MDC offers free Discover Nature Girls Camp June14-16

Registrations now accepted for outdoor skills camp for girls at Camp Palestine in Johnson County

Kansas City, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is now accepting registrations for a free Discover Nature Girls Camp June 14-16 at Camp Palestine near Chilhowee, Mo., in Johnson County.

   Discover Nature Girls Camp is a three-day, two-night outdoor skills camp for girls ages 11 to 15. This camp provides a supportive learning environment for girls to learn about firearm safety, fishing, conservation management and ethics, water safety and basic canoeing, archery, hunting and other outdoor skills. Participants will have a chance to shoot pellet guns and archery on target ranges under the supervision of experts. They will receive Missouri Hunter Education certification. Campers will get a chance to catch fish in the lake at Camp Palestine.

   

The outdoor activities will be taught by MDC experts. Participants will gain the confidence to explore Missouri’s diverse nature on their own. MDC will provide all the necessary gear and material for camp activities. Campers are accepted in the order that completed applications are received. Completed applications must be received by April 1.

   MDC is also seeking female chaperones who would like to assist at the camp.

  To request an application form and apply for Discover Nature Girls Camp, contact Conservation Agent Brian Bartlett at 816-835-6087, or brian.bartlett@mdc.mo.gov. Applications are also available at the MDC Kansas City Regional Office and the MDC offices at Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center, Burr Oak Woods Nature Center, El Dorado Springs, Clinton and Sedalia.

   For more information, call 816-622-0900. MDC connects people with nature. For information about other MDC educational programs, visit http://mdc.mo.gov.

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MDC taps Storybook Forest friends for conservation tales

Families find enchanted trails at Burr Oak Woods Nature Center

Kansas City, Mo. – Once upon a time, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staff at the Burr Oak Woods Nature Center realized children enjoy both nature’s surprises and familiar fairy tales. So do grownups. So on Oct. 3, the staff magically made well-known characters from fables appear. The Nature Center’s paved Missouri Tree Trail became for a day a walk into “Storybook Forest.”

   The free event drew several hundred people for both afternoon and evening presentations. Characters such as Robin Hood, Snow White, Belle and the Beast greeted visitors on their walk through the forest. Snow White’s pals, the Seven Dwarfs, volunteered as tour guides and pointed out wildlife along the way. Meanwhile, the fairy tale heroines and heroes cast spells of attention as they talked about outdoor fun, discovering and preserving nature, how natural life is interrelated with human life, and how some critters that seem scary – like spiders – really are not.

   

Mother Nature provided perfect weather on an early autumn day that was sunny but cool. Parents and grandparents brought youngsters who plucked crayfish from a pool, studied moss on logs and learned how friendly and fun a forest can be.

   “We saw Snow White,” a youngster proudly proclaimed. “Cool,” Belle replied, “I’m having dinner with her later.”

   Keep in touch with future programs at MDC’s Burr Oak Woods Nature Center by visitinghttp://mdc.mo.gov/node/280.

   And in keeping with the season, the staff at the Anita G. Gorman Discovery Center, 4750 Troost Ave., Kansas City, will present a HOWLoween special event 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16. The free fun for all ages will include nature stations along the outdoor trail such as Track or Treat, the Bone Yard and the Bat Cave. For information, call 816-759-7300 or visithttp://mdc.mo.gov/discoverycenter.

   MDC connects people with nature year round. For conservation programs near you, visithttp://mdc.mo.gov.