Friends, we have been busy.
We discover and grow wildness within and all around us throughout the year. In the past few months, The Naturalist School has:
- Conducted learning-based biological surveys of plants, birds, fungi, odonates, and other taxa for conservation easements and nature preserves in eastern Nebraska and Iowa’s Loess Hills.
- Sponsored a series of workshops for poets and artists in wild places.
- Collected locally-wild seed for our native tree-planting projects.
- Established an arboretum in Omaha’s Old Market with the Downtown Improvement District.
- Helped home-owners create backyard habitats for birds and pollinators.
- Taught local ecology and planted trees with elementary school students.
- Created a “shack simple” Sunday residency series for wild writers in winter.
- Initiated a Pawnee oak preservation project on a historic sacred site.
- Presented nature-writing workshops with University of Nebraska at Omaha Master of Fine Arts students.
- Banded owls along the Kickatuus River.
- Welcomed and included artists-in-residence from the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in our various activities.
- Invited people from all walks to join us for quiet and contemplative walks (“Saunters”) in the Loess Hills and on the bluffs along the Platte River.
- Partnered with Tallgrass Prairie Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium/University of Wisconsin on workshops for land managers.
- Hosted a tree-planting day at North Omaha’s Prospect Hill Cemetery with The Union for Contemporary Arts.
- Donated and planted wild native trees in local nature preserves
- Partnered with an Omaha high school to plant bird and pollinator outdoor classroom.
But even more, come and join us in the bush!
Photo credits from top: Chelsea Balzer, Robert Smith, Max Soderberg.