 Discussing the history of our museum on the way over to the fish collection. At the LSU Museum of Natural Science we design outreach events that target various age groups, from K-12 children, to college students and beyond. Our mindset is that you can never be too young or too old to learn about the natural world around you. Several years ago our museum paired up with the Louisiana Master Naturalist Association as part of our respective efforts to educate the citizens of this state about the wildlife around them. Master Naturalists participate in a variety of classes before earning a certification that allows them in turn to train others in natural history, and one of these classes is about museum science. This last weekend we held one of these classes at the LSUMNS and gave tours of our various vertebrate collections, and I led the tour of the ichthyology collection. Our fish collection is one of the few collections that are not currently housed in Foster Hall (although that will change soon... more to come on that in the future), and even though the forecast for the day called for a deluge of rain we got lucky and I was able to take the tour over to see the full extent of the collection. Leading these tours is always a fun experience as the participants are full of intrigue and great questions. If you are interested in learning more about the plants and animals around you and you live in Louisiana, then I urge you to check out the Louisiana Master Naturalists Association. If you live in a different state, there are many other Master Naturalists Associations across the country, and one may be near you!
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