Summer camp is not over, MDC hosting a free one in KC

All ages welcome at Discovery Center's walk-in summer camp activities July 29

 Kansas City, Mo. – So if you wish summer camp hadn’t ended so soon, or you didn’t get to go, or hadn’t been in decades, lament not. The staff at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center is firing up a campfire, games and crafts. All ages are welcome to attend the Center’s free Summer in the City event 6 to 9 p.m.on Friday, July 29.

 This event gives families a chance to go to “camp” for an evening in the heart of Kansas City, 4750 Troost Ave. Discovery Center’s outdoor classroom with native plants, trees and trails is fun to visit in any season. For camp night, Discovery Center will include activities such as archery, fire starting, fishing rod casting game, nature art, and camp games. Or visitors can just enjoy a summer evening strolling in the outdoor garden. Popcorn will be served at the campfire.

  “We want people to enjoy the fun parts of summer again before school starts,” said

Heather Shellenberg, MDC education specialist. “It’s a chance for families to get outside one more time before kids head back inside for school.”

  For more information, call 816-759-7300. Information about the Discovery Center is available at http://mdc.mo.gov/node281.

Go Wild -Go Native

MDC offers Grow Native event May 2 at Discovery Center

Free event in KC offers tips and seedlings for native plant landscaping

Kansas City, Mo. – Native wildflowers and grasses work well in home landscape plantings, and a free Grow Native special event will teach participants about planting and caring for native varieties 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center, 4750 Troost Ave. in Kansas City. The event will include guided tours of the Discovery Center’s diverse wildflower garden, now with spring flowers in full bloom, given by MDC staff.

  

Many native wildflowers work well in home landscaping
 and attract pollinators such as butterflies.
The purple coneflower (top photo) and purple poppy
mallow are popular with gardeners.Photos by Bill Graham, Missouri Department of Conservation

 Participants will have a chance to take home free native plants and grasses, as well as tree seedlings such as redbud, dogwood and plum, while supplies last.  Demonstrations will include making seed balls for home flower gardens, potting native plants and grasses, rock painting and crafts for children.

    All ages are welcome and participants are welcome to walk in, no advance registration is needed.  For more information, call 816-759-7300 or visit http://mdc.mo.gov/node/281.

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Wilderness Act celebrated at Gorman Discovery Center

The 1964 Wilderness Act preserved America’s most unspoiled natural landscapes, including eight places in Missouri with names like Bell Mountain, Hercules Glades and Irish Wilderness. Many are in the rugged Ozarks. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will help celebrate 50 years of wilderness protection with three programs hosted at the Gorman Discovery Center in partnership with the Sierra Club.

   Photographs from Missouri wilderness areas by Richard Spener and Toni Armstrong will be displayed at the Discovery Center May 6 to May 20. In addition, a slideshow will be on display chronically the wilderness protection movement in America. A reception to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act and the kickoff for the photo display will be held 5 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, at the Discovery Center, 4750 Troost Ave. in Kansas City.

   John Hickey of the Missouri Sierra Club will give an overview of wilderness areas in the state at7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, at the Discovery Center.

   Missouri Wilderness Day will be observed at the Discovery Center 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. The day will feature special exhibits and talks. A two-mile Walk for Wilderness will cap events and is being held in partnership with the Heartland Chapter of the Sierra Club.

   For more information, contact the Sierra Club at 816-517-5244 or the Discovery Center at 816-759-7300. All MDC programs connecting people with nature at the Discovery Center are free.

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