Growing Destinations

Discover Southeast Minnesota’s Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo

• Experience Rochester • Episode 76

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Curious about the life of a dedicated naturalist and the fascinating world of Minnesota-native wildlife? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Jaide Ryks, a passionate naturalist from Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo in Southeast Minnesota. Discover how Jaide turned her childhood love of nature into a meaningful career filled with animal care, education, and conservation efforts. Jaide shares her unique journey, from growing up along the Zumbro River to the fulfilling role she plays at the zoo, filled with teaching and engaging with the public about wildlife's wonders.

Bill Von Bank:

The Growing Destinations podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Learn more about Minnesota's third largest city, which is home to Mayo Clinic and features wonderful recreational and entertainment opportunities, by visiting experiencerochestermncom.

Jaide Ryks:

When kids will touch a snake for the first time. Sometimes they're just very surprised because they think it's going to be gross and slimy. And then I'll explain it's not, and they touch it and they're just like surprised because they think it's going to be gross and slimy. And then I'll explain it's not, and they touch it and they're just like so excited and happy because, well, that's not so bad.

Bill Von Bank:

Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, where we take a deep dive into destination development and focus on a wide range of topics, from tourism and entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism, and much more. I'm your host, bill Vaughn Bank. Spending time in nature isn't just a great way to unwind it's essential for our well-being and understanding of the world around us. Today, we're diving into the beauty and importance of the natural world with , a dedicated naturalist at Oxbow Park and Zolman Zoo in southeastern Minnesota. Jade has been connected to Oxbow Park and Zolman Zoo since childhood and has been a full-time employee since 2019, educating visitors about local wildlife and conservation. In this episode, we'll explore the park's unique offerings, the role of a naturalist and why getting outside is more important than ever. Jade Ricks, welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast.

Jaide Ryks:

Thank you, thanks for having me.

Bill Von Bank:

You're having us on a little bit of a cold day. It's quite cold out there, but I understand the animals are just fine.

Jaide Ryks:

Yeah, they are. They're Minnesota natives so they're used to it anyway, and the ones that do hibernate or maybe fly south for the winter have accommodations.

Bill Von Bank:

Tell us a little bit about your history with Oxbow Park and Zolman Zoo. I know you've been here for a few years.

Jaide Ryks:

Yeah, well, I grew up about 10 minutes from here in the country and we actually lived on the Zumbro River, so we like to canoe down and then get out at Oxbow and then spend the day here, and then I interned here in 2014. I was a sophomore in college studying biology, and then I also did a seasonal position in the winter of 17 and 18 to just get a little bit more experience in the wintertime as well. So I had only worked here in the summer and then in 2019, I became full-time in March, so I'm almost six years.

Bill Von Bank:

What does a typical day as a naturalist at Oxbow Park in Zolman Zoo look like?

Jaide Ryks:

One of my favorite things about working here is that we don't have a lot of typical days. Every day is going to be a little bit different, but they start out with chores in the morning. Zoo husbandry will. We'll make the diets and then split apart and go and take care of different areas of the zoo feeding, cleaning, providing enrichment. A lot of times we'll be teaching classes, so May is our busiest time of year for school groups and different schools coming to do classes and field trips. So we'll spend a lot of time teaching different classes indoors and outdoors, and then projects, zoo projects, maintenance. I do a lot of administration as well different things. So every day, luckily, is a little bit different.

Bill Von Bank:

Specifically with the Zolman Zoo. Tell us more about the zoo, the animal collection you have here and how people can experience the zoo.

Jaide Ryks:

It is a free zoo. We do not have admission, so you can come. You don't have to pay for anything and it's pretty small. We have about 85 animals and they're all Minnesota native. So you're going to see wolves, bear, big cats, some raptors like eagles, hawks, owls and even our big hoofstock. We have deer, elk and bison. Bison now are not native to Minnesota at this time, but in the past they once were.

Bill Von Bank:

How do you engage visitors and the local community in learning about nature and conservation?

Jaide Ryks:

Public programs is a big one. We teach some type of public program every weekend. We rotate between Saturday and Sunday Feed the Snakes program, big Backyard Bird Count. In March we teach about maple syruping. We make our own here, so we get the public engaged because they can come free programs and learn all about different stuff. And we also new with our new nature center. We offer birthday parties and we will provide a little bit of a naturalist program for that as well. And we do outreaches. We'll go to fairs, rochester Fest, schools, all sorts of things.

Bill Von Bank:

You mentioned the nature center and we're in it right now and it's a beautiful facility. Tell us more about it.

Jaide Ryks:

It's awesome. It was much needed. Our old nature center was quite small. We would do animal procedures and eat lunch and do our office work in the same area. So this nature center we opened in May of 23. We have three huge classrooms, nice exhibit area for the animals, great bathrooms that was a big one, People don't have to wait in line anymore and a great office wing as well.

Bill Von Bank:

When you walk in, it just it's so inviting and the whole atmosphere of it. It's a great, great way to engage the public, both inside a building, even before you go out into the zoo.

Jaide Ryks:

Yeah, exactly, and there's a lot of informational signage. We have a little play area for kids that incorporates the zoo and information on how we got some of our animals here. So there's a lot of learning that you can do here in the Nature Center.

Bill Von Bank:

Why do you think it's important for people to spend time in nature?

Jaide Ryks:

Nature has many health benefits just being outside. There's a lot of research on it. Even spending 20 minutes outside has shown increased levels of cortisol and decreased stress hormones. So I can say all I want well, it's good for you. But there's science now to back it and it's fun. You learn a lot, you get to get dirty and you know. You get to see all sorts of stuff animals, plants, you know, you can play in the river, in the water, and it's just more engaging, I think, than watching TV or staying inside.

Bill Von Bank:

Did you see an increase in people experiencing the outdoors, especially during the pandemic?

Jaide Ryks:

I would say yes, not right away, because we were closed at some point with the state mandates and everything. But once summer hit, it was a big increase. A lot of people out hiking, camping for the first time, maybe enjoying the outdoors in the zoo, because that's kind of what COVID made us do was spend more time outdoors, and there was a big increase.

Bill Von Bank:

What are some simple ways families can engage with nature even if they don't have access to a large park.

Jaide Ryks:

If they don't have access to a large park, they're still going to have access to some type of nature. Even in the middle of Rochester Indian Heights Park, a lot of people don't know it's there and it's right smack in the middle of the city, so it's there. You can check out Quarry Hill as well bird watching, going for a walk. Here at Oxbow we have a campground and it's a little bit old school, not as updated as some campgrounds, but it's great because there's not much to it. You don't have to buy all this new stuff to try camping. It's a good place to try it out. If you have always wanted to try camping but you're a little nervous, I think that would be a good way to try out nature.

Bill Von Bank:

For people who may not be comfortable exploring the outdoors. How do you encourage them to take that first step?

Jaide Ryks:

Coming to a nature center is a great first step because we are indoors. So if you're a little nervous to be outside in nature, you can check out some cool facts and read about the animals here in the nature center. But we also have hiking trails that again, they're not a big commitment. We have some short ones that, if you're worried about maybe not being able to do it or it's too long, it's a great place to try it out because it's not like we're Zion National Park. You know. You don't have to get all this camping gear and hiking gear and all this fancy stuff. You can just kind of come out for the day and enjoy it.

Bill Von Bank:

Are there any challenges you face in your role, particularly in educating the public about wildlife and conservation?

Jaide Ryks:

Yes, a lot of people. Well, maybe not a lot, but some people just don't understand zoos, and that's okay. We are here to educate them on what zoos are about. We're here to educate on why the animals are here. We have a lot of rehabbed animals. They're here because they cannot live in the wild, so we're a place that they can continue living. They didn't have to be euthanized because they got hurt. We also support conservation of species. We're part of a Minnesota bison conservation herd, so it's a program where we are conserving the bison species. So we do have challenges with some people who don't understand that and we hope that we can reach out to them and get them to understand it. But every once in a while you can't change everybody's opinion, and that's okay.

Bill Von Bank:

You grew up going to Oxbow Park. How did that influence your passion for the outdoors and, ultimately, your career?

Jaide Ryks:

Right away as a child I was and not in a bad way, but forced into nature. My parents are very nature loving. They like to spend time outside, so naturally I was too. My mom especially. She loved taking in maybe some stray cat and we'll take care of animals that we might find that are hurt. So we did a lot of that canoeing as a kid and it just kind of continued with my love. I loved coming out here because I love animals. I had tons of pets growing up so it just kind of stuck with me. My mom told me that when I was a little kid we'd come out here. I said I want to be an oxbow worker. She told me that when I got my full-time job here and I was like I don't remember that, but apparently it stuck.

Bill Von Bank:

Do you have a favorite animal at the Zoman Zoo?

Jaide Ryks:

It's a really tough question. They're all incredible, but when we got the cougar, we got her as a four-week-old kitten and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We got to help raise her, bottle feed her and just see her grow and that was a really cool experience.

Bill Von Bank:

A magnet for families, I would imagine the zoo. Are there any stories along the way that you see where kids just get so excited about this animal or that animal that you can share?

Jaide Ryks:

I love teaching certain classes and seeing their faces when I tell them a cool fact about an animal. When kids will touch a snake for the first time, sometimes they're just very surprised because they think it's going to be gross and slimy. And then I'll explain it's not, and they touch it and they're just like so excited and happy because, well, that's not so bad. It's really fun seeing them learn different things.

Bill Von Bank:

Outside of work, you enjoy do-it-yourself projects, gardening and wildlife photography. How do these hobbies connect with your love for nature?

Jaide Ryks:

Wildlife photography it gets me out. I love birding and looking for different species of birds along with photographing them, so I go out and usually bring my dog along. We go for little hikes and photograph birds, any kind of wildlife so it gets me out there Gardening not so much like wildlife out hiking around, but I'm outside in my yard all the time and it keeps me busy, even in the winter. I have a lot of indoor plants, so that keeps me busy as well, since I can't go outside and garden.

Bill Von Bank:

We've spoken about your favorite animal. Do you have a favorite wildlife photography moment? Are there certain animals you just love to photograph?

Jaide Ryks:

I have a recent one. I was down in Arizona with some family and I saw an Anna's hummingbird for the first time. They have bright purple necks, unlike our ruby-throateds have red ones. It was so cool just seeing him and I was trying to get pictures and he was on the the feeder it's not a super cool picture and then all of a sudden he just sat on a branch four feet from me and just posed. It was like he was listening to me and it was so cool and I got a great picture as well.

Bill Von Bank:

Is there additional education or continuing education that you need to go through as you continue to share your experiences here at the zoo and teach?

Jaide Ryks:

Yeah, there's not anything. We're required no certifications or anything, but we do a lot of continuing education. Every two years we get our CPR certification. We will take classes online on online. It's actually through San Diego Zoo and there's different classes about training animals and different browse. You can feed different animals and the county I work for, Olmstead County, obviously, and they provide different trainings as well, like leadership training. We work out here with a lot of volunteers and interns and seasonal staff, so we're working with other staff a lot, so that leadership training is very beneficial to work with others.

Bill Von Bank:

How do you acquire your animals?

Jaide Ryks:

We acquire them in a couple different ways. So some of our animals are injured. All the birds, all the raptors have some type of injury that make them not able to go back to the wild, not able to fly, catch their food and survive. Some of our animals, the mammals as well, have come to the zoo because they also can't survive in the wild. Our bobcat, for example, was found as a kitten and they thought he was just way too friendly, in other words, to let him out into the wild. If they did, he'd go up to people wouldn't really be safe. So that's how he ended up here. And we also work with other zoos, if we like, for our skunks, for example, we got them from another zoo here in Minnesota and we work with them as well.

Bill Von Bank:

If someone is interested in becoming a naturalist, what advice would you give them?

Jaide Ryks:

They may not like it, but internships mine were unpaid. You know it's not very fun to have an unpaid internship and getting a really wide variety of experience volunteering, internships, even seasonal position All of us naturalists here have worked seasonal positions before and just getting a very wide and broad experience. Because being a naturalist is very wide and broad. You're not just a zookeeper, you're not just an educator, you're not just a maintenance or an administration worker. It's a little bit of everything. So getting as much experience in different areas as you can.

Bill Von Bank:

What's your favorite season at Oxbow Park and why?

Jaide Ryks:

I think my favorite season is spring, because not that I don't like winter, but it's nice when maybe you go through a harsh winter and then it warms up a little bit and you see a sprout of a little plant coming up, some green, and your migrating birds are coming back. It's kind of like a fresh start almost, and the beginning of a new fun season of teaching and warm weather and sunshine. It's just exciting.

Bill Von Bank:

Well, spring is not too far off.

Jaide Ryks:

I know.

Bill Von Bank:

Jade Ricks, it's been great to have this conversation with you today and best of luck at Oxbow Park and Zolman Zoo moving forward, and we appreciate you being our guest on the Growing Destinations podcast.

Jaide Ryks:

Thank you, I'm happy to be here.

Bill Von Bank:

Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations podcast and don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Find out more about Rochester, Minnesota, and its growing arts and culture scene, its international culinary flavors and award-winning craft beer by visiting experiencerochestermncom.

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