Registration for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) 26th annual Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop opens Monday, June 17, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos announced today. The BOW workshop will be held from Sept. 13-15, 2019, at the Silver Bay YMCA Conference and Family Retreat Center on Lake George in the Adirondacks.
“Women are a vital and fast-growing segment of New York’s hunting, angling, and outdoor recreation community,” Commissioner Seggos said. “These workshops give participants the skills and knowledge necessary to feel confident about getting outdoors. And the location of this workshop, on the shores of Lake George, provides the perfect backdrop for learning new outdoor skills in an Adirondack setting.”
BOW workshops provide hands-on instruction and experiential learning in a fun and supportive environment. Courses being offered for the first time this year include K-9 first aid, hawk-watching, intro to hobby farming, and basic self-defense for women. Courses may also include basic fishing, fly fishing, archery, crossbow, shotgun and rifle shooting, kayaking, hiking, camping, stand-up paddle boarding, wild plant identification, boat and trailer towing, hunter education, Dutch-oven cooking, wilderness survival, and more.
The workshop is limited to 125 women participants, ages 18 and older. The cost for the three-day workshop ranges from $305 to $450 per participant, depending on lodging and courses selected. Because the workshops are popular, DEC will use a lottery system to draw participants from those who apply. In addition, applications are available for a limited number of partial scholarships.
Registration forms will be posted on DEC’s BOW webpage beginning June 17. Additional information about the Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program is also available on the DEC site, including photo galleries and testimonials from previous workshops, and information on day-long and weekend-long Beyond BOW workshops.
To contact DEC about the Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program, please call (518) 402-8963, e-mail us, or write to: NY Outdoors-Women, 625 Broadway, 5th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-4754.
