An Entomological Adventure

With as much enthusiasm as some take up video games or baseball, a group of middle school-age kids are spending six days this summer, over four months, catching and identifying and cataloging Cove Canyon's invertebrate population. Funded through a grant from the Charlotte Y. Martin Foundation, Rim Country is offering a unique program for 7th and 8th graders in Billings--part summer camp, part research project. Three high school students are involved as on-site mentors , and the adult staff includes entomologist Ralph Scott, high school science educator Joe Catron, and Rim Country program director Carolyn Parrish. The kids come to Cove Canyon for a full day and a half of insect-related adventures, camp out overnight, and are involved in the important job of species inventory on the prairie. All research is consistent with protocols of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research and will be added and compared to other data collected in the Billings area and across the nation. Despite the sometimes daunting terminology and microscope-necessary identification, the students have attacked the task with enthusiasm, flipping through insect keys and pinning butterfly wings like professionals. Of particular interest were the night insects, caught on lighted white sheets, and the grasshopper nymphs. And like most memories of summer camp, the experience includes the requisite field games, hot dog roasts and campfire stories, as well. The students were contact through Educational Talent Search and are from Billings and surrounding communities.