Outdoors Mentors Needed
How did your appreciation of nature start?
Chances are good that someone took you by the hand, took you outside, and showed you around.
Having a bird or flower pointed to, then named helped us to identify it the next time we saw it. If our presenter lavished praise on how pretty a flower was and how nice it smelled, in later life that flower might still be our favorite. If we were shown how to plant a seed, nourish it with fertilizer and water, and told that the flower or vegetable that came from our seed was the result of our good effort, we might have developed an interest in gardening. We don’t need to know everything there is to know about a subject during our introduction to develop a passion for it in later life; all we need is to be shown what it is and some basics on how to recreate the event.
A recent eastern Washington newspaper article stated that fifty percent less children in that area hunted or fished compared to ten years earlier. Similar statistics have been tendered by Washington Fish and Wildlife studies and confirmed by their licensing sales. Our founding fathers and pioneers and settlers knew the value of knowing the habits of the animals they hunted. Starvation was the penalty for not knowing how to hunt, fish, gather wild edible food, or how to grow their own. Those with good hunting, food gathering skills were admired. They were the people that helped keep the rest alive.
Native American people insured their customs and heritage survived each generation by teaching their young traditional skills.
Perhaps we should do the same?
Understanding nature is just as important today as it was many years ago. We need to know how our actions can affect the birds, plants, fish and animals around us. Once we ourselves understand nature’s importance, we need to pass on our knowledge. The people drilling oil wells, developers, plus those passing legislation affecting our land were all kids once themselves. Don’t we wish they had a good foundation in how nature works?
How can you start in mentoring a young person? That will vary for each of us as each of us has our own interests and passions. Take a child to a salt water beach and turn over a rock to see what type of creature lives under it or simply observe what swims in salt water tide pools. That could be your mentoring start. There are plenty of mysteries in our own back yard as birds, plants and insects reside there. Make a point of growing something with your student. Watering and fertilize as needed until it matures. Put up a hummingbird feeder and point out the bird’s remarkable iridescent plumage.
If you have time to teach more than one child, try volunteering in an area of your interest, then share your experience with the younger generation. With a little investigation volunteer organizations will put you to work.
In the fall I volunteer as master docent at the Issaquah hatchery where they trained me for my duty. RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program 206-957-4779) will interview you to find your interests and then direct you to volunteer opportunities
Chief Seattle was once quoted as saying “We do not own the land. We borrow it from our grandchildren.”
Perhaps we should pass along our knowledge and ideas on how to care for the land?
Currently nature tells us that it needs new guardians to help solve the problems that we as a population have created. If you mentor well, your students may someday come up with solutions that help maintain the wilderness we enjoyed during our lifetime. When they do, feel free to take a bow.
