If you’ve ever wanted to hold a giant cockroach or learn how beaver dams influence local waterways, then Corvallis Winter Wildlife Days may be the place for you.

Winter Wildlife Days seek to engage local youth and educate them on their environment and natural surroundings, and run from March 1 through 31 in a variety of different parks around the Corvallis area. 

The Winter Wildlife field days are orchestrated by multiple environmental organizations within Corvallis, including the Corvallis Audubon Society, US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Finley Wildlife Refuge.

At a Winter Wildlife field day on March 8, kids ran around and interacted with different stations with activities including identifying animal calls, “Build it like a Beaver” (a sensory tub where kids could explore how landscape controls water flow), and even stations where kids could hold giant cockroaches and wriggling millipedes.  

One station presented new OSU research on eDNA, a way to extract DNA from organisms without harming them.

“Native plants and animals and that kind of thing is really important, especially to bring up a new generation of folks that are interested in proper stewardship of local ecosystems,” said Gabe, an incoming OSU master’s student of public policy and volunteer at the Winter Wildlife days.

Ricardo Rodriguez, a bilingual U.S. Fish and Wildlife park ranger, added that “We’re in a stage right now where we need more people caring for the environment and the wildlife in the area. Educating the youth about nature is very beneficial.”

One parent, who was at the field day on March 8, said they valued their children being able to connect with nature and that they didn’t have anything like the program when they were a kid.

Many of the park rangers running the program and volunteers helping out were inspired to care about nature and the environment by programs like this that they went to when they were kids.

The program is bilingual, according to the event page on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website. Many volunteers wear a badge reading “Hablo Espanol,” and all activities are offered in both Spanish and English.

“The general consensus is just to get more people connected with nature and, you know, make sure that these activities and nature is inclusive for all groups of people,” Rodriguez said.

The theme this year is “worlds unseen,” a topical theme since many animals are just coming out of hibernation and flowers are just beginning to emerge.

Winter Wildlife days will run through the end of March in many parks around Corvallis. More information on the program can be found on the US Fish and Wildlife website.