A skins, skulls and tracks workshop.......

Whether you live in a city, a small town, or in the country wildlife is all around you. Wild animals like raccoons, opossum, and skunks are frequent visitors even in large urban areas. And yet you may never actually see any of these animals. Wild animals can be difficult to detect because of their instinctive behavior to avoid humans. Most wildlife, especially mammals, rarely allow us to catch a glimpse of them, but they often leave evidence of their presence and clues to their activities - where they’ve been walking, running, resting, or rearing their young and what they’ve been eating. Join the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and the Rogers County Conservation District for a one-day workshop to learn how to identify some of Oklahoma’s most common mammals from clues they leave behind. Come prepared to investigate skins, skulls and tracks in both indoor and outdoor settings as we look at Mammals...From Head to Toe.

Workshop Date:  February 9, 2012      Deadline to sign up:  February 3, 2012    This course will be located at the Arcadia Conservation Education Area in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Materials: Participants will receive skull and tracks field ID guides and activities/lesson plans. Participants will also make a set of plaster animal tracks to take home.

Time: 9:00 am to 3:30 pm
(Teachers receive 6 hours of professional development credit)

Cost: $10 (Lunch and materials included)
Enrollment is limited to 25 participants. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Email Karla Beatty to register at karla.beatty@conservation.ok.gov

Rogers County Conservation District and the Oklahoma Conservation Commission’s Conservation Education Program hosted the Wildlife Beneath Your Feet exhibit area at the Wildlife Expo, Sept. 23-25. More than 80 volunteers representing local conservation districts, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, the Oklahoma Environmental Education Coordinating Committee, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Oklahoma Project WET and OSU Department of Education joined together to staff the exhibits.

With the help of these volunteers, one corner of the Lazy-E Arena was transformed into an underground classroom where visitors discovered critters that help make healthy soil. Visitors entered the exhibit area through an earthworm burrow filled with plant roots, explored a soil profile display describing lots of critters that live in the soil and unearthed some of the soil critters at work in compost containers. Visitors to the exhibit area also had the chance to create artwork with paint made from Oklahoma soils, to color pictures of soil critters, and investigate skins, skulls and tracks of animals living in and on the soil.

The Oklahoma Wildlife Expo is the state’s largest indoor and outdoor recreation event. Presented by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and a coalition of conservation organizations, agencies and sponsors, the Expo celebrates our great state’s natural diversity and opportunities for the sporting enthusiast. From camping and outdoor skills to shooting sports and fishing, from bird watching to kayaking, Expo visitors have an opportunity to try their hands at three days of fun in the outdoors. The exhibit area sponsored by the Rogers County Conservation District and the Commission’s Conservation Education Program is designed with children and families in mind and provides activities that introduce visitors to wildlife, nature and the outdoors.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE FOLKS THAT VISITED US AT THE ROGERS COUNTY FAIR.  WE HAD OVER 340 ENTRIES IN OUR "GUESS THE NUMBER OF ROACHES" CONTEST. THERE WERE 97 ROACHES IN HONOR OF THE 97TH YEAR OF THE ROGERS COUNTY FREE FAIR.   CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ADULT WINNER STACY CRAVEN WHO WON A BIRD HOUSE AND A SONIC CARD AND THE TWO UNDER 18 WINNERS VINCENT AND DASEN WHO WON A RAT SKULL AND A SONIC CARD. 

ONCE AGAIN THE ROGERS COUNTY CONSERVATION DISTRICT WAS PROUD TO HOST THE "EXPLOROLOGY CAMP" FROM THE SAM NOBLE MUSEUM IN NORMAN, OKLAHOMA.  THE STUDENTS STUDIED AQUATIC LIFE,  COLLECTED SAMPLES AND PERFORMED RESEARCH AT THE RESERVE AND WILL PRESENT THEIR RESEARCH PROJECTS WHEN THEY RETURN TO NORMAN.  THE STUDENTS CONCLUDED THEIR SESSION AT THE RESERVE WITH A SUNRISE NATURE WALK.

THE ROGERS COUNTY CONSERVATION DISTRICT WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF THE FOLLOWING FOR HELPING TO MAKE THE 19TH ANNUAL BILLY B. CONCERT A SUCCESS.  THANKS TO THE GENEROUS DONATIONS FROM THE CITY OF CLAREMORE, THE WILL ROGERS INN OF CLAREMORE, QUIKTRIP, RCB BANK OF CLAREMORE, WALMART OF CLAREMORE, THE OKLAHOMA ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION COORDINATING COMMITTEE, TALLGRASS RC&D AND THE ROGERS COUNTY CONSERVATION FOUNDATION THE SHOW WENT ON AND A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL.  THE ENTERTAINMENT STARTED WITH BILLY B. ,THE SCIENCE SONG AND DANCE MAN WHO PLAYS THE GUITAR AND SINGS WHILE TEACHING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSERVATION.  THE 800 4TH GRADE STUDENTS WHO ATTENDED HAD A GREAT TIME AND SO DID THE 4TH GRADE TEACHERS WHO WERE PERSUADED TO GET UP ON STAGE AND DANCE. 

AFTER THE SHOW, THE STUDENTS STAYED AT THE RESERVE AND ENJOYED VARIOUS ACTIVITIES THAT EMPHASIZED WATER CONSERVATION.  THE DISTRICT WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS FOR HELPING WITH THESE FUN YET EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES:  THE NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EQUALITY, OKLAHOMA WATER RESOURCES BOARD, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION, OKLAHOMA CONSERVATION COMMISSION, CAMERON UNIVERSITY, OKLAHOMA STATE PARKS, ROGERS STATE UNIVERSITY, CITY OF CATOOSA, CITY OF CLAREMORE, OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY, ROGERS COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS, RECYCLE OKLAHOMA AND CLAREMORE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND FACULTY. 

ON APRIL 16, 2011 THE RESERVE WAS PROUD TO ASSIST WITH THE WILL ROGERS MEMORIAL 5K/1K RUN.  THIS WINGS RUN WAS SPONSORED BY THE CHEROKEE NATION.  SEVERAL HUNDRED PEOPLE RAN THE TRAILS AT THE RESERVE ON THIS BEAUTIFUL SATURDAY MORNING.

CLAREMORE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WORK ON TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS AT THE RESERVE.

BRYAN GIBBS AN EARTH TEEN VOLUNTEER ASSISTS WITH THE ROGERS COUNTY CONSERVATION DISTRICT BOOTH AT THE 2011 CLAREMORE HOME AND GARDEN SHOW.  OUR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS ENJOYED MEETING WITH THE CLAREMORE COMMUNITY TO DISCUSS HOW EVERYONE CAN BE INVOLVED IN CONSERVATION.