West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Master Naturalist Program

Go to class in the great outdoors.

May 14, 2008
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO
C L I C K T O P L A Y

There's a wonderful world out there in the woods of west virginia, full of things most of us never even notice. But many of us would like to learn more. Jim wagy explains the master naturalist program.

Jim Wagy/Master Naturalist
"The program is designed to teach people about nature and the idea is to take people who have a strong interest in nature, you expose them to quality instructors and they take what they learn and pass it on to other people."

Kind of like that movie, pass it forward. Someone does something nice for you, and you do something nice for someone else. In this case, it's people who know and love nature taking time to pass that knowledge on.

Jim Nagy/Master Naturalist says:
"Students take 20 classes over the course of a year. Each one is a several hour overview of a particular topic and they're taught by experts, some of them are current or retired professors, some are DNR biologists, some are just expert naturalists."

All of them are excited about nature. That's the cool thing about this program. Most of the classes gets outdoor lovers where they love to be, outside enjoying nature.

Jim Nagy/Master Naturalist says:
"About half the classes involve fieldwork and it's a terrific opportunity to be out in the field with these people who have so much experience and learn diversity from it."

If that sounds like your cup of tea, why not find out more about becoming a master naturalist.

For West Virginia Wildlife, I'm Patrick Mcmurtry, Eyewitness News

LEARN MORE

W. Va. DNR

MORE WILDLIFE NEWS

WCHS-TV8 Online brings you the current Fishing and Stream Conditions Report updated every week.

Hunting Report updated every week in season.

No video? Get Flash Player from Adobe. (It's Free!)