by Bea Peterson
The nice thing about the Hoosick Falls Central School Outdoor Expo is that it was strictly educational and informational. No gimmicks, nothing to buy. NYS DEC personnel had information on wildlife game laws, regulations and enforcement. Trout Unlimited had demonstrations on fly tying and fly fishing, and there was a 4-H Shooting Sports exhibit on gun safety. That was just for starters.
[private]The gymnasium was filled with nature exhibits by the Pioneer Fish and Game Club, Mid-Hudson Valley Fur Harvesters Association, Rensselaer County Conservation Alliance and the New York Houndsmen. Hoosick Trail Masters had a snowmobile.
There was information on topographic maps, hiking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, geocaching. Dyken Pond Environmental Center and Grafton Lakes State Park educators encouraged visits to the outdoors. Local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts had informative displays.
Many of the animal and fish mounts on display were harvested by Hoosick Falls students and residents. There were dogs to pet and pelts to touch and plenty of folks ready to answer questions about the animals on display at the various exhibits.
Friday evening several of the exhibitors said how pleased they were with the reactions of the students who had come by during the day. Several educators spoke to individual classes or had programs in the auditorium, which also went very well.
One of the event organizers, teacher Daniel Michalak said they received scores of positive feedback from students and visitors during the event. He believes everyone who attended left happy and better informed about the natural world around them.
Dean Davis
Naturalist and Outdoor Educator Dean Davis started his talk in the school auditorium early Friday evening by answering the questions everyone always asks him first. Yes, every animal bites, yes, all his animals are live, and yes, if you are there when an animal feels like biting, you will get bit.
With that out of the way he explained that animals have a job to do and what they eat determines their life expectancy. A spider, for example will eat 24 plant destroying caterpillars a day and can live for 33 years. Of the 30,000 varieties of spiders only nine of them are dangerous, he pointed out.
Salamanders eat grubs that destroy plants. They live anywhere from 15 to 35 years. Bullfrogs eat harmful insects. They live 20 years. Nature loves amphibians, he said.
Davis has been presenting nature programs for 52 years. Animal activists have forced him to change his program many times. During his hour and a half non-stop talk program he debunked television animal shows as inaccurate. “TV makes you dumb! Read a book,” he encouraged. During his presentation folks got to see a furry spider, salamander, crocodile, snapping turtle, green iguana and a couple of snakes. He cleared up many misconceptions about the creatures and had much to say about their importance in nature.
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