Clark County Wetlands Park

Our youth artist showcase, Seedlings, is back in the Lizard Lounge this month! Artists from our Watercolor for Kids program have selected their favorite pieces of work to show off in this special show that should delight children and adults alike. Stop by the Nature Center during open hours between June 7 and 29 to see nature art created by the kids of Clark County. We're so proud of these youth artists - come show them some support!

Thanks to the Wetlands Park Friends, we'll be hosting another slate of summer lecturers this season at Wetlands Park! First up, on Thursday, June 11, from 6 - 8 pm, is biologist and educator Alex Harper! For this lecture, Alex will explore the fascinating world of bird sounds at Wetlands Park, helping participants learn how birds communicate and how listening can deepen our connection to nature. This is a free, walk-in program, and light refreshments will be served, so you're welcome to just show up to the Auditorium and enjoy learning about birds with us. We hope to see you there!

[Photo by Alex Harper.]

The call for artwork for our 5th Annual Juried Show, In Between Worlds, is officially open, now through July 14! This year, we're looking for art that explores the hidden worlds of nature - those times and places where lines are blurred and boxes are broken. Be it the deep ink-black of a desert night, pavement overtaking plant life in the sizzling summer, or an oft-ignored species of wetlands animal, we're eager to see representations of the liminal spaces where boundaries are less clear than usual. For more information, including rules and regulations, please visit https://clarkcountynvpublicarts.submittable.com/submit/357037/in-between-worlds-5th-annual-wetlands-park-juried-show/eligibility. We look forward to seeing your work!

Beaver Walks are back at Wetlands Park for the summer! The early morning is your best chance to see a beaver in our waterways, and our staff naturalists will show you just where to look for evidence of them. These walks are scheduled for Saturday, June 13, and Saturday, July 11, from 5 - 7 am, and are suitable for attendees ages 10 and up. Sign up for these walks for $5 per person on our website at ccwetlandspark.com - you won't want to miss the calm and stillness of a morning at the Park!

As the sun sets on Wetlands Park, the landscape and wildlife may look totally different. Join us on Saturday, May 30, from 7 - 9 pm, for a walk all about Creatures of the Moon! This is an exciting chance to learn about Wetlands Park at night, and the animals - such as coyotes, moths, bats, and beavers - that come out when the heat of the day subsides. The moon may be full, but this walk isn't yet - so register for $5 per person on our website at ccwetlandspark.com.

If you've never tried creative writing before, but have been curious about the process, blackout poetry is a great place to start! Join us for Kids Create on Saturday, May 23, from 11 - 12:30 pm to get a primer on blackout poetry from our staff writing instructor, then try your hand at the process, writing poems inspired by weather and climate. It's $5 per child to enroll on our website at ccwetlandspark.com. We hope you'll bring your family down to the Park to learn about creative writing with us!

Smokey Bear's Fire Safety Day, held Saturday, May 9, went wonderfully! Event attendees learned about fire prevention, took photos with Smokey Bear, tried on gear, explored fire engines, and escaped a simulated house fire. There was even a lecture led by Wildland Fire Service all about fire prevention in Southern Nevada. Thank you all so much for joining us for this first-time event - we hope you enjoyed yourselves, and learned a bit about fire safety, too!

A new solo exhibition is up in our Nest Gallery, called "Animals of the Wild and Their Habitats," by award-winning local artist Angela Caballero-Fields! Angela's paintings span representative and abstract depictions of desert wildlife and landscapes. Join us tomorrow, May 16, from 2 - 4 pm for her opening reception, where she'll be raffling off a poster of her painting titled "Monarchs". We hope you'll come by to celebrate Clark County's artistic community!

Unbound, our plein air invitational art show, returns for a fourth year! Artists who participated in painting en plein air at Wetlands Art Day were invited to exhibit their work in the Spotlight on Nature Gallery, and we ended up with 34 paintings by artists from across the Las Vegas Valley. Visit the Nature Center this Saturday, May 16, from 1 - 3 pm for the opening reception, where we will be awarding Best in Show and three Honorable Mentions. We hope you'll join us to see the incredible works of art on display, all inspired by Wetlands Park!

[Art close-ups are "Spring Time Jamboree" by Samantha Gardner, and "Oasis at the Wetlands" by Yuliana Karpenok.]

Is your child interested in learning about the wild world we live in? Presented by Clark County Parks and Recreation, we at Wetlands Park are welcoming Red Rock Audubon Society for their Nature Ambassador program next week, May 19 - 22, from 10 am - 12 pm each day! Youth explorers ages 6 - 12 will get to engage playfully with nature while learning about the wildlife and natural resources of the Mojave Desert. To sign up for all four days of programming, enroll your child for $15 total on our website at ccwetlandspark.com. Let's learn to become Nature Ambassadors together!