Outdoor notes

State park museums celebrated

Utah state park museums will offer special events as part of Celebrate Your Museum Day Sept. 13.

Rock Cliff Nature Center at Jordanelle State Park will offer a workshop from 9 a.m. to noon. Participants will need leather gloves and clippers to collect plants and create fall crafts. Registration is required by calling 435-782-3030. Rock Cliff Nature Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a naturalist available to answer questions and help explore the center. Day-use fee is $7 per vehicle with up to eight people or free with a Utah State Parks Annual Pass.

Fremont Indian State Park and Museum staff will host a sneak peek of the new interactive children's area with a Fremont Indian pit house, rock-art wall and archeology lab. Staff and volunteers will be available to assist with crafts and tell stories 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Day-use fees are $6 per vehicle with up to eight occupants. Everyone visiting the museum receives a free VHS tape introducing Fremont Indian State Park. For more information, please call 435-527-4631.

More than 250 Utah museums provide cultural and educational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Museums are the guardians of Utah's natural, cultural and artistic heritage. Join the nearly 7 million people who visit Utah's museums annually and experience historical objects, artwork and interesting plants and animals.

More light geese can be hunted

Utah hunters will be able to hunt light geese into March this season. At its August meeting, members of the Utah Wildlife Board approved Utah's first-ever spring, light-goose hunt. Light geese include snow, blue and Ross' geese.

The board also approved some duck hunting changes. Scaup and canvasback ducks are struggling this year. To help the birds, members of the board approved two changes:

• Canvasbacks may not be taken this season.

• The scaup season has been shortened to 86 days, and the daily scaup bag limit has been dropped to two a day. Utah's scaup season runs from Oct. 4 to Dec. 28. Scaup may also be taken on Sept. 27 during the Youth Hunting Day.

The board also approved a new waterfowl shooting time on the opening day of the state's pheasant hunt, which opens Nov. 1. Waterfowl shooting on Nov. 1 will begin at 7:29 a.m. In the past, waterfowl hunters could not begin shooting until 8 a.m. on the opening day of the pheasant hunt.