Educating educators in the wetlands.

A group of 28 educators gathered today in the wetlands for a part of their week long teacher training workshop. WREN sponsored their academic wetlands day in conjunction with Summer Institutes. After an overview in our yurt, the group convened at Sandpiper pond for an exciting dragonfly walk with our renowned local authors Steve Gordon and Cary Kerst. Several damselflies, a Boreal Bluet just to name one, were temporarily caught for a closer look as well as a few dragonflies including a Black Saddlebags. Our next stop found us at Meadowlark Prairie overlook for lunch where a Great Blue Heron, hundreds of acres of Tufted Hairgrass and many happy hikers were spotted. Then on to Checkermallow access for a walk through Dragonfly Bend with our restoration expert, Paul Gordon. The teachers got a special insiders look at one of the West Eugene Wetland Partnership's better quality restoration sites.

Our final walking segment took us through Willow Creek Preserve with Rick Ahrens, local naturalist, and Matt Benotsch from The Nature Conservancy. We caught a look at a Lazuli Bunting just after parking our (carpooled) cars, and on the walk we of course had to stop at the Kindaid's Lupine for a brief discussion on the Fender's Blue Butterfly life cycle. And last but not least, our very own Liz Myers presented a look at our local geology and the volcanic source of our special wetland soils.

Thanks to our walk leaders, and thanks to the teachers for taking the time and energy to visit us!!!