A walk in the woods
A walk in the woods
Introducing city dwellers to Nature
By John Pint
Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest metropolis, just happens to sit adjacent to a magnificent pine and oak forest just as big as the city itself. Bosque La Primavera covers 30,500 hectares. You can easily step into this woods and walk 10 kilometers without ever seeing a soul.
Here we have the perfect setup for introducing the younger generation to butterflies and woodpeckers, pumice and canyons, acorns, mushrooms, and edible plants.
I have seen such introductions fail miserably. Enthusiastic adults take children on a long hike. Soon they are hot, sweaty, exhausted, and decidedly turned off. “How much longer do I have to do this?” becomes the song of the day, and “Let's go home!” the refrain.
The most successful example I know of, on how to bring kids into contact with nature, is the Summer in the Bosque program, which naturalist Jesús “Chuy” Moreno has been conducting for over thirty years.
For one month, close to 100 kids enter the Primavera Forest daily at 9:00 a.m. under the care of Chuy and his crew and are picked up by their parents at 5:00 p.m.
All day in the woods, rain or shine, the children learn about snakes, insects, flowers, and curious plants as they run into them. They find a quivering black mass of bugs on a tree trunk and bombard Chuy with questions:
“These are spiders, verdad?”
“No, look very closely!”
“They’re black caterpillars!”
“sí!”
“Do you get a rash if you touch them?”
“Let's find out!”
“What kind of butterflies will they turn into?”
“Let's find out!”
The children often come up with questions that Chuy can't answer. So, out come the field guides carried in the knapsacks of Chuy's helpers. Soon teams of kids are sitting under trees learning all they can about the Mexican milk snake or rhinoceros beetle they just ran into.
Unlike the traditional classroom where the teacher spouts knowledge and the children are supposed to memorize it, this corner of the woods has become a research center in which everyone—children and staff alike—is learning and sharing their knowledge. Voila! True education!
By the time their two weeks are over, the kids have not only acquired much knowledge and many survival skills, they have also experienced a change in their worldview—and in many cases have been bitten, not by a snake, but by the Research Bug. Surprising numbers of these children, who had previously told their parents they wanted to be rock stars or jet pilots, now announce that they're going for a career in Biology or Botany.
Another success story is Bosque La Primavera's Bosques a Media Luna Night Hike program. This is a recurring dry-season event in which participants camp overnight at the BLP's Agua Brava Center. As darkness approaches, they follow a trail under the guidance of a biologist armed with an ultraviolet light.
I was amazed at how many little creatures were squirming or crawling alongside that path! This was a truly fascinating experience and so successful that I couldn't find a single hiker beside myself who had not participated in this program numerous times before. What was supposed to be an introduction to the natural environment had turned into a repeating get-together of old friends!
I used to lead hikes to interesting spots not far from Guadalajara and one of the most common questions I got was: “Why don't you offer something like this for families with small kids? I would love to take my five-year-old on a sendero (path) like this.”
So many times did I get this same request that I decided to search out ideal routes for family hikes.
Some months later I had what I considered the perfect formula for a 5-year-old-friendly hike:
The total length of the round trip should be less than three kilometers. The route should be a loop, so they are always seeing something new. Naturally, the route should have plenty of interesting features and variety.
An example is the “Rio Seco Mini-Loop” which starts in Pinar de la Venta—eight kilometers west of town—and takes hikers into a slot canyon with sheer walls 30 meters high, walls that record the history of the Primavera Caldera’s Yellowstone-type explosion 95,000 years ago. Walking through giant blocks of pumice, hikers are literally immersed in the geological history of the place and finish up strolling through the oak and pine forest that covers much of the Primavera Biosphere.
The hike is only 1.2 kilometers long and yes, plenty of 5-year-olds have done it!
I think hikes introducing families to nature should include a guide. I say this because many parents are leery of setting off on a rustic trail. They feel much better if there is someone taking care of them. The guide should point out interesting things along the way, but avoid playing the lecturer and boring people. Students of Biology and Botany could serve in this role as part of the Servicio Social (Social Service) that all Mexicans have to do for the benefit of their country.
If a few Local institutes and organizations collaborate, family hikes in the woods could become as popular as caminatas on the Via Recreactiva—with the extra benefit of transforming city dwellers into nature lovers.
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