Registration open for new sessions of the Minnesota Outdoor Skills and Stewardship Series
A series of outdoor skills webinars has seen continued growth in participation as Minnesotans have looked to boost their fishing, hunting, habitat and outdoors know-how.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is continuing the Minnesota Outdoor Skills and Stewardship Series that started in March 2021, with new webinars this summer on topics that will appeal to people interested in nature, including anglers and hunters.
“The webinars have reached several thousand individuals and have seen increased participation over the past couple of years,” said Benji Kohn, volunteer mentor program coordinator. “We’re using these webinars to equip people with outdoor skills information and strengthen their passion for fish, wildlife and habitat conservation.”
During the last couple of months, the webinars have averaged 200 viewers live for each episode. The live webinars are at noon on Wednesdays and last an hour or less. All webinars are live-captioned, recorded and made available on the DNR website, and the recordings are popular with those who express interest in the webinars but don’t watch them live.
Summer webinar topics include boat launching, lake trout, off-road vehicles, reconnecting fish populations and habitat, catch and release fishing, fawn research, using falcons for hunting, frogs and toads, the Conservation Partners Legacy grant program, kayak fishing, cattails, 2023 deer season updates, and the DNR at the Minnesota State Fair.
The next upcoming webinar is at noon Wednesday, June 7. Boating is woven into Minnesota culture — along with a culture of safety that needs to be modeled and reinforced both at the ramp and on the water. Lisa Dugan, DNR’s recreation safety outreach coordinator, will review important safety preparations and etiquette for those launching a boat.
The following webinar will be at noon Wednesday, June 14. Josh Blankenheim, DNR large lake specialist for the Lake Superior area fisheries office, will discuss how lake trout were nearly lost from Lake Superior and the efforts that led to the successful rehabilitation of the species in the lake. Blankenheim also will share tactics and tips on how to catch lake trout in Lake Superior.
The webinars are free, and participants must pre-register. More information, including summer session topics and how to register, is available on the outdoor skills and stewardship page of the DNR website.