The NREM207 Outdoor Skills Weekend (OSW) is based off of the popular national program, Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow. The NREM207 Outdoor Skills Weekend is aimed at undergraduates in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, especially Forestry and Animal Ecology majors in our department who might have little or no experience recreating and/or working outdoors.
In the fall of 2016, the Outdoor Skills Weekend was held at the Y-Camp, a wonderful
location right on the Des Moines River not far northwest of Boone, Iowa.
A total of 40 students engaged in various activities including paddling canoes, archery, fly-fishing, rifle & shotgun shooting skills, GIS treasure hunts, outdoor survival training, animal tracking, hiking & birding, and Dutch-oven cooking (what a lunch we had!). Fifteen staff members from , County Conservation bureaus, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Y-Camp all pitched in to make the weekend a great learning experience. S’mores around a campfire under the open sky topped off our evenings, and a number of students joined our ukulele band in campy songs on Friday night.
Students who attend the NREM207 Outdoor Skills Weekend will begin building a network of professionals in the natural resources field and learn valuable outdoor skills relevant to working and recreating outdoors. In addition, participants enrolled in NREM207x will learn about the North American Model of Conservation, which is the foundation for natural resource management in the USA, and will become acquainted with funding mechanisms for wildlife conservation and management.
The goal of NREM207 is to introduce students to the North American Model of Conservation and how that model impacts natural resource management and to enable students to comfortably and safely recreate outdoors and learn about working in the natural resources fields.
By participating in this course, students gain valuable experiences and contacts in the natural resources which will prove useful throughout their studies as well as future careers in natural resource management.