04/01/11 cw/kb

HAYS, Kan. -- Getting lost in the wilderness, suffering a serious injury, or being caught in bad weather. All can be an outdoorsman's worst nightmare. Would you know what to do?

Each of these scenarios can happen to anyone who spends any time in the great outdoors. On Sunday, April 17, visitors to the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, 10 miles northeast of Great Bend on K-156 Highway, have an opportunity to learn what to do in these situations during the program "How to Survive an Outdoor Emergency," presented by Peter Kummerfeldt, owner and chief instructor of Outdoor Safe Inc. The program will run from 1 to 5 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

"Kummerfeldthas walked the walk and talked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades," said Curtis Wolf, KWEC manager.

He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at numerous other survival schools across the globe. He wrote the book "Surviving a Wilderness Emergency," has been featured on numerous television shows,and has addressed more than 20,000 people as the featured speaker at seminars, conferences and national conventions.

"Peter's program is very informative, entertaining and essential to a wide variety of outdoor enthusiasts, including hunters, fishermen, campers, hikers, scout troops and 4-H groups," said Wolf.

Kummerfeldtwill talk about techniques and equipment that work (or not), and will discuss many of the myths that outdoorsmen and women often hear about how to survive in the wild.

"Anyone who spends any time in the great outdoors should not get caught outside without these skills," said Wolf.

The program is sponsored by Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. For more information, call the KWEC at 877-243-9268.

Operating as a branch of Fort Hays State University's Sternberg Museum of Natural History, the KWEC serves as a gateway to the 41,000-acre Cheyenne Bottoms wetlands area.