As he walked on a path lined with towering hemlock trees, Tamaqua Area fifth grader Gabe Schuler told Locust Lake State Park naturalist Robin Tracey that he’s not much for the outdoors.

“I’m an indoor person,” Schuler said.

But minutes after he made the admission, Schuler crouched alongside his school pals, digging into the cool waters of Locust Creek.

Under Tracey’s watch, they were searching for salamanders, crayfish and other stream life. It was one of the educational sessions offered to Tamaqua fifth graders during Schuylkill County Conservancy’s recent “Outdoor Learning Day” at the Barnesville state park.

It didn’t take long for Schuler and classmates Layton Laybourn and Jonathan Gomez to spot a critter clinging to the bottom of a rock. They scooped it into a plastic bowl filled with stream water.

“We found one!” Laybourn said. “It looks like a little mini spider.”

Even the “indoor person” — Schuler — had a comment as he peered at the tiny creature.

“Wow!” he said.

Dave Kruel, a conservancy board member, has coordinated the outdoor learning program for at least a dozen years.

One of the goals is to get youngsters outside and introduce them to nature — just as it did for Schuler.

“I hope it will encourage them to learn more about nature and consider nature and wildlife as they make future decisions, including when they are adults,” Kruel said.

In addition to Tracey’s presentation on stream life, students attended sessions on trees, reptiles, mammals, plants and pollinators, and fish from those who work or volunteer in the field.

“It makes them wonder. It gets them invested,” said Susan Reier, a conservancy naturalist and youth educator.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources forester Will Thomas crunched through fallen leaves to take students to an area heavy with sassafras trees.

He plucked three leaves from a branch, each of them different. One resembled a mitten, another was an oval and the last had tree lobes. A tree can be easily identified by the leaf variations, he said.

Thomas explained that early settlers chose sassafras wood, thinking its distinct — and somewhat strong — odor could repel bedbugs.

Others used the sassafras root to make tea or a root beer.

As for maple trees, certain species are tapped for their syrup, and hemlocks? They’ve been used to tan leather, Thomas said.

“Trees produce oxygen, provide food, water and shelter,” Thomas said, noting the many ways they benefit humans and wildlife.

DCNR state park educator Quinn Heist had students crawling on the ground for a moment.

“Let’s go look for tracks,” he said, after showing what the “footprints” of deer, bears, squirrels and others appeared like.

Heist placed paper in the shape of the tracks on the forest floor.

“I see an elk! Let’s track the elk!” one student shouted.

Audrey Wells, a former Schuylkill County parks educator now with the conservancy, was accompanied by a bullfrog, toad, salamander and a corn snake. All the reptiles are Pennsylvania natives, and student were invited to touch the colorful snake — named “Snoop.”

Ed Motley of Schuylkill County Trout Unlimited showed how he makes “flies” for fly fishing, using feathers from chickens, peacocks and ducks.

Some flies measure just a millimeter or two, but with the right technique they can help to land some large lunkers from lakes and streams, he said.

Kruel, who often leads birding walks around the county, said the conservancy’s mission is to educate both young and old about nature.

“We try and get some hands-on. We feel that that’s the best — versus somebody lecturing,” Kruel said. “If the kids can see and touch, that seems to go over a lot better.”

They were also encouraged to leave their cellphones behind.

“When I was a kid, we went outside; that’s what you did,” Kruel said. “Now there are so many sports and activities. Computers are good, but this event is designed to get kids out.”

The conservancy and educators will host West Penn Elementary School fifth graders next week.

More information on the conservancy and the programs it offers can be found at https://www.ourschuylkill.org/