Posted: 10/5/04
Snakes, fish, trees, and more captivate kids at environmental day
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Dave Palmquist looked positively happy as he held out a huge rattlesnake for students from Houston Elementary School to see.
The kids did not seem quite so thrilled. They laughed nervously, and leaned back as the snake curled into different shapes while dangling from a steel hook.
There was nothing dangerous about the situation. The kids were safely behind a rope barrier under a picnic shelter at Camp Winnebago, and the snake was not coiled and ready to strike.
But with the youngsters jittery with excitement if not fear, it was a super learning experience.
And Palmquist made the most of it. The naturalist from Whitewater State Park spoke with enthusiasm at the Root River Soil and Water Conservation Districtís annual Sixth Grade Environmental Day on September 30.
He called his program, ìLearning to Live with Rattlesnakes.î The snake he showed the kids was eight years old, and had come from Red Wing. A lady who had built a house on a bluff had told him about it and he had picked it up.
The bluff had been home to rattlesnakes, and now it is home to people, Palmquist said. That loss of habitat is a big problem for rattlesnakes, which are considered a threatened species and could disappear entirely in the studentsí lifetime.
Itís something to think about when people are building new houses or stores like WalMart, he said.
The other threat to rattlesnakes is the fear that people have of them, Palmquist said. Some people just donít like snakes. To combat that fear, he told the kids that only one person had died of a rattlesnake bite in Minnesota, and that was in the 1860s.
He also showed how easy and safe it is to move a rattlesnake by lifting it up with a hoe and dropping it in a garbage can. If you let the snake go in the woods, youíll probably never see it again, he said. (Palmquist told the students to have their parents do that for them.)
Thereís even a group of ìrattlesnake first responders,î Palmquist said, who would come to move a snake for you if you call 9-1-1 with the information.
However, Palmquist did urge some caution. ìIf you leave it alone, it will leave you alone,î he said.
But if you mess with a rattle snake, it will definitely fight back, he said,
Palmquist told the students that they lived in a very special part of Minnesota. The bluffland area comprises only three percent of Minnesota, yet 43 percent of Minnesotaís rare plants and animals are in that area.
Much more fun too
Palmquistís presentation was one of nine different offerings that 316 sixth grade students from all the public and private schools in Houston County took part in.
A walk through the beautiful lower campground of Camp Winnebago last Thursday revealed many interesting facts by the following folks:
ï Karla Kinstler, a naturalist at the Houston Nature Center, spoke about birds of prey.
ï Valiree Green, Minnesota DNR, demonstrated how to fight fires.
ï Pat McLoughlin of the Natural Resource Conservation Service, talked about archeology and cultural resources.
ï Brad Pecinovsky, Tri-County Electric, talked about electrical safety
ï Steve Klotz and Vaughn Snook, DNR Fisheries workers, demonstrated electro-shocking a stream.
ï Linda Stingl, a DNR volunteer, and certified ATV instructor, spoke about ATV safet. (See sidebar for more on this subject.)
ï Randy Mell, DNR forester, gave tips on tree identification.
ï Ann Blankenship, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, spoke about pelts and birds.
It was a great program, according to Sarah Riess, a sixth grade teacher at La Crescent Middle School. ìThey get to see lots of different things in one day. Itís fantastic.î
Presenter Valiree Green said part of the value is just getting the kids outside. ìIf they pick up one or two things from everybody, that would be something,î she said. ìTheyíll remember this day.î
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