Trail Guide

Photo by J. Schaus

 

Holy cow! My last post was in May! Time has just been tripping along and I realize that I have been neglectful, especially in light of all of your thoughtful comments and support.

 

My new job at the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority is going splendidly! I am assisting with their education programs and spent most of May shadowing the other two fantastic educators as they led class field trips and adult nature walks. The info I have learned this past month has helped me broaden my schooling in wildlife biology. I’m now beginning to be able to identify a variety of fossils, plants and bugs. Most importantly, I’m learning how to communicate a sense of excitement about the natural world around us to the young and the old.

 

I now feel confident enough to lead my own classes, which is really exciting. I had the pleasure of leading my daughter’s second-grade class last week. Equipped with rubber boots, dip nets and plastic containers, we explored the world along the shores and beneath the water of our local Ausable River. I was impressed that 7-year-olds could readily dredge up words like ‘metamorphosis’ and ‘nocturnal’ when discussing frogs or raccoons. Some even knew the name of the jack-in-the-pulpit growing along the side of the trail and seemed interested to learn whether it was a male or female. I loved that they soon became just as excited about the dragonfly larva that they caught as they were about the larger crayfish in their nets.

 

I’m not sure how much information they retained in the end. But I’m also learning that it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I can help make them aware of the nature that exists just beyond their own backyards (sometimes even within their backyards). I want to stir up their excitement and awe of the natural world. Reading ‘Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv has helped me understand the importance of that. The attitude and exposure is so much more important than the naming and memorizing which can always come later. People need to care about something if they are ever going to care for it.

 

So forgive me if some of my energy has transferred from here to there. My new job and schedule are still relatively new and I’m feeling a touch scattered (putting it really mildly). Although I’m currently a bit consumed with this new venture in my life, the thing is I feel just as passionate about this blog. I feel that this little world that I have created is a fantastic medium in which I can be another type of educator; this time about environmental topics relating to our homes and families. I don’t claim to be an expert. Neither am I an expert at the conservation authority. I can’t pretend to know something that I do not. I often have to look up information or just let someone know that I simply don’t know. I guess I would rather think of myself as a guide. I do the best I can and can hopefully get some people heading in the right direction.

 

I’ll try to make sure that I’m around a bit more often to make sure that you can follow the trail. I’d hate for anybody (least of all myself) to get lost.

 

Filed under Life in General, Nature |