Volunteer orientation dates set

We will be hosting two volunteer orientation events designed to get you involved (again). We will have a short introductory meeting to get ourselves organized and find out what talents each of us have and how we can connect them in volunteer service to the Nature Center. We will provide all of the food, so just prepare to come and enjoy.

Choose the meeting time that fits your schedule best, or come to both!

Thursday, July 23 at 9:30 am A light brunch will be served along with a short meeting.

Tuesday. July 28 at 6:00 p.m. We will have a BBQ with a short meeting to follow.

We will provide all of the food for both meetings.

If you are unable to attend but wish to be involved, simply call or email and we will get you the information needed to get on-board.

Other news:

Center work day - Thursday, July 30 8:30 am - noon. Lunch will be served. We have both inside and outside work to complete. Stay as long as you can! Cleaning, brush removal, windows, mowing and more fun things to do.

More volunteer activities will be announced in the near future.

New web-site to launch in a week or two

We're partnering with a talented group of students and profs from Hastings College to build and manage our web site. Kay Dobesh from Hastings is working part time this summer to design and build the core site. A rough draft is shown in the photo. It will provide a lot of information and be a place to stop by often to check out what is new at the center.

The photo is just a sample. We're getting the real content developed and uploaded daily.

A good sign!

The sign is in place. It looks very nice. People who drive by will definitely know who we are! We're going to hang an open/close sign and a logo for the Nebraska Environmental Trust on the bottom of the sign. We'll get our hours posted outside very soon as well. 

A sign of the Times

We're getting a new sign at the NNVC. This is no small sign. People will not drive by and miss this one!

The folks from Smitty's Electric, Johnson Imperial and Johnson Concrete Products, all of Hastings, have all pitched in to assemble and install the sign. The posts were set today and the actual sign will be in next week. 

I'd also like to introduce Vicki, our new office manager. She started Wednesday and has made herself at home. She even has a plant in her office! I'll post more next week. 

Have a safe and fun 4th of July holiday!

Tick talk

Oh yes, it's that time of year. Take a short walk on the trail and you'll find them. Just brush them off and you you'll be fine. 

Clean Sweep

A group of kids from the Trinity Lutheran VBS program in Grand Island came out to the center this morning to do some community service. They cleaned, swept, picked up trash and cleaned the sidewalks. What a great help!

It wasn't all work, we took a nice walk to the Platte and listened to the birds and smelled a skunk. 

Thank you so much for your help and I hope you can make it back sometime soon. 

A walk over the bridge

We had a rain storm with a fair amount of hail last weekend at the center. On Saturday morning, it had the smell of a fresh cut hayfield. A good smell! Today, it has the smell of fermenting grass, not as nice. It really beat down the vegetation and I know the local farm crops took a beating. I hope they are able to recover. As I walked over the bridge, I was greeted by the herd of cattle that are grazing where the trail system used to be. Yes, we are working with our friends at the Whooping Crane Trust to re-establish a series of trails through the mixed grass prairie. I can't wait!