On Saturday, April 25, Women Outdoors members Sandy, Margaret, Janice, and Reba celebrated Earth Day at Women In Nature 2009, held at the Elbrige Rod and Gun Club. We attended workshops on birding, back country survival skills, nature journaling, rifle shooting, and wild game cooking. Women Outdoors Finger Lakes co-sponsored this semi-annual event for women and their daughters, put on by the Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and others.

This event offered us a great opportunity to meet women in the Syracuse area with outdoor interests and to tell them about our organization. At our display table and during the wild game lunch and demonstrations, we chatted about what Women Outdoors is all about, and how much fun we have joining with other women to go hiking, biking, kayaking, and whatever else our members want to do. We highlighted our accomplishments and previous outings, as well as our goal of increasing our membership in the Syracuse area.

Many young women attended, some as volunteers. I was able to arrange a birding workshop for Women Outdoors at the Montezuma/Audubon Center. Look for this in our upcoming Summer Calendar. Other workshops offered at the event included aquatic ecology, beginning archery, camping skills, fishing, fly tying, and outdoor cooking. Mid-afternoon we got to see some demonstrations. Here is a bird-dog going through his exercises.