Conservation Corner

By Powder River Conservation District/Jessica Beagles

What a day! After moving to the fair barn due to muddy conditions and potential rain showers, Mrs. Zellers' third grade class was treated to a day of learning and fun. The class, with substitute teacher Libby Nisley and several parent volunteers, learned about various wildlife tracks and how to preserve them using plaster of paris from Powder River Conservation (PRCD) Supervisor, Gene Smith. The students were even able to create casts of their own hand or footprints to take home! Maryjo Kimble, MLRA Soil Survey Leader from Miles City and Angel Vega, Soil Conservationist from Ekalaka, got down and dirty, letting the kids texture soil and learn how to differentiate various soil types.

Kaci Anderson, Soil Conservationist of the Miles City Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office, showed the class various artifacts one looks for when surveying an area for pipelines and other soil disturbances. After checking out the flakes and tools left by indigenous plains people, she taught them how to throw an atlatl. It was surprising how effective the kids were with this weapon. No gatherers here. Nate Reid, from American Bird Conservancy, entertained them by introducing native bird species and playing migration games with the class to demonstrate the various difficulties migrating birds may encounter.

Seth Murnion, Soil Conservationist from the Miles City NRCS office, introduced the class to the noxious weed, leafy spurge. After identifying the plant and its noxious characteristics, the students created a weed web, effectively demonstrating how easily such plants can spread from one location to establish in another if proper precautions aren't taken. The students were able to demonstrate their wildlife identification skills as Ryan DeVore, Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Game Biologist, showed them skulls, hides, horns, and antlers to identify.

Finally, Paul Bramblett, Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) southeastern Montana area supervisor, showed the class a mussel encrusted propeller and piece of rope, demonstrating how such small animals can overwhelm a space. Then he had the class inspect a kayak for aquatic invasive species. It was incredible to watch the class learn how hard one must look to fully inspect a watercraft. After all their hard work, the third-grade students enjoyed snacks and answered quiz bowl questions revealing their new knowledge.