Wildlife Festival planned June 2
WILTON, N.Y. >> Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park will a Wildlife Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 2 at Camp Saratoga on Scout Road in Wilton.
The event will feature Karner blue butterfly walks, live animal programs, nature crafts, pond exploration, and hands-on fun. The first brood of the Karner blue butterflies and the blooming of the wild blue lupine should be at their peak so it is a good time to visit the Preserve & Park and see it in its full beauty.
Activities will take place throughout the grounds to encourage people to get out and explore its extensive trail system. The festival is a registered National Trails Day event. All activities are offered free to the public.
There will be a live animal program at 11 a.m. highlighting native raptors presented by the Trish Marki of Silent Wings.
There will be other live animals to see with “The Naturalist Guy” Kenny Barnett’s reptile and amphibian display. Southern Adirondack Audubon is sponsoring acclaimed naturalist George Steele, who will be leading Nature Tunes and Tales at 1 p.m. in the dining hall. He will also be leading a few nature walks.
At the pond, volunteers will be on hand with dip nets to help people discover the animals that live there. Search and rescue dogs from the Lower Adirondack Search and Rescue will be holding demonstrations throughout the festival.
There will a lupine and Karner blue butterfly information pavilion and hourly walks beginning at 11:15 am to explore the Saratoga Sandplains Habitat Restoration area. Volunteers will lead the walks and will explain the efforts that New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and The Nature Conservancy have made in improving and increasing the
habitat for this endangered species.
Because of this effort, the Preserve & Park is now home to the largest population of the endangered Karner blue butterflies in the Northeast.
Ongoing beginning at 11 a.m. there will be numerous craft activities taking place in locations around Camp Saratoga. These will include coffee filter butterflies, clay printing, watercolor painting, and fish printing.
There will be information tables about the Preserve & Park, its trail system, and the Blanding’s Turtle. Other local organizations will also be tabling at the festival and will include the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, Adirondack Mountain Club Saratoga/Glens Falls Chapter, Friends of Moreau Lake State Park, Hudson Crossing Park, Lower Adirondack Search and Rescue, the Saratoga Springs Public Library, and Sustainable Saratoga.
During the festival the Donald A. Collins Memorial Fire Observer’s Cabin it will be open along with the Cornell Hill Fire Tower. For safety reasons, the tower is restricted to visitors over age 5. Children who want to climb the tower must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Festival goers will be able to purchase hamburgers, veggie burgers, dogs, and cold drinks at the barbecue pit. There will also be Stewart’s ice cream for sale and a bake sale of homemade goods.
At 12:30 p..m. there will be an award ceremony for the winners of the Earth Day Essay Contest. Over 250 entries were received from schools from all over the region.
At the ceremony, the contest winners from each of the categories will receive their $50 cash prize. The winner in the K- 3 elementary school category is Taylor Morley, a homeschooled kindergartener, and honorable mentions are Maddie Palmer, second grader at Ballard Road Elementary, Jasper Hendrickson, a third grader at Zoller School, and Timothy Mann, a third grader at Saratoga Independent School.
The winner in the fourthand fifth-grade category is John Place, a fourth grade student at Saratoga Independent School. Honorable Mentions are Athen Della Ratta, a fifth grader at Zoller School, and Emma Debusk and Michael Becker, fourth graders at Schuylerville Elementary School.
The winner in the middle school category was Kassandra Negron a sixth grade student from Sharon Springs Middle School with honorable mentions going to Elijah Rose from Knickerbacker Middle School and Maddie Perretta from Mohanasen Draper Middle School.
The high school winner is Ciara Schoen a 10th grade student at Saratoga Springs High School with the honorable mentions going to Disha Darji, a 10th grader from Schalmont High School and Autumn Fluty, a 12th grade student at Galway High School.
The festival will take place Rain or Shine with many of the activities moving under cover of Camp Saratoga’s many pavilions, the dining hall and the International Paper Winter Lodge.
Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park is a non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve ecological systems and natural settings while providing opportunities for environmental education and outdoor recreation. For more information call (518) 450-0321 or go to: www.wiltonpreserve. org.