The Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s April program at the National Conservation Training Center will look at two youth initiatives administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The program will be held at 7 p.m. April 13, in Room 151 of the Instructional West Building.

Admission is free and anyone is welcome to attend.

The speaker will be Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist Jim Siegel. The two initiatives he will discuss are the “Let’s Go Outside” program and the Shorebird Sister Schools Program.

The “Let’s Go Outside” initiative is a broad-based effort intended to get children, parents and educators more involved in nature. Its website can be found at www.fws.gov/letsgooutside.

The Shorebird Sister Schools Program initiative is focused specifically on engaging schools and communities in learning more about shorebirds and their conservation. Its website is at www.fws.gov/sssp.

Siegel is a biologist and course leader for the Division of Education and Outreach at NCTC.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in wildlife sciences from Cornell University and the University of Arizona, respectively, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

His academic specialty is forest birds, with additional strong interests in amphibians and reptiles.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is a United Way of the Eastern Panhandle partner agency and a member of the Combined Federal Campaign.