Outreach Programs from Oxley Nature Center

Winter 2012


Make reservations now for programs brought to your classroom from Oxley Nature Center between January 11 and February 18. To make the programs available as widely as possible, we may only visit your school once this season, and we may only visit each group of individual students once. Classes may be combined, but groups are limited to no more than 30 students in any single presentation. Even presenting 4 programs during the morning and 4 in the afternoon, we may not be able to visit every classroom in your school this season, so choose carefully. New this year, there is a fee of $2 per student, payable by cash or check or purchase order on the day of the presentations.


Winter 2012 Outreach Program Descriptions

Winter 2012 Outreach Program Registration

New for the Nature Center’s Nature Store

Magic T-shirts!! Magic T-Shirts® are black and white indoors and burst into color in the sun. They return to black and white without the sun.

Click here to for more info on these new products!

New Book Titles and Audio Book/CD’s to Explore

Volunteers

Volunteers are an essential part of Oxley, and the Fall volunteer training information is now available. Check out the our volunteer page for the many volunteer opportunities available!

6th Annual Autumn Butterfly Count

You Can Be a Citizen Scientist!

Join us at Oxley on Friday, September 30h to spot, count, tally and identify butterflies. Information gathered is used to supplement the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Summer Butterfly Count held annually in June and July. Citizen scientists participate in local counts, increase their own knowledge, raise public awareness and contribute valuable data about butterfly populations.

We will meet at 8:30 a.m. and count until dusk, weather permitting. You are welcome to participate in all or part of the count. Bring a lunch, water, hat and binoculars if you have them. Meet at Oxley Nature Center.

No experience is necessary. You’ will work in teams with experienced naturalists counting in different teams in different areas.

Please call and register in advance so teams can be assembled! The $3 fee will be waived if you register by September 26.

Count Results from 2010

Spring Butterfly-Count  Summer Butterfly Count  Autumn Butterfly Count

How the City of Tulsa’s budget cuts still
affect Oxley Nature Center

Oxley Nature Center has always operated with a very small full-time staff directing and expediting the efforts of the seasonal and volunteer staff. It has been twenty years since the Nature Center divided the work among 4 people, and Redbud Valley Nature Preserve was not a part of that schedule. We are beginning to realize that there are some things we just won’t be able to keep up with at previous levels.

We will have to scale back on the size of school groups coming on guided tours. Oxley Nature Center’s school programs will no longer be free of charge, except to Tulsa Public Schools. Fortunately, a generous private donor is providing some funding to help defray bus expenses for fieldtrips to Oxley Nature Center; we do request that teachers ask their parent-teacher organizations first.

You will find not quite as many weekend programs being offered, and the monthly astronomy programs are on hold. In order to be good stewards of our resources we ask that programs requiring supplies to be purchased or much preparation time have a minimum number of participants pre-registered 48 hours in advance. The staff has to consider each request for a program carefully now, and will have to say no more often than we like.

On the positive side, neither Oxley Nature Center nor Redbud Valley Nature Preserve has had to scale back any of the hours or days that it is open, other than the mandatory furlough days, and we have tried to remain open on a few of them when possible, flexing other days off. We have only had to cancel a few previous commitments and bookings. Oxley Nature Center’s excellent seasonal and volunteer staff has stepped forward to fill in when and where they can.

How can you help? Oxley Nature Center’s volunteer staff is always looking for another good recruit; even just a few hours each month can be a big help. Check out the “volunteers” link to find out what you might be able to do. Become a Member of The Friends of Oxley Nature Center. Not only do Members get discounts, the Oxley Nature Center Association fills in many little gaps in the Nature Center’s budget. The Friends group works on big projects too, like raising money for new exhibits and the recent remodeling of the Interpretive Building.

Attention Teachers!

Click here for information on school programs.

Oxley Nature Center just a few tour dates left for this spring, so call now to reserve a spot. Here is your chance to book an award-winning tour for your class. You may choose among several topics. The Riddle of the Woods is written for upper elementary students, and presents the lesson of energy flow from sun to producers to consumers to decomposers in the form of a mystery to be solved. BioF.A.D., which stands for Biologist For A Day, is designed to allow middle school students a chance to find out what it is like to be a field biologist as they rotate among 4 stations gathering data as citizen scientists. A Pathfinder tour offers younger students the chance to earn a badge as they hone their observation skills. A General Discovery tour can be designed for any age, and may incorporate any natural history topic you wish to introduce or emphasize.