Extension service, parks offer naturalist class

Ohio State University’s Lucas County Extension Office will partner with Toledo-area Met­ro­parks to offer the university’s Certified Volunteer Naturalist training program.

It emphasizes hands-on natural resource education with community-based volunteer service.

The class will meet Tuesday and Saturday nights in August, studying ecological concepts, entomology, birds and mammals, native plants and wildflowers, invasive species, and geology and nature interpretation and effective environmental education.

The $225 fee includes more than 40 hours of education. Participants are required to give 40 hours of service — 30 of which must be at the Metroparks in the first year, and 20 hours each year after at a place of their choice.