>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Students perform steelhead redd surveys along the Wallowa River. Submitted photo

Wallowa Resources has been contributing to the Friday programming with the WREN program since 2005. Students are not only learning hands-on about Wallowa County’s natural and cultural history, they’re getting a workout, too.

WREN, which stands for “Wallowa Resources’ Explorations of Nature,” is a Friday school program (8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) for students interested in learning about the natural sciences in the field. Students and instructors visit a variety of locations in Wallowa County throughout the spring or fall and learn about the wildlife, plants, geology, rivers and people in these regions.

The spring offering of WREN started March 7 and runs through May 9. Some 20 fifth- through eighth-graders in the county are enrolled.

Field instructors on the program include Penny Arentsen, David Duncan, Cheri Miller, Don Harker and Vincent Jansen.

For six of the eight Fridays, the group is investigating the changes spring brings about in three distinct elevations in the county: Imnaha Canyon (Devil’s Gulch), Lostine Canyon and the Zumwalt Prairie (Saddle Butte).

The WREN crew is exploring  each of these places twice, with a month between each visit. Students will compare their observations from the first visit with those of the second to determine changes.

Of the two other Fridays, one focuses on wildflowers and raptors on the Zumwalt (May 9), and the other was a Wallowa River Restoration Day, which occurred April 4. On that day, which could also be called “get-muddy day,’’ 15 fifth- through eighth-graders, along with field instructors Harker and Arentsen, spent the day at the Wallowa River Habitat Restoration Project in Lostine.

The purpose of the day was to learn about the project, participate in the restoration work and learn about the wildlife in this riparian corridor.

Under the guidance of Winston Morton, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife restoration biologist on the project, students dug and planted sedge plugs along the banks of the newly restored Wallowa River channel on Doug McDaniel and Gail Hammack’s place.

Alan Miller, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, joined the crew after lunch and, along with Winston, performed steelhead redd surveys with the students along a 1 1/2-mile reach of the Wallowa River.

Then students and instructors observed and identified birds, as well as built a few western and mountain bluebird birdhouses with Paul Arentsen.

And as if the day wasn’t action-packed enough, the canine section of the Wallowa County Search and Rescue Team met the group at the restoration project and demonstrated various search techniques with their dogs, using the students as search items.

To end the day, Glenn McDonald, with search and rescue, gave a talk on survival skills and items to carry in the backcountry. 

The WREN group will venture back to the Imnaha Canyon soon and hike up Devil’s Gulch to see whether spring is moving along — or not.

For more information on WREN and Wallowa Resources’ programs, call Arentsen at 541-426-8053, ext. 24, or visit the website www.wallowaresources.org.