Conservation Education

We would like to invite you to this month's Rewilding Skill Series. The Rewilding Free Skills Series is a class & networking event that happens monthly, that usually occurs (but not always) on the last Saturday of the month. It is a place for social networking where people make new friends and hang out with old friends learning skills to connect us with humanity's ancestral past and more local and sustainable future. We ask for a $5 - $10 suggested donation with no one turned away.

This month's theme is Acorn Processing and Oak Savanna Restoration. This is a skill we teach year after year: how to turn acorns from bitter nuts, into a delicious flour, and how to keep restore those ecosystems that produce acorns. Come learn more, share what you know, crack and grind some acorns, taste a few treats made from acorn flour, and take home a baby Oregon White Oak to plant!

We would like to invite you to this month's Rewilding Skill Series. The Rewilding Free Skills Series is a class & networking event that happens monthly, that usually occurs (but not always) on the last Saturday of the month. It is a place for social networking where people make new friends and hang out with old friends learning skills to connect us with humanity's ancestral past and more local and sustainable future. We ask for a $5 - $10 suggested donation with no one turned away.

This month's theme is Stinging Nettle and Other Spring Greens. In late winter and early spring, many edible greens begin to emerge. Let's celebrate them by learning about them, how to encourage their growth, what roles they play in ecology, how to process and prepare them, and of course, how to eat them and what nutritional value they bring! Come to learn and share what you know. Find us at Picnic Area F, furthest parking lot, on the bike path just passed the bathrooms on the Columbia River side.

The Clean Water Festival is put together by a coalition of municipal government agencies, water providers and non-profits.  Every 25 minutes, class groups move from one event to another according to their personalized schedule.  Classroom presenters, stage shows and exhibitors set up in the morning and classes rotate through their presentations throughout the day.

Volunteer roles include:

1.      Class Guide.  You will help guide a class around campus to their scheduled activities. Teachers and chaperones remain with your class throughout the Festival.

2.      General Festival Volunteer.  This is "behind-the-scenes" work that allows the Festival to run smoothly - setting out signs, directing traffic, assisting with lunch distribution, etc.

It's fun and easy!  To sign-up, simply register at www.cleanwaterfestival.org.

Be a scientist for a day at our annual Invasive Species Survey! Groups of volunteers will go throughout our 100-acre natural area looking for three different invasive plant species and collecting data. No experience necessary! Training begins promptly at 9 a.m. Go to columbiasprings.org/events for more information. 

Do you have a little one who enjoys being outdoors? Are you wondering what they can do during the rainy season? Bring your littlest naturalist to the Refuge to stomp in puddles and learn to appreciate the wet weather that makes Oregon so green!

This preschool environmental education program invites children and their families to spend the morning learning about the natural wonders of the Refuge. Volunteer Naturalists will lead nature crafts, share stories, and guide hikes on Refuge trails. The Refuge supplies 'froggy' raingear for the kids, but adults should bring their own. Each date offers a different theme, so Puddle Stompers are encouraged to visit on multiple days