KHS 72nd field trip scheduled

Get your kids out where the action is!

For anyone who's ever given up a walk in the woods for fear of stepping on a snake, is this field trip a bonanza for you.

The members of the Kansas Herpetological Society will be finding and counting the snakes, turtles, lizards, salamanders, toads, and frogs of Greenwood County the weekend of April 23, 24 and 25. Lest the actual seeking out of these animals sound daunting, consider this: these folks are experts on the "herpetofauna" of Kansas and they're willing to guide and educate curious but cautious fellow citizens in the appreciation of this much- maligned group of wildlife.

"Our field trips serve a couple of purposes that speak to conservation," said Kathy Ellis, KHS president and longtime member. "One is scientific, in that finding and counting these animals helps us see how they're doing in a their habitat, along with gauging the health of that particular environment. Our other purpose is educational. Members of the public can tag along with people who know about this stuff. We'll show them how to approach these animals, including which ones they might want to avoid, and we'll help them understand the important role these animals play in our shared environment."

Field trips are free and open to anyone; children must be accompanied by an adult; none will be left behind. Participants will begin to congregate in the Gobbler's Knob Campground at Fall River State Park on Friday evening (23 April). At 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings, the assembled group will depart the camp to prearranged survey sites, led by intrepid KHS Field Trip Chairperson Daniel Murrow. Directions the park campground are available online at http://www.cnah.org/khs/FieldTripSpringInfo.html.

Dress for the field and the Kansas weather. Items to bring: leather gloves, drinking water, snacks and a sack lunch. Also nice but not necessary: a camera, two-way radios or a cell phone, a hat, sunscreen and an old pillowcase and gallon zip-lock bags for captured critters. Most animals caught on the field trip will be identified and released near their point of capture, although some may be retained for scientific study.

Participants are welcome at Gobbler's Knob Campground; restrooms and showers are available. The field trip will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and from 9 to noon on Sunday. Lunch and dinner are not provided. There are motels and restaurants in nearby Fredonia (see the web site).

Information obtained from the survey is published in the Journal of Kansas Herpetology and made available to agencies such as the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and other conservation and education groups.

The Kansas Herpetological Society is one of the nation's foremost membership organizations dedicated to scientific study and conservation of herpetofauna. The group has conducted more than seventy field trips since it began coordinating the events in 1974. For information on the KHS, visit the KHS website at http://www.cnah.org/khs or call M. K. Baldwin, KHS Secretary, at (785) 272-1076.