Nature Walks and Group Programs

A good walk is one that is emptied of all thoughts and purpose, where one wanders along a trail open to whatever nature may reveal on that day. Beauty in nature changes from day to day, and you never know what treasure you may come across that was hidden the day before. On the grounds of the nature center it may be the coralroot to the side of the trail. You might see the spring beauty just opening, deer resting in the shade of the pine trees, the nuthatch wander up and down the bark looking for insects, or an abert's squirrel poking around in the pine needles searching for food caches.

Beauty in nature is often a personal thing, which is why I find I get the most out of my walks when I go alone, or with a friend of like spirit who knows too much conversation can spoil the day.

I try to get to the nature center early on the day I lead programs, so that I can walk the trail before my group arives. This not only gets me in the right frame of mind, but allows me to see things that I will later point out to the children and their teacher, which I may miss during the excitement of the program.

There may be fox tracks leading down from the bridge to the east end of LMNC, or a pile of feathers where a raptor has had a meal. I may stop and listen to the chickadees call, which in springs is a peacefull fee-bee, bee.

When the bus pulls up, I introduce the theme of my program - wild messages, Ponderosa Pine, Wildflower Wizards, and start again down the trail. This time I have twenty or some elementary school kids and their teacher and adult helpers alone with me. I point out those discoveries I made in solitude. I also tell them stories in support of the theme, to spark their imagination and nuture their sense of wonder, in nature.

"There are no 'fifty simple ways' to save the earth." "There are as many ways as there are people . . ." according to writer Jesse Hardin. One may be walking with children on a path through the pines, sharing facts of the forest but also the love you have for nature, through stories, which they sense and hopefully remember.