Two chances for youth to get outdoors

by John Dowd, Editor

Two groups have their annual upcoming events to give outdoor opportunities to young people this May. Both Montana Matters Youth Outdoor Experience and the Teller Wildlife Refuge are constantly working to promote conservation education, and these events are their way of reaching out to the youth of the area. Both of these events are free to attend.

The first of these will be the Montana Matters Youth Outdoor Experience (MMYOE) event, on May 3, at the Ravalli County Fairgrounds. This event will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will bring 40 to 45 different organizations together. Most of these groups are summer camp organizations that the MMYOE gives youth scholarships to attend. 

The event plans to give away 100 spots to these various camps, including adventures like backpacking, kayaking, hunting, fishing, climbing and much more. 

Participating youth must visit at least 12 booths, to get a chance to enter to win a camp. Each camp booth will have a red bucket to enter, and youth can choose which camp they want to enter for, and must leave their ticket at that booth after completing their rounds.

There will be food trucks all day and the event will include the Nine Mile mule pack string. A few new groups will be attending, including the National Bighorn Sheep Center. Another new group will be the Sapphire Mountain Men, who will have their own booth this year. Also joining the event will be Montana Wetlands and Waterfowl out of Butte.

The Whittecar Shooting Range will have a booth set up as well. Just like last year, they will be holding two separate competitions over the summer, and interested youth can sign up for these at the Mule Deer pellet shooting trailer. Those who sign up cannot be part of any shooting club to enter. Winners of these two events will get brand new .22 caliber rifles.

Tom Powers, one of the MMYOE organizers, wanted to highlight the new camp, at the Woodson Ranch in the Ruby Habitat Foundation. This camp will take place in August and will grant private access to nine miles of fishable river.

The MMYOE is also adding a fifth camp at the Glacier Institute called, “Many Stories.” This camp, also in August, will combine elements of fishing, creative writing, and the verbal histories of both Native American and European cultures with nature.

The second event will be Teller Wildlife Refuge’s Youth Conservation and Education Expo, on May 17. This will take place at the refuge and around their barn location. They will have buses that take people from the barn into the refuge every half hour. However, there will no longer be buses from Hamilton to Teller.

This event will take place between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will include nearly 30 groups, all conservation-based and most local. These groups will set up booths and were asked to include an educational component and some kind of fun and engaging interactive component. Nicole Ballard, Conservation Education Coordinator for Teller Wildlife Refuge, spoke excitedly about the entire event. She described it as “everything very interactive; hands on!” Throughout the event there will also be live presentations, each about an hour long; one of these will include live wildlife.

There will be ice cream and burgers for purchase during the day, and every youth will receive 10 raffle tickets to enter. Each group participating with the event donated an item, game, or outdoor related piece of equipment that will be in the raffle. Youth do not have to be present to win, they just need to include clearly written contact information on tickets. 

Those bus rides into the refuge will deliver visitors to a stocked trout pond on site, managed by Bitterroot Trout Unlimited, that will allow youth to fish with no license required. There will be a 3D archery range set up, managed by the Bitterroot Archers. Youth with an interest in archery can sign up for an archery tournament the next day. Adults can also sign up as there are several age brackets. The refuge will have a hay wagon that will drive around giving birding tours, manned by the Bitterroot Bird Alliance. Teller Wildlife Refuge encourages all 18 and younger to attend. 

Speaking on both events, Ballard said their goal at the refuge event is to provide an introduction for young people into nature and conservation, while Powers and the MMYOE event strives to establish and root outdoor lifestyles in young people as well as leading them into an interest in conservation. Ballard said the Teller event is also about “giving kids an opportunity to get recreational equipment they may not otherwise be able to afford.” She added, “The stepping stone into conservation is recreation,” so both events are trying to “cut down the barriers to getting youth into the outdoors.” 

According to Powers, they are about giving youth the “opportunity to reacquaint themselves with nature on her terms and what can be done to assist nature.” He also spoke on experiences with youth that have come from a tough home life, or from seeing youth unable to afford these kinds of experiences. “That’s something we watch for, the opportunity to help somebody,” said Powers.

For more information about the MMYOE event and what they do, interested parties can call (406) 531-4224. For those interested in the Teller Wildlife Refuge, interested parties can visit their website, www.tellerwildlife.org.