BOW workshop participants learn basic paddle strokes before setting out in canoes.

Orienteering is one of many outdoor skills taught in BOW workshops. Media: Hi-res versions of these images may be downloaded here. Please credit the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.

RALEIGH, N.C. (April 14) — For women who would enjoy outdoor recreation but never learned the basics, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission can help.

Becoming an Outdoors-Woman, or BOW, has introduced outdoor skills to hundreds of women in North Carolina since 1997. Participants in the annual three-day weekend — to be held April 30-May 2 in Tyrrell County — can pick from a menu of hands-on lessons: from fishing, boating and shooting, to nature photography, ecology and journaling.

BOW workshops are not just for novices. Women age 18 and older who have experience in outdoor recreation, or who just enjoy the company of likeminded people, also can sign up. Registration is limited to 60. The cost is $185, which includes lodge-style accommodations at the Eastern 4-H Environmental Education Conference Center in Columbia, as well as meals, materials and use of equipment.

North Carolina BOW is part of an international program that began in Wisconsin in 1991. Besides imparting self-confidence and the pleasures of outdoor recreation, BOW strives to reinforce an environmental awareness among participants.

For more information or to register, call BOW coordinator B.B. Gillen at (919) 733-7123 Ext. 260, or visit the BOW workshops page.

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