The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin wants people to explore, love, and protect.
“Once you love it, then the next natural step is to protect it,” said Christine Tanzer, the NRF Field Trip Program Director.
Over the last 40 years, the organization has supported conservation in Wisconsin, giving out more than a million dollars last year alone.
“That goes to a variety of projects, including State Natural Areas management, endangered species recovery, and also we give out a lot of small grants to teachers to get their students outdoors and to get for kids to be outdoors,” said Tanzer.
To help foster that connection to nature and grow the want to protect, the NRF offers field trips each year.
What started as just a handful of trips in the early years has grown to 280 field trips this year.
They span just about the entire state ranging from hiking and paddling to fishing and bird watching.
“The people who attend the field trips, some of them are very knowledgeable and some of them they're just their learning and beginning, but everybody is just super friendly and even if you show up by yourself, you feel like you're in a group of friends,” said Tanzer.
The trips are led by people work in natural resources.
Some of this year’s local field trips include exploring a bog near Eagle River, learning about the logging history of Star Lake and how it relates to the ecology, and hiking off trail in the Penokee Hills.
“A lot of the places in Wisconsin you go to just hike or paddle yourself, but when you want to learn about like the plants, the animals, insects, birds, fish, and amphibians around you, then this is a way to get out and about,” said Tanzer.
There is a registration fee. Tanzer says they try to keep costs down as much as possible. You can see the field trip offerings and register at wisconservation.org.
The field trips run each from early spring to late fall.
