4 March/April 2007 • WILDLIFE JOURNAL

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To create a better futurefor our children,

let’s help them connectwith their wild roots

To create a better futurefor our children,

let’s help them connectwith their wild roots

BY MARILYN WYZGABY MARILYN WYZGA

4 March/April 2007 • WILDLIFE JOURNAL

WILDLIFE JOURNAL • March/April 2007 5WILDLIFE JOURNAL • March/April 2007 5

It is the mid-1950s, Trenton, New Jersey. Out of the blue – andinspired by stories from my father’s work buddies – myparents decide to try camping. Mom and Dad pack up the

station wagon with their three young kids, flannel sleeping bagsand some Dinty Moore beef stew, and drive off to the Poconosunder grey skies. By the time they arrive at Promised LandCampground, their visions of sleeping beneath the pines areawash in a downpour. Dad warms stew on a fire beneath thepicnic table. They sleep in the car. Morning dawns, the suncomes out and, as dad recalls, “We had a beautiful weekend outof it.” Thoroughly hooked, they invest in a canvas tent that willhouse them and, as the family grew, all 7 of us kids. They takeup backpacking, buy a second-hand canoe and for the next 40-some years of summer and fall vacations, tour around NewEngland and other parts of the country, camping out.

My parents didn’t bring us along to teach us about nature. Wewere just a family having fun outside. Today I make my livingas a wildlife educator in New Hampshire – a career I attributeto those early outdoor experiences – and all of my siblings enjoytheir own unique connection to the outdoors. I consider usfortunate.

Sadly, opportunities like these are less and less available totoday’s youth. Children are not getting outside – not fishing, orbuilding forts, or looking under logs for salamanders. A na-tional conversation about this phenomenon has been ignited byoutdoorsman Richard Louv’s groundbreaking book, Last Childin the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disor-der. In it, Louv traces the causes and impacts of this separationthrough interviews with educators, parents and health profes-sionals, as well as with children themselves. He outlines theenvironmental, social, psychological and spiritual implicationsof what he calls “nature-deficit disorder.” And he describes agrowing body of research that reveals the necessity of contactwith nature for healthy child development — and for adults,neighborhoods, whole communities and the very future of oursociety.

New research strongly suggests that childhood experience innature is a vital element, perhaps a necessity for healthy childdevelopment. Outdoor play develops full use of the senses,helps protect psychological well-being, improves attention-deficit disorder and reduces stress.

Yet as of 1990, the radius around the home where childrenwere allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to one-ninth ofwhat it had been in 1970. Why is this happening? Limitedaccess to nature, fear of strangers, popularity of video games,TV and computers, perceived safety risks and fear of lawsuits– the list is lengthy. Well-meaning but frightened parents,school systems and media are keeping kids out of the fields andthe woods. By moving childhood indoors, we are deprivingchildren of a full connection to the world. The implications –both for children’s physical and mental health and for the futureof our natural resources and traditional pastimes such as hunt-ing and fishing – are far-reaching. Consequently, one of themost important gifts we can give a child is his or her ownenthusiasm for the outdoors.

Outdoor ClassroomsIn the past few decades, the way children understand and

experience nature has changed dramatically. A child today cantell you about the whales in the ocean, dinosaurs of the past, or

trees in the rain for-est, but not about whatlives and grows in hisor her backyard.While today’s kids areaware of the globalthreats to the environ-ment, their ownphysical contact withnature is fading.

What can we do tohelp reconnect chil-dren with theoutdoors? For onething, say experts, re-vive recess. Roughly40% of school dis-tricts have eithereliminated recess orare considering cut-ting it. Some schoolsthat still offer recesshave “dumbed down”the playground by, forinstance, banning run-ning games. Withoutthese activities thatincrease heart ratesand improve hand-eyecoordination, it’s easyto see why 17% ofchildren are over-weight.

Schools that softenthe schoolyard or limitchildren’s engage-ment with theoutdoors often haveconcerns aboutliability. We canaccomodate that con-cern by creating safezones for nature exploration. We can also weave nature expe-riences into our classrooms and create or expand programs tointroduce youth to the outdoors.

David Sobel of Antioch New England University says schoolsare unintentionally spreading fear of the natural world andecological problems. Children are savvy to current environ-mental issues like global warming, Sobel notes. But lackingdirect experience with the outdoors, they begin to associatenature with fear and disaster, rather than discovery, joy andwonder.

A complete environmental curriculum, by contrast, engageschildren directly in nature while using traditional methods andcurrent technologies to teach subject matter in the classroom.Some schools cut recess so children will have more time tostudy for tests. Louv argues that nature “does not steal time, itamplifies it.” Getting acquainted with nature inspires creativityand, studies show, actually improves test scores. Students who

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GET OUT!Even if you can’t go with them, encour-

age the children in your life to get outside.These simple activities can help you getstarted — and improve the quality of life foreveryone in the family!

� Go for walks together, even for just a halfhour. Go in different seasons and seehow things change.

� Get down on hands and knees and lookunder rocks, logs and leaves.

� Put up a bird feeder, get a bird book andstart identifying the birds that come toeat. Keep a seasonal list.

� Pick a time of day for weather observa-tions – take a temperature reading, lookat the sky, or note when it gets light in themorning and dark in the evening.

� Go to a local nature center, walk theirtrails and ask about books on naturecrafts or outdoor explorations.

� Go outside on a starry night and look upat the sky.

� Have fun helping your children build a fortor shelter in your yard or nearby woodlot.

� Set up a tent and camp in your backyard.Enroll your child in Barry ConservationCamp (starts in July; see page 20).

� Find a local farm where you can pickberries, apples or whatever’s in season.

� Plan summer activities together. Havekids pack their own pack.

� Take your child hunting, fishing or wildlifewatching.

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have classes outdoors improve their grade-pointaverages, as well as their skills in critical thinkingand decision-making, and tend to be more coop-erative, more engaged in the classroom and moreopen to conflict resolution.

Taking It to the StreetsNew Hampshire may be largely rural, but the

problem of nature-deficit disorder is not limited tourban areas, as naturalist Ruth Smith found whenshe ran an after-school program in rural Hopkinton.“Even kids who said they liked being outdoorshad little personal experience and lacked basicskills like how to navigate a trail,” she noted. Onceout and about, Smith observed that the thing thekids most enjoyed was outdoor play in nature –building forts, dams and tree houses.

Even in urban and suburban areas, nature iscloser than you might think. Louv recommendstaking advantage of “nearby nature” – the ravinebehind your house, or the little woods at the end ofthe cul-de-sac. Adults expect nature to be so muchbigger, but to a child, that ravine is a universe.Protecting those little spaces in cities and suburbsis a step in the right direction.

Still, the No. 1reason parents givefor limiting theirchildren’s play out-doors is fear of“stranger danger.”At a talk by DavidSobel in Hancock,a local parent ob-served, “playing inthe backyard is notsafe,” even in theirsmall, rural town.Ironically, thestatistics on abduc-tions suggest almostall are by familymembers, and thenumber of abduc-tions has been goingdown for about adecade; kids aresafer outside thehome than at anytime since the1970s.

We think of theoutdoors as beinginherently risky, butindoor dwellingcomes with its ownrisks for children.Pediatricians saythey’re not treatingvery many broken

bones anymore. Rather, they are seeing repeti-tive-stress injuries, childhood obesity, attentiondeficit disorder and the effects of indoor air pollu-tion. Other disturbing risks associated with theonline neighborhood are emerging as kids social-ize in a virtual world instead of playing outside.We seem to have traded the perceived dangerslurking in nature for the potentially more threaten-ing and permanent impacts of sitting in front of thetelevision or computer.

We Need NatureBiologically, humans are still hunters and gath-

erers. The evolutionary remnants of these pastexperiences are hard-wired into our nervous sys-tem, says zoologist Gordon Orians. Renownednaturalist E.O. Wilson takes it a step further,saying that humans have an innate affinity for thenatural world, a biologically based need essentialto our development as individuals. Both scien-tists’ work suggests a genuine physical need fornature, one that, in modern humans of all ages, issimply no longer fulfilled.

Studies have also shown that many people whocare deeply about the future of the environmentenjoyed transcendent experiences in nature whenthey were children. A particularly interesting studycomes from Dr. Jim Pease of Iowa State Univer-sity. Pease surveyed over 300 farmers in 20 stateswho have taken advantage of wetlands restorationprograms on their land. He wanted to find outwhat motivates private landowners – especiallyfarmers who depend on the productivity of theirland to produce marketable crops – to enroll theirland in a program that obligates them to take itpermanently out of production. He found thatwildlife plays an extremely important role in at

Outdoor BookshelfHere are a few of our favorite books on

children in the outdoors:

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Childrenfrom Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv

Father Nature: Fathers as Guides to the NaturalWorld, ed. Paul S. Piper and Stan Tag

A Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson

Children’s Special Places, David Sobel

Check your local library or bookstore for manygreat children’s books about outdoor adventure.

On the web:The Children and Nature Network -www.cnaturenet.org

Explore Wild New England -www.wildnewengland.org

Friends in lowplaces: Findingearthworms andother critters amongthe moss and leaflitter inspires aconnection with theoutdoors.

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Just like it was yesterday, I remember mornings on the river,fishing with Dad: We chug slowly out onto the fog-shrouded river,he cuts the motor and we glide to a halt. A jay’s call breaks the stillair, and Dad clatters a bit as he puts the rods together. We hookfat minnows on the lines, and I cast mine into the mist with asatisfying “plunk.” I enjoy the slow drift of the boat, the coolmorning air and sensing the underwater world through the line inmy fingertips, waiting for a sunfish or crappie to bite.

Later in the day, we eat our sandwiches. Dad’s still focused onfishing, but I’m starting to doze, lulled by the sun and the easy rockof the boat. He revs up the engine and heads for the shoreline,pointing out how the river has carved into the cliffs. We spot

turtles sunning on a log and a stream feeding into the river. At itsmouth, downed trees make a perfect place to cast for bass.Upstream, a heron pauses and inspects us before continuing itsown search for dinner.

We head back to the landing with a full fish box. Dad countson me to scamper ashore and pull the boat in. I watch to makesure the boat sets right on the trailer, which it hardly ever does.Then the ride home, sunburned, mud-splattered and smellinglike fish. But Mom is always glad to see us.

Only later in life would I realize how lucky I was to spend thetime fishing with Dad, and how relaxing those hours were for himafter a busy week at work. As soon as we could walk, he had usfishing from the shoreline with long bamboo rods. We didn’t needscientific studies to know that getting outside was good for thesoul. I was just a lucky girl with a dad who brought me along, whopatiently untangled knots in the fishing line and helped me seeand love the natural world.

Those fun times taught me a lot about nature, but maybe evenmore about self-confidence, trust and finding a balance for workand play in life. New Hampshire has a wealth of places wherefamilies can fish, and kids don’t need a license, so do your partto fight “nature-deficit disorder” — take a kid fishing! It’s a greatway to explore the natural world and introduce young people toan outdoor activity they can enjoy all their lives. – Jane Vachon

tracting landowners to restore wetlands. In fact,the top four reasons named have to do with wild-life, future generations or natural beauty. Evenmore interesting, Pease found those farmers sharedcommon childhood experiences: fishing, hunt-ing, having a “wild place,” and reading books andstories about the outdoors were favorite youthfulactivities of more than 71% of these landowners.

Think back to your childhood. If you’re overthirty, you likely spent time in the outdoors unin-hibited – playing, making forts, climbing trees,going fishing, getting dirty. What would our liveshave been like without those times?

Reviving a Sense of WonderAs parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles,

teachers and role models, we can spend more timein nature with children. The bonus is, when wegive children the gift of nature, we gain all thesame benefits they do – the stress reduction, thelonger attention span, the renewed sense ofwonder. We need to be passionate about re-con-

Fishing – A Great Way toConnect Kids with Nature

necting kids with nature.Passion, Louv writes, is

“the long-distance fuel for thestruggle to save what is left ofour natural heritage...”

Passion does not arriveon videotape or on a CD...it is lifted from the earthitself by the muddy handsof the young; it travelsalong grass-stainedsleeves to the heart. If weare going to save the envi-ronment, we must alsosave an endangered key-stone species: the child innature.

Louv’s encouragement to grownups is simpleand easily achieved: Take the kids outside.

Children have anatural curiosityabout snakes andslippery things.

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Marilyn Wyzga is a wildlife educatorwith the N.H. Fish and GameDepartment. She is coordinating acoalition of agencies and groups in astatewide initiative to bring moreoutdoor opportunities to NewHampshire children. Contactmwyzga@wildlife.state.nh.us.