By Pat Meyers
Reader Contributor
The Pend Oreille Chapter of the Idaho Master Naturalists is a non-profit volunteer organization concerned with nature-related conservation events in the Idaho panhandle. Our chapter is headquartered at the WaterLife Discovery Center in Sagle (the “old fish hatchery,” located at 1591 Lakeshore Drive) and the closest other chapter is in Moscow. Each year, we look forward to having new members join our organization, get educated in a wide variety of natural-world subjects and to participate in conservation projects in our area.
This year’s introductory classes will be Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 at the WaterLife Discovery Center, where participants will learn about our beautiful region and its native wildlife and plants, waterways, mountains and geology. To sign up, email [email protected] and you’ll receive information about the program and the necessary forms to join.
Education Trunk team presenting the trunks to Outdoor Educators for LPOSD Elementary Schools in January. From left to right: Perky Smith-Hagadone, Debbie Crain, Christine Sandahl, Mary Haley and Pat Meyers. Courtesy photo
The Master Naturalist program is an Idaho Fish and Game-sponsored organization with members who love nature and are nature and wildlife enthusiasts. In this program, attendees will be able to become a well-informed volunteer to actively work toward stewardship of Idaho’s natural environment. They will develop into well-trained volunteers who can knowledgably assist IDFG biologists and other conservation professionals.
The local Master Naturalist chapter provides leadership and assistance in various youth education programs and will be present at the WaterLife Discovery Center throughout the summer to show the public its indoor displays and outdoor grounds. The Idaho Master Naturalists also provide opportunities for local conservationists to meet, socialize, work together and continue conservation education.
New members will take 40 hours of educational classes, which will include several field trips and online classes that can be viewed at their leisure, plus volunteer for 40 hours to become “certified” for their first year. In subsequent years, eight hours of continuing education and 40 hours of volunteering will result in “re-certification.”
Forty volunteer hours may seem like a lot, but our chapter had 15 people who each volunteered more than 100 hours in 2024. It is a lot of fun and participants achieve a great deal of camaraderie with your fellow members.
Examples of the educational classes and field trips include ornithology, tree and plant identification, river restoration projects, ice age floods and geology, mushroom foraging, large mammal classes, local fisheries, pollinator classes and more.
A major volunteer activity last year included development of educational trunks for local elementary schools — trunk themes are Fish, Bears, Pollinators and Small Mammals of North Idaho. Other key volunteer activities were making bat houses and birdhouses, and planting a milkweed and pollinator garden at the WaterLife Discovery Center.
We also helped with loon surveys, milkweed surveys, invasive snapping turtle collection, planting saplings in a nearby wildlife management area and along a local river.
Many of our members also help out each May at the Pend Oreille Water Festival at Riley Creek Recreation Area, which is offered to all Bonner County fifth-graders.
The Master Naturalists host field trips for elementary students at the WaterLife Discovery Center and conduct a youth fly fishing clinic annually. We assist IDFG with its “Take Me Fishing” field trips to local lakes. Several Master Naturalists help the Idaho Conservation League with water quality monitoring in Lake Pend Oreille and the river. Members assist Idaho Trails Association and Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness with trail maintenance and other volunteer activities.
Check out the podcast from the Feb. 18 interview on krfy.org, in which we presented our program to the public, and join us again on KRFY 88.5 FM on Tuesday, March 18, when we will join IDFG representatives as they discuss their priority projects for the year and the volunteer help from the Master Naturalists.
Pat Meyers is communications chair for the Pend Oreille Chapter of the Idaho Master Naturalists. Get more info at the local chapters Facebook page. For more on the statewide Master Naturalist program, go to idfg.idaho.gov/master-naturalist.
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