Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Students had a range of reactions to the reptiles presented by James Gerholdt during Eco-Ed Day, such as this Blue Tongue Lizard. Photo by Nathan Price.
Elementary students from New Rockford-Sheyenne recently became a little more familiar with their environment, and got to meet a few friendly reptiles too!
On Monday, Sept. 11, the kids took a field trip out to Camp Grafton South for Eco-Ed Day, an event the Eddy County Soil Conservation District hosts every year.
It's part of the statewide Eco-Ed Program, a project sponsored by the Barnes County Soil Conservation District designed to teach students how their everyday actions affect the environment.
This year's group of kids visited five stations throughout the day, each one involving a different environment. They got to learn all sorts of interesting ecological facts, and after a delicious lunch also got to learn about some very remarkable reptiles.
The day's first station was Wetlands taught by Zach Compson with the N.D. Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCS), where the students learned all about the different types of wetlands and the kinds of animals that call Wetlands home. They even got to see some geese and ducks, as well as interesting furs from otters and coyotes.
The kids also learned about tree identification during the station about Woodlands, and about grasses and weed identification during the Prairie/Rangeland station. Those stations were taught by Kelly Satrom of the NRCS and Ezra Aberle from the Carrington Research Extension Center, respectively.
During the Watershed station, Emily Joynt from the N.D. Department of Environmental Quality taught the kids about different watersheds in North Dakota and the different ways watersheds can be polluted.
Michelle Gilley, Eddy County’s extension agent, was also there to help throughout the day.
The students wrapped up their morning of activities with one more station about soils taught by Pam Copenhaver of the NRCS, and then got to enjoy a delicious lunch provided by the Friends and Neighbors Cafe in Tolna.
Julie Huso brought goats for the students to meet, and passed around some goat cheese and goat milk to try.
Then, it was time to meet some reptiles.
James Gerholdt of Remarkable Reptiles was hired to show the students some of his pet reptiles, while teaching the kids about them in the process.
Gerholdt has authored 32 children’s books on reptiles, insects, snakes and other animals, and has over 25 years of experience working in zoos. Now, he presents programs like the one he delivered on Monday in and around the Minnesota area.
He started off with a few inanimate objects, such as an alligator head and a snapping turtle shell, but much to the delight – or in some cases horror – of the students, he eventually began pulling out bigger and bigger reptiles.
Among the reptiles he showed off were the box and painted turtles, a blue tongue lizard, bull snake and last but certainly not least, a boa constrictor that each student got a chance to pet before they left.
All in all, it was an exciting, informative day for the NR-S elementary students, and they even got some Eco-Ed Day shirts to take home.
Shannon Anderson of the Eddy County Soil Conservation District said the statewide Eco-Ed program pays for everything the kids experienced Monday, minus the shirts, which were printed locally by Transcript Publishing and sponsored by the New Rockford Eagles Club.
