Children are our future!  Without capturing young minds during outreach events, the importance of our natural resources may be lost on future generations.  Today, families are lucky to have dinner together, let alone get outside for hikes in the woods, fishing, hunting, or wildlife viewing. 

With this in mind, biologists from the Alpena National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (NFWCO) have been brainstorming on how to get children outside so they can touch, feel, smell, and experience all the wonderful things that the natural resources have to offer.  As a result, the Alpena NFWCO has enhanced its outreach activities to capture the interest of kids. 

Over this past summer, biologist Scott Koproski contacted Dr. John Roese, a wildlife biologist from Lake Superior State University (LSSU).    Biologist Koproski was enrolled in Dr. Roese’s mammalogy class when he attended LSSU.  One emphasis of the class was to learn to identify animals by their pelts, skulls, and tracks.  The Alpena NFWCO had already developed an animal pelt and skull collection to augment their outreach activities, so biologist Koproski contacted Dr. Roese to see if he could provide positive impression tracks of animals from the region.  Dr. Roese provided the Alpena NFWCO with over 80 positive track impressions representing 22 different species. 

The animal pelts, skulls, and tracks have been used during recent outreach events.  These visual aids have really captured children’s interest, resulting in more meaningful and captivating experiences for both event participants and Alpena NFWCO staff.