Hi JH Friends!
My name is Fio and today I officially founded a new club I have been thinking about starting for a while. It's called the Jackson Heights Urban Nature Club (JHUNC).
I created a Facebook group for it with the same name and here is the info of the club's description:
This club, founded in May 2021, is designed to help families of all shapes and sizes to connect with wildlife and the natural world. The club will be free/donation-based and all proceeds will go into buying materials for the club such as field guides, owl pellets, insect nets, binoculars or towards transportation to sites around the city (i.e. metrocards whenever possible, or gas if people are driving others beyond their own families). We will keep the vast majority of our events free and try to network with organizations around the city to get discounted rates to any museums, zoos, botanical gardens etc. We will set up a fund for people to donate to help other families attend events that are not free.
The club will grow and change as more volunteers and families join and express their interests.
Two main things we will do will be:
a) learning about local animals in the Jackson Heights area (bugs/insects, birds, squirrels, raccoons, opossums etc.) and playing games and doing activities in Travers Park, open streets and the Landing Lights open fields.
b) taking field trips as a group to sites around the city such as Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens Zoo, NY Aquarium, Central Park etc.)
Please post and ideas or desires for programming you may have and invite other parents and families who might be interested in participating. You can PM me (Fio) or email me at
fionnualakerins@gmail.com with questions as well, but I will monitor the group closely and post updates here as things develop.
That's about it. I'll be working on creating a website too when I have time but for now Facebook will have the most updated info. I will plan to be at the Drag Queen Story Hour on the 16th and after the event is over will chat to people and do some recruiting. We may also have a special animal guest present!
Hope to meet some of you soon for some nature fun!
