FAIRMONT — In rural communities an often-heard lament is that there’s nothing for kids to do. But that’s not necessarily true and perhaps the answer lies in getting kids involved in important yet fun aspects of life, rather than focusing on empty playtime.

One local conservation group is able to help with that.

Pheasants Forever of Martin County is eager to begin engaging with area youth now that pandemic worries have begun to subside. Bryan Gregor of Pheasants Forever shares how the group has reached out to kids in the past, and what plans are in place to do so again.

Like many things, Gregor shared that youth involvement has been a challenge over the past year due to Covid restrictions but he noted that they were still able to do some small projects here and there. More recently, Gregor said that Pheasants Forever has been working with youth on a pollinator plant program.

“We’ve been doing that for about five years and we’ve put about 15 or 16 acres into pollinator plants at about five different sites,” he said. The program involves planting various flowers in order to maintain pollinator populations, as pollinators are needed to produce many fruits and vegetables.

“We worked with Michelle Rosen at the Elementary School and we went in to the first graders. We have one day where we do some projects in the classroom to help them understand what pollination is all about. We explain the importance of the food cycle, and then we actually involve them in going out to the property and literally throwing the seeds out on the ground so that they have a hands on experience.

“Then we encourage them to go out in following years and tell their families. It’s been a real exciting time. The last one we put out by Cedar Creek Park in the spring of 2020 with a couple of kids from the Truman Elementary School and this year we did in class with 20 or 30 kids from Truman.”

Gregor said that the whole idea is to get kids interested in conservation with habitats and give them an idea of what it’s all about.

“We also do other programs for the kids,” he continued. “Last year everything got shut down by Pheasants Forever National. We couldn’t bring things together.

“But normally we have a youth trapshooting day where we help introduce them to the sport of trapshooting. I’m also a firearms safety instructor, so we make sure the kids are trained properly in the safety aspects of handling guns.”

Gregor also shared that there is usually a youth pheasant hunt in the fall, which is utilized to try and provide some needed mentorship for kids.

“We don’t turn anybody down, but if we get more than we can handle we try to pick the kids that don’t have a mentor in the family that takes them hunting. They all like to go, but we try to pick ones that don’t have the opportunity.

“We have local land owners, including myself and some others, who allow us on their property and we stock some birds so the kids have an opportunity. We want to introduce them to hunting and the outdoors and all that stuff.”

with Covid restrictions lifting, Gregor notes that Pheasants Forever is starting to make plans for the future.

“We know for sure that we’re going to have a youth hunt this fall,” he said. “We also did two years’ worth of youth conservation day in August, but last year that got missed because of Covid. We’re going to have a banquet on August 28, but we haven’t done that since 2019 and we’re just making plans for that now.

“There will be things for the kids to do before the regular banquet, and we’re encouraging kids to come and we invite families now. There was a time when Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited and all of that was more of a man’s night out, but those days are gone. We get a lot of families now and we do things for the kids.

“We won’t have a full conservation day for the kids, but we will have something going on for them that day. Prior to that, we’ve got a dedication program for some land that was purchased by Pheasants Forever.

“So we’re just now able to get some things rolling and start making some plans,” he said. “The kids enjoy it, and they get excited about it.”