Volunteers from Hastings College get a lot done!

We hosted twenty two freshman from Hastings College this morning. We were glad to have them as they were able to help move several projects forward in just a few hours. It was really a treat to have them out and hope to reconnect with other such groups in the near future.

Volunteer orientation set for this Tuesday

Anyone interested in volunteering is invited to an orientation Tuesday August 26th at 6p.m.

We will provide food and a tour and update of our activities. Please give us a call or email to let us know if you can make it.

308 382 1820

brad(at)nebraskanature.org

Open House September 26

August Bug Count

Long time volunteers Connie McCartney and Anton Curtis were out on their monthly bug survey today. I tagged along for a bit just to see what might turn up. It amazing what is there when you just take a little time and watch. Click on the photo of Connie's field notes to see what we were able to document in a few hours of walking the river bottoms off the trial bridges here at the Center.

Time Lapse Testing

Did this yesterday when the clouds were nice and puffy. Let me know if this works well on your machine. We may put some of this on our new site when it launches late next week.

Trails, Light and Leaves

It seems that there are about a dozen days each year in Nebraska that are just the right mix of temperature, humidity and wind that make for what I call a perfect day. I think today is going to be one of those days.

We're hosting a group in our board room today. They are all settled in and that gave me a chance to walk our Platte River Trail this morning. As I was helping to get things ready, a quick glance out the windows that face to the south east, I could see the sunlight off of the indian grass that is growing just outside the door.

I grabbed my camera and was in a quest to capture a grasshopper's shadow shot through a leaf. The grasshoppers were not cooperating, but I did have fun capturing the light through the leaves. The trail that heads out is a fabulous place to walk with a camera or binoculars in hand. It is paved and is handicapped accessible all the way to the set of foot bridges that cross the north channel of the river. The trail is open seven days a week from dark to dark and there is no cost. You can access the trail through the gate at the east end of the parking lot for after hour access. I hope you'll stop by sometime soon and get out on the trail!

Wild about learning.

I was invited to Shoemaker Elementary School in Grand Island this morning to talk to the kids about their theme, "Wild about learning". What a great group of teachers and students. It was fun to see all of the kids wearing their first day of school new shoes and they were all polished up. We will work with the school to create a place to bring children outside. I think the best place to teach most everything is a classroom without walls.

Thank you to Principal Toni Palmer and everyone for having me stop by!

Photography workshop, continued.

We are continuing with week two of our photography workshops. Fifteen participants were registered and we have lots to learn. Portraiture was the topic last Tuesday evening.

The center is a great place to hold these types of events. we will be hosting another workshop later this fall. Contact Judy Weston at the G.I. Central Community College campus to register.

Fixing up the bridge landings

Some Much needed work is being done to the landings on the Bridges over the Platte. We still have more work to do, but we did get a lot done.

The Calendar starts to fill....

We are going to host our third volunteer orientation event Tuesday, August 25th at 6:00p.m.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering is welcome to attend. We will review what is going on and what types of things volunteers will be doing around the Center. We are glad to say that to this point we have had 47 people attend orientations saying that they are interested in volunteering for the center. I couldn't be more pleased.

We will need a few volunteers to help with this event as well as a booth that we will be hosting at the Husker Harvest Days September 15,16 and 17. If you are interested in helping, call the center and let us know.