After School Club Welcomes All Kids Ages 9-13

After School Club (ASC), featuring outdoor activities and skills is now in its 7th year at Swan Ecosystem Center. Beginning February 8th ASC will hold its first meeting of the new year. Most meetings are held at the Condon Work Center. Home school students and public school students between the ages of 9 through 13 are welcome. Younger students are invited if parents can be present. This year ASC will meet on Mondays.

We are so fortunate that Dennis Monson will be assisting again this year. In addition to Dennis, local recreation specialists and naturalists will be making special visits at many of the weekly meetings.

Projects this year are funded by REI, Crown of the Continent Ecosystem Education Consortium and the U. S. Forest Service. This funding somewhat determines what projects we will pursue. Last year, assisted by U.S. Forest Service funds, ASC students constructed and planted a large native plant garden and facilitated a field trip to Glacier National Park's native plant nursery. The garden grew well the summer of 2009. Now the final component of the pollinator/native plant project will be to prepare for an open house for local residents in June of 2010. But that is only one of many projects!

During winter 2010 we will begin our inventory of tracks. We'll be outdoors on skis and snowshoes as soon as the snow is deep enough.

Other projects will include map work, compass and binocular skills and several field trips to the top of the Crown of the Continent. Our spring projects will include camp cooking and an overnight trip at the end of the year as well as preparing for our open house.

There is no fee for ASC, yet we welcome donated refreshments and extra adults as supervisors and drivers. Encourage your student to come to a few meetings to see if they would be interested in participating in the club. Our motto is "education, service and recreation." Please call Diann at (406) 754-3137 for more information.