For the City Times

Bugs, birds, bones and much more will be on display at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point this April as part of the eighth annual Collection Crawl.

Hosted by the Museum of Natural History, the event will be held from 9 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, April 8. Offered to the public free of charge, it allows visitors to see some of the more than 400,000 mammal, bird, insect, fish, reptile and amphibian, parasite, geologic, archaeologic and fossil collections on display in several university buildings. Featured this year is the museum’s geology collection, curated by Professor Kevin Hefferan of the Geography and Geology Department.

“This is our chance each year to throw open the doors and allow the public to experience the amazing diversity of regional and global natural science collections held by the museum,” said Ray Reser, museum director.

Visitors begin the Collection Crawl at Albertson Hall (university library), 900 Reserve St., where they pick up passports then gather stamps at 11 collection areas around campus. At each stop, university students will provide information and answer questions for families, students and community members who attend.

In addition to the museum, access will be available to the following collections: archaeology, entomology (insects), geology (rocks), herbarium (plants), herpetology (amphibians and reptiles), ichthyology (fish), mammalogy (mammals), ornithology (birds), paleontology (prehistoric life) and parasitology (parasites).

The UW-Stevens Point Museum of Natural History is an outreach and educational facility and part of the College of Letters and Science. The only public natural history museum in north central Wisconsin, the museum’s exhibits are located on the first floor of Albertson Hall and may be viewed during regular library hours: Monday-Thursday, 7:45 a.m. to midnight; Friday, 7:45 AM to 9 PM; Saturday, 9 AM to 9 PM; and Sunday, 11 AM to midnight.

Visitors can park for free in Lot R, which is accessible from Portage or Reserve streets. More information may be found at www.uwsp.edu/museum.