See you next Saturday! - WNP’S second annual meeting!! - September 24
Read below for a reminder of the meeting schedule and then some other features we hope you will enjoy!
Meeting Schedule
Friday night - super-special opportunity (optional) just for WY Naturalists
5 pm - Northern saw-whet owl banding on Casper Mountain. Meet at the Tate Geological Museum parking lot (2332 Lisco Dr., Casper) at 5 pm to carpool and caravan up the mountain. Parking is very limited at the banding cabin. Dress warmly and bring food and water for the evening.
Saturday morning
10 am - Naturalists’ River Walk along the Platte River (optional). Zach will tell us about efforts to restore habitat to the river. Bring binoculars and hand lenses—you never know what we might find! Meet at the Izaak Walton League Lodge, 4205 Fort Caspar Rd, Casper
Noon - 3 - Annual meeting at the Izaak Walton League Lodge, 4205 Fort Caspar Rd, Casper. Door open at 11:30. Lunch will be served at noon.
1 pm - Andrea Orabona, WGFD non-game biologist, will present on burrowing owl migration.
Followed by - Recognition of Wyoming Naturalists’ training and service.
What you need to do
Whether you plan to attend or not, please submit your volunteer hours on Serve Wyoming’s site and log your advanced training hours here: by September 16 so that we can honor the commitment of ALL Wyoming Naturalists. Instructions to use Serve Wyoming’s site can be found on the WNP website.
Register for the annual meeting and owl banding here. Please register by September 16 so we can order lunch for you.
Camping is available at the Izaak Walton League’s Fort Caspar Campground (adjacent to the lodge). For more information and to make reservations, visit their website https://www.fortcasparcamp.com/. If camping in late September isn’t for you, Casper has many hotels to choose from.
Get to Know Your Naturalist
Jacelyn Downey, I manage the education programs for Audu-bon in Wyoming and Colorado and I serve on the boards/steer-ing committees of the Wyoming Naturalist Program, Wyoming BioBlitz, Wyoming Project Learning Tree, Barnyards & Back-yards team, Wyoming Alliance for Environmental Education, and the Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resources Trust Fund. My iNaturalist name is jdmelee (which stands for Jacelyn, Dusty, Melibe, and Avenlee - my family!)
Tell us a bit about your journey to conservation, natural resources, and/or the outdoors.
So many things led me to nature. All of my childhood memories are wrapped up in being outside enjoying nature. I remember countless days spent at the beach with cousins digging up sand crabs and boogie boarding along har-bor seals and sea lions. I remember riding my bike with friends exploring the forests in Germany when my family was stationed there and feeling like it was magical. I remember learning about botany and birds through my grandparents. I also remember every adult telling me that a career in biological sci-ences would not pay much so I better be sure it would at least make me happy and it has!
What has your favorite Wyoming Naturalist class been and why?
Probably the very first one because I couldn’t believe that we actually pulled it off. It was so amazing to see something go from idea to reality!
Tell us your favorite Wyoming Naturalist-tied volunteer moment or experience?
I had a great time at the Sink’s Canyon Cave. There weren’t very many of us there so it really led to a feeling that we were the first people ever to explore it.
What topic would you like to learn more about through the Wyoming Naturalist program?
I’d really like to learn more about lichen and fungi. Botany is always a joy, aquatic ecology is a favorite, geology is cool too. The more I think about it, there isn’t a topic I don’t care to delve more into!
What is your favorite outdoor "patch" and why?
My heart is split in two. I grew up in the Monterrey Bay area, studied marine biology in Santa Barbara, and fell in love with the Channel Islands (also met the love of my life there) so I really enjoy spending time exploring the tidepools and kelp forests of that area whenever I get the chance. My other love is the ranch that I live on in the northeast corner of Wyoming. I never grow tired of exploring the sagebrush and canyons even after nearly twenty years.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself or a conservation topic (dealer's choice)!
If I didn’t work for Audubon, I’d be happy working as a travel agent. I enjoy planning vacations and I don’t even have to be going on them (but it helps).
Favorite naturalist book? (Fiction and/or non-fiction)
When I’m homesick for California, I like to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. He writes so clearly of the central valley, it’s nature and people I feel like I’m there. I also love to read Willa Cather when I’m wanting to be nostalgic about the grasslands and the time when people were so intricately tied to the land here. She’s really has a beautifully poetic way of including descriptions of nature in her writing. Lastly, but most definitely not least, I love Barbara Kingsolver for her witty and insightful way of weaving ecology and conservation themes into her stories.
Out and About
Day Trip to the North Crow Reservoir
By Dan Bach, Steering Committee Member
One of the crazier projects I’m working on this summer is collecting plants to extract natural dyes for dying fabrics. I’ve always loved plants and everything about them but I’ve never had time to learn about natural dyes so that’s my fun hobby for the summer.
My son and I went up there towards the end of June 2022 to collect plants (with permission from the site superintendent of course). When we were there I was able to capture an amazing photograph of a crab spider (Misumena vatia) eating a horse fly while sitting on a cow parsnip plant! I also found several hundred Nuttall’s blister beetles (Lytta nuttali) hanging out on lupine plants. It was something to be seen and heard.
Enjoy!
Dave