Friday May 19

Help prepare natural history specimens for the Bell Museum’s research collections! In an expedition-style set up outside of the museum, work with Bell scientists to process mammal and bird specimen for the scientific collections. (Must be detail oriented and comfortable handling dead animals and blood). Limit 10 

Take an in depth tour of the Bell Museum’s zoological collections and participate in a mammal ID workshop. Limit 15

Join Bell Museum Science Director George Weiblen for an insider's look at the process of designing and building the Minnesota Journeys exhibit. Moving the iconic dioramas from the J.F. Bell Museum of Natural History to a new location offered an unprecedented opportunity to re-envision how we interpret nature as members of a society distracted by digital technology and artificial intelligence. Limit 15

Botanists and gardeners preserve plant specimens to communicate the beauty of nature, for identifying species, to document where different species grow, to teach others, and to make new discoveries. We begin with a behind-the-scenes tour of the University of Minnesota Herbarium, the largest and oldest collection of plants in the state and then walk to the Bell Museum collecting some plants along the way. At the Bell, we will look at resources for identifying these specimens, and then learn techniques for pressing and preserving botanical collections. The workshop is led by Tim Whitfeld, Collections Manager of the Bell Museum Herbarium, and colleagues. Limit 10

How to lead a bird walk! Whether you’re an expert or new to the scene, leading bird walks can be a great way to connect people with the outdoors. In this session, we’ll explore the Bell’s Learning Landscape while discussing how anyone, regardless of birding know-how, can facilitate a great observing experience for the public. Limit 15

An opportunity to engage with the Bell Museum’s public education collection, which holds a wide variety of specimens from birds and mammals to plants and insects. Explore the Bell’s Collections Cove, next to the Touch and See Lab, and learn about what these specimens have told us in the past and what they might tell us in the future, as well as how they are helpful with educating the public. Limit 15

Help prepare natural history specimens for the Bell Museum’s research collections! In an expedition-style set up outside of the museum, work with Bell scientists to process mammal and bird specimen for the scientific collections. (Must be detail oriented and comfortable handling dead animals and blood). Limit 10 

The Tree of Life gallery in the MN Journey’s exhibit displays the wondrous diversity of animal life. Dr. Sharon Jansa will guide a journey through the fossil record and what we’ve learned from molecule of life, DNA. Limit 15

Naturalists are often faced with the challenge of how to characterize the vegetation in a particular location. This guided activity uses the Learning Lanscape at the Bell Museum to teach a fast & simple method for quantifying plant life that can be applied just about anywhere to teach and learn about how to sample vegetation or identify plant species.  Limit 15

Mapping Change and its companion project, the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas, together offer the chance for naturalists to participate in the "nitty gritty" details of biodiversity research. Learn how to navigate and utilize the Biodiversity Atlas, how to capture biodiversity data, the basis for mapping species ranges and predicting future ranges under climate change scenarios. Limit 15

Botanists and gardeners preserve plant specimens to communicate the beauty of nature, for identifying species, to document where different species grow, to teach others, and to make new discoveries. We begin with a behind-the-scenes tour of the University of Minnesota Herbarium, the largest and oldest collection of plants in the state and then walk to the Bell Museum collecting some plants along the way. At the Bell, we will look at resources for identifying these specimens, and then learn techniques for pressing and preserving botanical collections. The workshop is led by Tim Whitfeld, Collections Manager of the Bell Museum Herbarium, and colleagues. Limit 10