On April 25, 2009 Iroquois NWR held its annual Spring Into Nature Celebration, attracting approximately 600 visitors.

            Located at the refuge office on Casey Road, the event offered 35 nature related exhibits and activities plus guest speakers with live animals.  A variety of nature related crafts and activities were available for children.   The following is a list of activities and the number of participants at each activity:  making owl masks (100); painting bird silhouettes (196); face painting (100); building blue bird boxes (130); coloring mammals and birds (68); making pine cone feeders (179); making animal track casts (162) and pond life study (230).  Over 100 kids participated in an Incredible Journey, a Project Wet activity in which kids journey as water droplets in the earth’s water cycle.  Other activities included a guided bird walk (7), door prize drawings and a LIVE kestrel cam.  At Cayuga Overlook spotting scopes were staffed by a team of experienced birders to help visitors view an active bald eagle nest as well as migrating birds on the marsh.  Approximately 235 participated.

            Guest speakers (with the number of participants) included: Wendi Pencille who gave two talks on Rehabilitation of Raptors (55 and 40); Wild Wings who presented a program on Birds of Prey (65); and Hawk Creek with their program on the Myth, Magic and Mystery of Mammals (55). 

Exhibitors included:  The Lower Great Lakes Fisheries Resources Office, the Buffalo Audubon Society, USFWS Fire Crew, Cornell Cooperative Extension – Genesee County Master Gardeners, the New York State Bluebird Society, Ron Pastor’s trout flies, the Historical Club of the Tonawanda Reservation, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation, artwork by Blue-Angel Art and Betsy LaMere, Native American Artifacts, the Iroquois Job Corps Center, and Ed Fiorino with his hand carved birds and decoys. The Alabama Volunteer Fire Department was on hand with their rescue vehicle and provided any needed first aid. The Alabama-Basom United Methodist Church had a bake sale and First Baptist Church of Medina sold hot dogs and hamburgers.  The Flyway Nature Store was open for business and the Friends of INWR, Inc. held a used book sale.

A volunteer crew of 58 including refuge volunteers, Friends of Iroquois NWR, Inc.,  the Buffalo Audubon Society, the Iroquois Job Corps Center and local high school and college students staffed activity tables, the information booth, the Flyway Nature Store and used book sale and the visitor contact station.  Volunteers also assisted with parking, helped guest speakers set up, handed out door prize tickets and helped with event set up and clean up.