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 ...