Elderhostels

Evening Classes

Field Seminars

Library Talks

Wildflower ID Classes

These classes are taught in cooperation with the Fort Collins Audubon Society ergo FCAS members receive a discount. A portion of the proceeds from the class are donated to an FCAS scholarship fund that helps teachers and students participate in special enrichment programs involving nature, wildlife, and the environment.

This class began in January by examining Colorado as a living landscape. We initially considered how geology, climate, and location affect vegetation to create the geographic character that sets the stage for the state’s wildlife; all of this was viewed through both prehistorical and historical perspectives. A review of present-day classification compared to classification systems of decades past laid the foundation for understanding biodiversity and Colorado’s own wildlife richness. The class then began a survey of the major life groups known to be living in Colorado. With the bacteria, fungi, and plant kingdoms now completed, April and May will be devoted to the animal kingdom. New participants may join at any time.

Some field trips are being planned to augment the classroom portion of the program. Specifics will be posted here when dates and destinations are finalized.

Usually mountain dwellers, hummingbirds have been visiting Fort Collins more regularly in recent years; some have been staying in town the whole summer. Hummers have specific needs that if met will attract them and encourage them to loiter for days or weeks rather than pass through in mere minutes. This class will present gardening strategies specifically intended to attract and support hummingbirds.

I have been invited to teach wildflower identification classes at The Gardens on Spring Creek. After discussing a variety of program options and formats, we decided on an exciting combination.

Rather than randomly taking any plant in bloom, the class will focus on four specific plant families that bear a significant proportion of the local wildflower flora. Each of the four plant groups will be taught as a two-part class with indoor classroom instruction on Friday evening followed by an all-day field trip on Saturday, the following day. The pedagogical objective will be to teach participants how to identify plants rather than how to memorize names. The classroom strategy will be to teach and demonstrate how to use botany without having to be a botanist. The field trip strategy will be to look for, find, and identify specific wildflower species in the wild...and to do so deliberately and on purpose!

Registration is handled through the Field Seminars Program of the Rocky Mountain Nature Association. To view a syllabus for a particular seminar, or to register, go on-line to:

www.rmna.org

or call (970) 586-3262.

Since summer 1991, I have been teaching classes and leading hikes for the Elderhostel program sponsored by the Pingree Park Campus of Colorado State University. My complete schedule for 2008 is listed below.

(On the CSU Elderhostel home page list as "SW Hiking #1)

Based in Durango, Colorado

Based on the Pingree Park Campus

Based on the Pingree Park Campus

Based on the Pingree Park Campus

Based in Moab, Utah

Registration is handled through the Pingree Park Campus of Colorado State University. For more information about these programs, log-on to

www.pingree.colostate.edu/elderhostel

or call the Pingree Park office at (970) 491-7377.

This year-long series, presented one each month, will showcase 12 wildlife species that live in Colorado. Each species has been chosen because in some manner it is either so characteristic of the state as to be iconic or else is so beyond the stereotypes of everyday comprehension that it is iconoclastic. Whichever a given species might be, its own unique life and times weave into the fabric that is the story of Colorado.