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The 32nd annual River Bend Ramble fundraiser will take place Friday, September 20th at the Faribault American Legion. We'll have TWO raffles taking place during the Ramble event this year: a Wall of Wine and a Wall of Beer. The Wall of Wine will contain up to 100 bottles of wine for the winning! The Wall of Beer will contain an assortment of domestic and imported beer.
To buy your raffle tickets, please call us at 507.332.7151 or stop by the Interpretive Center during business hours. You may also purchase raffle tickets at the event. |
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River Bend's Outdoor Adventures Program is underway!
This week we have three Outdoor Adventures programs happening and we'll hope you'll come out and give them a try! The first, Slacklining is Awesome, is Monday, June 17th from 5-6:30pm. This is a very fun new sport which is popular with kids and adults alike! Try to balance a few inches off the ground on a strap of webbing strung between two objects. This program needs no registration, just show up! The cost is $5 for members and $10 for non-members. All ages are welcome.
Also this week is Family Rock Climbing on Thursday, June 20th from 8am to 12pm. We'll meet at Barn Bluff Park in Red Wing and learn how to climb their great beginner rock faces. We provide the equipment and the instruction. Pre-registration is required for this program, please sign up before Wednesday.
Finally, this weekend is the Basics of Camping on Saturday, June 22nd until Sunday, June 23rd. Come out and learn how to camp with your family, or if you have camped before, come out and be one of the first to camp at River Bend! Pre-registration is also required for this program, please register before Friday afternoon.
To sign up for any of our programs or for more information, visit our Outdoor Adventures Program web page! |
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We've updated our Interpretive Center hours for summer. We will now open at 9am each weekday, instead of 8am as before. On Saturdays we have extended our hours to be from 9am until 4pm (our winter hours had us closing at 2pm). Our hours are always listed right here on our web site or by calling us, too. |
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All three sessions of our Adventure is Out There! summer camp are currently full, we are only taking names for our waiting lists. However, if your child would like to try some of the activities available in this camp (slacklining, rock climbing, archery, or fly fishing) they still can! Check out our Outdoor Activities Program classes that are happening all summer long. For class descriptions and registration information, please visit: www.rbnc.org/outdooradventures. |
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Next River Bend Rangers volunteer day is THIS Saturday, June 15th. To volunteer, email Sarah Shimek at shimek@rbnc.org.
Our River Bend Rangers volunteer program has returned in 2013 but in a slightly different format. River Bend Rangers is a program that enables volunteers to help with service projects to maintain the trails and nature of River Bend Nature Center. Rangers will meet once a month on Saturday from 9am - 12pm, May-August. Cooperating as a larger group on a single day will provide the opportunity to work on high priority conservation projects from start to finish. Project-specific training will take place the day of the event. For more information or to sign up for a project day, visit our Rangers web page or email Sarah. |
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This year there was an overwhelming interest in our summer program naturalist internships. We received 27 applications for the 2 summer naturalist positions open. We had so many very well qualified applicants that it was difficult to narrow it down to 2 but we are very excited to announce that Erik Williams and Kirsten Maier will be joing our team this summer! We wish all our other applicants the best of luck with their experiences.
Erik is a graduate of the University of Denver with a B.A. in History and minors in Geography & Geology. Erik is from Minnetonka, MN and has been working as a naturalist instructor at YMCA Camp Widjiwagan in Ely, MN. Kirsten is from Portland, Oregon and will be graduating in May from St. Olaf Collge with a degree in Biology and a concentration in Environmental Studes. She has been working as a student naturalist for St. Olaf, tutoring with Northfield Reads and Counts, and working with the St. Olaf Biology Dept as a natural lands worker.
Erik and Kirsten will be starting their internships on June 3rd. Please stop by to welcome them to the River Bend team! |
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The newest issue of our semiannual newsletter is online and available for perusing. See the newsletter in PDF format here. Also, don't miss this issue's Naturalist Notebook pages illustrated by Moe Brand and written by interns Zach Hudson and Caitlin Savage; the Notebook topics this issue are the Belted Kingfisher and the Black Willow.
Also, see (almost) all of our past Naturalist Notebook pages any time on our Naturalist Notebook page. |
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Summer Camp registration is open! We're excited to offer some new camp options and many returning favorites, too. Among the new offerings are overnight Hunger Games-themed camps where you will learn outdoor and suvival skills including fishing, camping, knots, wild edibles, and climbing. Find out all the details and register your children today on our Summer Camp web page. |
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Friday, December 21st was naturalist Elaine Loranz's last day at River Bend after more than 14 years of devoted service. While she requested no party to celebrate her time and contributions here, we know she will be sorely missed by the many people who have learned from her over the years. Luckily, she's not going too far, she's taken a position at the Cannon River STEM school right here in Faribault where former River Bend director Nalani McCutcheon is Executive Director. We thank Elaine for her tremendous contributions to River Bend and wish her the best in her new job, we know she will be a great asset to the STEM school faculty and students! |
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