If you enjoy recreating in Central Oregon nature, it’s important to be aware of the animals and tracks you might come across in the wild.
That’s what the Discover Your Forest program wants to teach kids and families.
Sunday was their first Junior Snow Ranger event at Mount Bachelor this year.
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Kids got to identify different animal tracks, pelts, and skulls, write thank-you cards to ski patrol members, and take off on a mini snowshoe tour.
“All of our skills that we’re going over today are really to make a connection with our families and our kids out here to the Deschutes National Forest, really making sure that they know where they can find these different opportunities to recreate, including Mount Bachelor, and then creating a connection between themselves and the forest so that they’re hopefully wanting to come back out another time,” said Laken Bose, the Education and Interpretive Programs Manager for Discover Your Forest.
Discover Your Forest has been running the free program with Mount Bachelor since 1997.
If you missed it, don’t worry- there’s another chance to join the fun at their second Junior Snow Ranger event this year on March 26.
“It’s always really exciting to see everybody’s faces as they get to kind of touch and feel some of the animals that we have here in the forest,” Bose added. “And they’re just really appreciative of being able to have this experience right here at Mount Bachelor, where they can come and ski and then also learn a little bit more about the forest that they’re on.”
