Commendation: Family Fun at Wildlife Expo

Commissioners Commend District and OCC employees for Wildlife Expo Activities

(Top row, from left) OCC Commissioners Dan Lowrance, Mike Rooker, Virginia Kidd, Matt Gard, George Stunkard and Executive Director Mike Thralls. (Front row, from left) Jeff Kuhn, Payne CCD; Keith Owen, Rogers CCD; Karla Beatty, OCC; and Blake McQueen, Holly Smith and Robert Gibbs, Rogers CCD.

At its January meeting the Conservation Commission commended five conservation district employees and one OCC employee for their work at a conservation education area at the Oklahoma Wildlife Expo. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation hosts the annual event, now in its third year and attended by almost 50,000 adults and children.

Since the event began the Rogers County Conservation District, with help from OCC and other conservation districts, has sponsored and staffed a large exhibit and interactive education area. “Family Fun on the Prairie” was the theme of the area this year and it was again staffed with volunteers from OCC and conservation districts.

Kids of all ages had the opportunity to discover Oklahoma’s prairies, color bookmarks with butterfly or frog life cycles, explore a pile of worm compost, paint with Oklahoma soil, identify wildlife tracks and investigate skins and skulls of several of Oklahoma’s wildlife species.

Commissioners presented Conservation Commission Commendations to Robert Gibbs, Keith Owen, Blake McQueen and Holly Smith, all employees of Rogers County Conservation District. They also presented commendations to Jeff Kuhn of Payne County Conservation District and Karla Beatty, OCC Conservation Programs education coordinator.