The 31st Conservation Field Days will be held from 9 a.m. 2 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5, at the Mountain Research Station, 365 Test Farm Road, in Waynesville.

In the early days, the field days were for high school students, but eventually were offered to fifth-graders, instead. Haywood Soil and Water Conservation District expects to host 650 students during the two-day period. There will be 10 stations manned by various resource people, including Randall Beavers, with the NCSU Minerals Research Lab; Haywood Waterways doing the Make it and Take It water cycle bracelet and activity; the N.C. Forest Service;  Blair Ogburn, naturalist with Balsam Mountain Trust and her snake, Corny, as well as raptors, Buttercup the turtle; National Park Rangers, with the insect search in leaf litter; tractor rides; ...