal ID, and pollinators.
It was a beautiful day, and the kids had a great time and learned a lot!
–fwp–
