Last week, 30 special needs students from Nevada Union High School’s Adaptive PE Class armed with magnifying glasses and frog nets could be found looking for leaves of different sizes, bugs, spiders and flowering plants as a part of a nature scavenger hunt at Black Swan Preserve.
“Let’s do this again,” said one boy named Jake. On this same outing last year, the boy caught a fish with the help of Rotarian Howard Wilson.
It was the second year for this outdoor adventure organized by Bear Yuba Land Trust (BYLT), 49er Rotary Breakfast Club of Nevada City and Nevada Union.
Members of the Nevada Union basketball team, parents, teachers and Rotarians spent the day with the young people hiking to the pond, fishing for bass and looking for Western Pond Turtles and bullfrogs at the Land Trust preserve. During lunch, Kristen and Stephen Hein sang and played the guitar, entertaining the group with original nature songs. Everyone joined in with their best coyote yips and howls.
“Last year we organized over 75 community outings, but this was absolutely my favorite,” said Melony Vance, BYLT’s Development and Programs Manager.
The outing was part of 49er Rotary’s Community Service and Bear Yuba Land Trust’s ongoing Encounter Nature program which connects hundreds of people with the natural world through treks, education and youth and family events each year.