Wings and Wildlife

We have had a couple of busy and fun days. The National Park Service put on an event at nearby Davis Camp. A campground and day use park on the Arizona side of the Colorado River just below Davis Dam.  The event was called Wings and Wildlife. They did this in conjunction with several other federal, state, and local agencies. There were also area clubs, organizations, and businesses involved. This event was to promote the many outdoor opportunities in the area and how these groups provide services to protect both the enviromenent and people utilizing the outdoor area.

On Friday, Victoria and I helped our ranger supervisors gather and move supplies from ranger headquarters to Davis Camp. We loaded tables and boxes of supplies into their trucks and moved them to the park. Victoria sharpened about 100 pencils to give to the event participants and folded handouts to prepare for the following day.

Saturday we arrived at Davis Camp at 7:30 am and Amanda our ranger supervisor made introductions to all the volunteers and we started setting up. She asked me and several high school students to set up tables and easy up tents for each of the groups that will have booths. Many of these kids were on the field trip we went on last week so we knew each other. Victoria manned sign up tables with some of the other women volunteers.

Happy Volunteers

Amanda "The boss Lady"

Official Officials

Guest had the opportunity to take guided bird watching hikes, photography hikes and kayaking down The Colorado River. All of the booths were manned by represenitives of the different organizations. Many of them had examples of what there group was involved in. There were live examples of native animals and bones and fossils of extinct creatures. All the booths had educational information and displays of how man and nature interact and how each effects the other. There was everthing from fish and game to water reclamation, coast guard to law enforcement.

Game and Fish booth

It's a monster (not the boy)

Some of the kids who attended

This was a family oriented event and we had a lot of young children and lot of hand outs for them. They all gathered up different rubber bracelets and coloring book and whistles. The NPS had a fire truck there and they could climb in it and wear a fire helmet. There was a fire hose so the kids could spray water from the hose.

Fun with the fire truck

Some of the booths

One of the big highlights of the event was appearances by Smokey the Bear and Puddles the Blue Goose. They were a hit with guest both young and old. I found it funny how many of the parents seemed to enjoy Smokey more than the kids. We (us older volunteers) decided it was because when we were young the commercials featuring Smokey were always on TV.

Smokey & Puddles with one of the kids

The small kids had mixed reactions to the two characters. We had everything from thrilled excitement to downright fear. These two almost 7’ tall furry fellows could be a bit intimidating to small fry. Most of them warmed up to the two and hugs and high fives abound. Smokey and Puddles human helpers handed out bracelets and posters to all the children while the pair posed for pictures with the kids young and old.

And another kid

At the end of the day everyone did their part and we left the park looking like we were never there.  We all agreed the day was a great success. There was not an official count but we believe we had 300-400 people attend. Even the weather was perfect, sunny and a high of about 75 and NO WIND, just a light breeze in the afternoon which is appreciated in the desert sun.

This was a fun day and Victoria and I agreed that it was great to be a part of it. We met so many people and made some new friends. We worked hard and were tired by the end of the day but this kind of tired I’ll take any time. We headed home to clean ourselves up and then went out to try another local pizza place. We went to Vito’s Pizza in Bullhead City. One of the high school volunteers worked there and he made us a great pizza.