4-H to Offer Outdoor Skills Classes for Youth in Auburn & Waterloo

Young people aged 9 and up who are interested in learning outdoor nature skills now may enroll in a four-part workshop series offered jointly by 4-H Shooting Sports programs in Cayuga and Seneca Counties. Topics include “Basics of Using a Compass Outside”, “Wildlife Identification”, “Outdoor Cutting Tools”, and “Wild Edibles”.  Youth may enroll in a single class or the entire series for a fee of $5 per class to cover course materials and pizza.

Outdoor skills workshops will be offered in both partnering counties on different dates.  Cayuga County workshops will be held from 6:00-7:30pm on Mondays June 9, 16, 23, & 30 at Cornell Cooperative Extension Cayuga County, 248 Grant Avenue in Auburn, NY.  Seneca County workshops will be held from 6:00-7:30pm on Tuesdays, May 27, June 3, 10 & 17 at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Seneca County, 369 East Main Street, Waterloo, NY. Pre-registration is required, and participants are asked to indicate which date and location they plan to attend when they register.

The first three workshops are led by CCE Environment & Natural Resources Educator, Ryan Staychock. In “Basics of Using a Compass Outside”, participants will learn the major features of a compass, how to take a bearing of a feature outside, and estimate distance by pacing (register at: https://bit.ly/4-HCompassBasics). “Wildlife Identification” will cover how to identify the basic features of common New York State mammals such as coyote, beaver and white-tailed deer using pelts, skulls, scat and plaster tracks (register at: https://bit.ly/4-HWildlifeID ).  Participants in “Outdoor Cutting Tools” will learn the basic features and safe use of different axes (wood splitting axe and hatchet) and the bow saw and cross cut saw (register at: https://bit.ly/4-HCuttingTools ).

Sara Wagner, 4-H Program Leader at CCE Cayuga will lead the final workshop, “Wild Edibles” in which she will introduce the principles of safe and ethical foraging and how to identify at several species of local edible wild plants and how to eat them (register at: https://bit.ly/4-WildEdibles) .

All workshop participants will be invited to test their skills at an Outdoor Skillathon to be held at the Cayuga County 4-H Youth Fair in August 2025.

For more information on 4-H programs in Cayuga County, visit https://ccecayuga.org/4-h-youth or contact Sara Wagner, 4-H Program Leader at [email protected]. For information on 4-H in Seneca County, visit https://senecacountycce.org/4-h-youth-development or contact Rachel Williams, 4-H Youth Development Issue Leader at [email protected].