Society Is The Soil From Which Our Children Grow

~by Ranger David "Pine" Martin

“A child said What is the grass?
fetching it to me with full hands,
How could I answer the child?”
~Walt Whitman.

I was reminded of these lines from Walt Whitman’s poem Leaves of Grass yesterday when a student asked me a question during our Earth Studies session.

We were sitting in a circle amongst the Ponerosa Pines examining the soil created by that ecosystem; discussing the minerals, water, air and organic matter to be found in the samples each child had taken. We discussed the ways in which the forest of the past contributed a great deal to the rich, nutritive biotic content of the soil from which the forest of the present receives it's nutrients and water from.

A child held up something he had found in his small sample of soil. “What is this?” he asked. It was one of the small, orange, male pine cones.

I explained what it was, but this answer only served to generate more questions. One was, why are the female cones so much bigger than the male cones?” I explained that the female cone is an ovulate cone and has a big job; it must build a home for, create the seeds which carry all the genetic coding for the Pine tree to reproduce, and must house those seeds until they are dispersed which may take several years.

Often I am asked questions by students during Earth Studies programs to which I would love to answer in great depth and illuminate them at length to the amazing and elegant complexity of the living systems of the world around them. I would have loved to go into how wind tunnel analyses of the female cones have shown that the geometry of the cone’s structure itself aerodynamically enhances the probability of pollen entrapment.

A part of me, akin to Whitman, would love to ruminate on each question, take them deep, ponder and mull over the nuances and connections and through this generate a greater sense of meaning within myself and these children, imbue their worldview with a deep beauty. With the day’s time constraints and the short attention span of the Fifth Graders however, it is best to keep the answers brief and as “on-topic” or applicable to the session’s lesson as possible. Bring it back around. Show interconnectedness.

I woke up this morning with some deeper thoughts on this subject. What we do as Environmental Educators is a lot of seed planting; we know that not all seeds will take root, so we plant a lot. It occurred to me however, that not only are we planting seeds, but we are enriching the soil those seeds are planted in and that this, like the relationship between the soil and the trees in this ecosystem, will perpetuate itself. Environmental Educators not only teach the elements of the session at hand, but as adult members of their community and education system, we teach many other things by example. We show them our love of Nature and how to responsibly interact with our environment and each other. Earth Studies Co-Program Director John Duston once told me "We teach values." and I would have to agree with him wholeheartedly. Much of what we teach is through exhibiting our values by our behavior. We teach them that we value nature and value learning by fostering an outdoor classroom culture of cooperation, mutual respect, patience and enthusiasm. As we educate these young people our hopes are that it elevates the level of education, the sense of place and the values of our community and society at large as it grows and matures. Our intention is that each of these kids grows up strong, healthy, intelligent and happy.

Society is the soil from which our children grow; our children will become the society of the future and they will in turn become the soil from which their children grow.

A flashback from the trail!

This keeps happening...I can be anywhere, doing anything, and suddenly a snapshot, a moment of being on the trail pops into my head. There doesn't seem to be any common instigator of it happening - it just happens. Here's one that popped up a couple of days ago, while walking home from the park: I am resting under a large tree, probably an Engelmann spruce, amongst a forest of lots of trees, after scooting rather quickly through an open area. It was an on again/off again rainy afternoon, and I was dealing with thunderstorms and the threat of lightning since late morning. I came to the edge of a forested area - I believe I was in Section 27 - and was concerned about moving out into a more open area with several smaller trees but also lots of exposure. There was a storm that seemed to be staying ahead of me, so I figured I was OK and set out. Around halfway across (it was about a half mile across), it began to rain hard and the storm's energy (and lightning) seemed way too close. So I moved as quickly as I could and made it safely into the next forested area. The rain was coming down, I had been hiking since around 6am and it was around 3:30pm, so I decided to find a protected spot to wait out the storm. I found a few large trees, took off my pack and leaned it against one of them, and sat down leaning against the pack. My poncho covered both me and the pack, so I was warm and dry, and so was my gear. I pulled out a snack - a Kind bar with lots of nuts - and sat there, resting, enjoying the snack (really enjoying it, as I recall, because I was hungry), and singing I Will by Paul McCartney while the rain continued. The rain did finally slow down and so I was soon back on the trail, looking to get a few more miles in before finding a decent place to camp (the rest of that day had several more "moments" that I'll write about one day). That was a pleasant break in a long, soggy day on the trail!

A Taste of Winter Arrives!

The warm and gentle days that we've been enjoying this October have today been replaced by a generous blast of snow and cold. I am watching the snow come down steadily outside my window as I pause from typing these words. A few minutes ago, I stepped outside to capture a few scenes around the Horseshoe Lodge -- here's a couple of them. This is the first of hopefully many snows of the 2011/2012 snow season. And I'll be out there measuring. This morning at 8am, I measured 0.17" of moisture. Much of that fell overnight in the form of light rain, but it became snow towards dawn -- 1.7" of snow was on the ground then, and a few more have fallen since.

Autumn colors and still-hot days!

The calendar says it is late September and early fall, and the emerging yellows, reds and oranges in many plants match the calendar. But the daytime thermometer still reads like it is a month earlier. We are getting much cooler evenings...we had a light frost a few days ago. So, summer and autumn seem to struggling as to who is in charge. In spite of the struggle, it is quite lovely out there...I took this photo a few minutes ago just outside the Horseshoe Lodge...the bright color up on the higher distant ridge is a patch of aspen in its glorious autumn garb.

Speaking of the Lodge...the east wing is having recycled cellulose insulation pumped in as I type these words. Sheet rock follows, so we are steadily moving along!

Meanwhile, the west wing is nearly full this week with a Seasons of Change women's retreat taking place. My office is right above the kitchen with the wonderful aroma of dinner-in-the- works wafting through my open window.

Lots going on at MPEC!

As we are around the mid-point of the summer, there is no lack of activity in Pueblo Mountain Park. Along with summer flowers like goldenrod, Kansas gayfeather, and golden aster blooming (thanks to some badly needed rain the last part of July and the first week of August) and the end of our busy summer camps last week (we served around 200 campers, ranging from kindergartners through high schoolers), we are now gearing up for the start of our Earth Studies program in a couple of weeks (all 1200+ 5th graders from Pueblo City Schools will come to the park 6 full days over the school year for outdoor-based education). And while several bears continue to be spotted in and around the park, construction on the East Wing of the Horseshoe Lodge is moving along right on schedule. Here are a couple of photos of the dormitories and restrooms, all framed with plumbing going in as I write. I project the East Wing (and the entire Horseshoe Lodge Renovation Project) will be complete around mid-fall!

Monsoons making things somewhat less dry!

The inch plus of rain that the park has received the last week is making a difference. And it is raining lightly right outside my open window as I type these words. The drought and fire danger are still pretty extreme, but the arrival of the monsoon season, with higher humidities, afternoon clouds, and rain (and the threat of rain) is a very welcome development. I am even seeing some sprigs of green popping up from open areas that were pretty solid shades of yellow and brown a couple of weeks ago.

June Wonders of Nature Campers Participate in Peace Pole Dedication

The second day of this year’s June Wonders of Nature Camp was a special day as the campers had the opportunity to participate in the Peace Pole dedication ceremony!

The Peace Pole is a pole carved with the word Peace on all sides in different languages (even animal tracks!) and was placed near the lodge. Dave Van Manen played “I’ve got Peace Like a River” on his guitar and many joined in to sing along. Helene Van Manen brought out the drums and led the group in a drumming and singing celebration.

A time capsule was placed underneath it and the campers all had an opportunity to place an object or a wish or a picture having to do with peace inside the time capsule along with items and sentiments from other staff members and members of the local community.

As several campers reported that they had been pretty tired from the hike the day before and so we focused mainly on games, hiking from one area a short ways to the next game spot and then again to another and so on. The games were great ways for the kids to be physically active, have fun, get to know each other better as well as stimulating the mind with a bit of mystery and guessing.

This was a great second day which kept the hiking to short stints between gaming areas and resulted in a much closer bond between the campers as they had more relaxed fun together laughing and playing together. There were a few bumps and scrapes now and then, but it was taken in stride as part of the fun outdoors.