OutGrown Blog

In this interview series, I'm going to introduce you to park rangers across the United States. Today's post features DeAnn Casimiro, or "Ranger Dee," a seasonal park ranger at Death Valley National Park. What is your name and job title?  My name is DeAnn Casimiro and I'm a seasonal park ranger, so my job title changes depending on my current job. Currently, I’m working at Death Valley National Park as a Visitors Use Assistant. Is this the first National Park you've worked at? If not, tell me what other parks/nature centers you've worked at.  This is the third National Park site I have worked at. Before Death Valley, I worked at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. My duties  at Death Valley National Park include collecting park entrance fees and assisting visitors in planning their visit in the park, campgrounds and surrounding areas. I suggest hikes or things to do depending on the interests and abilities of the group. In other parks, I have done Interpretation and Education so I gave tours and did classroom visits and hosted field trips. This summer (2017),  I will be working at Yosemite National Park. Where did you grow up? In the country, a city or a suburb?  I grew up on Guam in a small fairly modern village. In comparison to stateside suburbs, I would say my village was rural. What did you love about the outdoors as a child?  As a child, I loved exploring the beach and jungles looking at different plants and animals. Today I am a naturalist and quite certain that my time outdoors as a child nurtured these interests of mine. When did you know you wanted to work in outdoor education?  As a young mother, I loved taking my small children on all sorts of outdoor adventures. It has just been in the last few years that I have tried to steer my career into outdoor education. Who encouraged you to pursue a career in outdoor education?  This was a choice that I made independently. What is the most common question you get from park visitors? "Where is the bathroom?" Also, visitors often ask me questions about the particular place or resource. Often I give hiking suggestions. How can parents raise kids to love the outdoors?  Go outside and allow kids to explore at their own pace for their own interest. Does your kid like summiting peaks to get a beautiful view or would she rather stay near the creek all day looking for salamanders? Help them find their own interests and support your kids in developing those interests. If a child doesn’t like long hikes and you force them on a 5-mile difficult hike, you just might discourage their interest of the outdoors.

In this interview series, I'm going to introduce you to park rangers across the United States. Today's post features Cathy Taylor, a park ranger at Paris Mountain State Park in South Carolina. What is your name and job title?  My name is Cathy Taylor, Interpretive Ranger at Paris Mountain State Park. Is this the first state park you've worked at? If not, tell me what other parks/nature centers you've worked at.  I've worked at Paris Mountain State Park in Greenville, South Carolina, for 14 years. Previously, I worked at Mountain Mitchell State Park in North Carolina, Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina, and on the Blue Ridge Parkway (National Park in North Carolina). I have also been the Education Curator at the Greenville Zoo and an instructor at Roper Mountain Science Center, which is part of the school district for Greenville. Where did you grow up? In the country, a city or a suburb?  I grew up in Miami, Florida, in the suburbs. What did you love about the outdoors as a child?  As a child, I loved finding a place where there was no evidence of people – just nature. Looking out at Biscayne Bay in Miami, I could sometimes get that experience. I spent a lot of time riding my bike and exploring wooded areas. It was partly a spiritual connection. I love the song which says in part: "This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears, all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres." My mom was also a Girl Scout leader and I enjoyed camping with the troop. When did you know you wanted to work in outdoor education?  I went to college at the University of Florida and majored in zoology but I was spending all my free time camping and canoeing with outdoor clubs and loving it. I started thinking about all the people who live in cities and don’t get these experiences, and I took some Forest Recreation classes. One summer, I worked for the City of Miami Recreation Department and saw how many inner-city kids were surrounded by concrete. I decided I wanted to introduce inner-city kids to the natural world. Who encouraged you to pursue a career in outdoor education?  Once I decided what I wanted to do, I applied for graduate school at Clemson University, where one of the Forest Recreation professors used to work. My close friends and my family encouraged me. I was in the school of Forest and Recreation Resources, with an emphasis in Environmental Interpretation and Resource Management. This meant I was surrounded by like-minded folks who shared my interests. Cathy leading a tour of Paris Mountain with Greenville area school students. What is the most common question you get from park visitors? "Are we going to see any snakes?" My response is, ”I hope so!” How can parents raise kids to love the outdoors? Take children on easy hikes. Lots of schoolchildren I meet have never before been on a hike. Create scavenger hunts for the trail. One of my most successful hikes is simply one where we look for evidence of animals (webs, tracks, chewed nuts, scat, nests). Once we start, children notice everything. Give them a chance to explore; time outdoors doesn’t always have to be structured. Find immersion experiences: wading in a creek, swimming in a lake, walking in a warm rain. Anything else you want to share about your job or what you love about nature/being outside?  I get to experience the seasons as they unfold. And I love that I see a different group of 2nd or 5th graders every day and lots of families in the summer. We rejoice in nature as we watch a tiger swallowtail butterfly, or a goose sitting on its nest, or a turtle basking (I saw all three of these today). At least once a week, I experience a child in a state of euphoria, saying, “I love this place and I love nature! I want to come back here tomorrow!” I hope that appreciation for nature will lead to protection of our natural world. It is actually our world too, since we are all creatures on this beautiful planet. I don’t get rich doing this job. However, I agree with the sentiment that how you spend your days is, after all, how you spend your life. I like spending my days outside, sharing the wonders of nature. Read more in our Park Ranger Series here.  

In this interview series, I'm going to introduce you to park rangers across the United States. Today's post features Roberta Andruska, a climbing ranger at City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park. What is your name and job title? My name is Roberta Andruska. I'm the Climbing Ranger at City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park near Almo, Idaho. Is this the first National Park you've worked at? If not, tell me what other parks/nature centers you've worked at.  I've worked within the National Park Service since 2000, but I had my first experience living in a National Park at 13 years old. My dad retired from his career in water treatment and moved our family to Isle Royale National Park, an island in Lake Superior closest to Canada and Minnesota. No cars or pets are allowed on the island. As a result, we got around by walking, kayaking, canoeing, sailing or motor boating. And there were no cell phone service at that time unless I hiked four miles one way to the top of a ridge. It usually hit a Canada tower and that ended up being quite a bill ... sorry, mom! There was one party line shared among 20 employees as long as you had a calling card and it had to be after visitor center hours. Food arrived every two weeks by boat that was ordered from Houghton, Michigan. My parents learned to order specific things like milk, cheese and meat to come frozen. Otherwise, we ended up with a few rotten things. Besides the learning curve of living on an isolated island, living my teen years on Isle Royale was the best thing that happened to me. It gave me such an appreciation for wilderness and its untouched beauty. I remember sitting at one of the amphitheaters in the woods with 20-foot ferns around me and soaking my feet in a small creek. I journaled and drew everything I saw in my little book. While there, I worked at the Windigo Store and Visitor Center and gave talks about the Artist-in-Residence Program that featured our current artist. Campers hiked the two miles from the campground in the evening to attend the program at the visitor center. We watched the sun set over the Windigo Harbor together as our evening entertainment. Sometimes the moose, with her calf, would be there for us to watch. This is where my love for moose began. My brother and I had some great adventures kayaking around the harbor and fishing for lake trout. We would often catch a ride on one of the park boats around to the other end of the island and stay with other park families with kids. Then, we would catch another boat home in a week or two. Oftentimes, we would hear that a boat was coming so we only had an hour or two to get packed up for an unknown. In 2006, we moved to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado, and this was our first time to the mountains. What a sight it was to drive up the Big Thompson Canyon and then have the Rocky Mountain range standing there with those snow-capped peaks before us. My brother and I really picked up hiking and rock climbing during the six years we lived in Estes Park. My most memorable hike in Rocky Mountain was the summer of 2009 that involved a stay at Thunder Lake. I hiked with two girls I grew up with from Illinois who had road tripped out west to come to visit me. Before the hike, I allowed a few days to let them get use to the altitude. The following morning, we hiked/scrambled over the Boulder-Grand Divide then dropped down to the west side of the park to Grand Lake. The weather was right so we went for it. I had friends working on the other side of the park so we got a ride from the Kawuneeche Visitor Center over Trail Ridge Road to Alpine Visitor Center where my parents picked us up and took us back to Wild Basin. We hiked a total of about 30 miles in two days! There are tons of amazing climbing around Estes Park and I really had the chance to grow my skills climbing outdoors. In 2011, I took a job at Grand Teton National Park working at the Moran entrance gate. I lived in the old ranger cabin at Willow Flats Overlook and had the best view of Mount Moran out my kitchen window. The grizzly bear, 610, had her den somewhere behind my cabin that year. I watched her and her three cubs safely from the kitchen as they passed by in the morning on their way down to Jackson Lake. That was the summer my best friend proposed to me at Morning Glory Spire in Yellowstone. We bought an Airstream to live in and moved back to Rocky Mountain to get married in 2012. I worked at Moraine Park Campground and Aspenglen Campground for the next two years. My brother landed a job on the roads crew at Rocky Mountain and is still there. In 2014, my husband took a job in Idaho and I landed a seasonal park ranger position at City of Rocks. In the spring of 2016, the year of the National Park Service Centennial, I applied and was offered a dream job as the Climbing Ranger for City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park. Where did you grow up? In the country, a city or a suburb?  I grew up in Galesburg, Illinois, in a neighborhood named after national parks. My family owned 100 acres of woods. It was a walnut tree farm with a pond and a creek north of town. My brother and I would visit with our parents to hunt, fish, camp and explore. My parents planted a series of trees in a few rows as a wind break at the edge of our property. As a result, leaves couldn’t grow in the center without sunlight and so “The Tunnels” was created. My brother and I used this area as a fort and had epic adventures together. When we were in junior high and into high school, we had a climbing wall that my dad helped us build in the backyard. Consequently, it took a life of its own as the wall grew up the side of our tree fort and spread out on to other nearby trees. Our parents always knew where to find us. If we weren’t in bed, we were sleeping outside under the climbing wall, exhausted after working a new route. What did you love about the outdoors as a child?  I loved the sounds, smells and the quiet peace I felt as the birds and deer grew used to my presence. It was amazing to watch them go about their day and allow me to watch their natural behavior. And I loved to catch tadpoles, name them and bring them home to watch them grow legs in an aquarium. Then, we would take them back to the tree farm and release them. When did you know you wanted to work in outdoor education?  I don’t know if I ever realized I wanted to work in the outdoor industry. I just always enjoyed being outside. One winter, I worked for a medical supply company entering product data into a spreadsheet. I sat in a cubical for three months and at the end of my probation period, they let me go. I thanked them for the opportunity for me to learn that I’m not very good at a desk job! Who encouraged you to pursue a career in outdoor education?  My parents always told me growing up I could be whatever I wanted to be. I just needed to be honest, hardworking, reliable and never give up. Admitting when you’re wrong has been the biggest growth in my life. You don’t have to always be right ... just humble enough to admit it. Being outdoors has lots of opportunities to get you hurt or killed. Recognizing the risk and acting accordingly has prevented me from entering many dangerous situations. What is the most common question you get from park visitors?  Park visitors ask most where the great places are to take their kids climbing. I love this question! I try to feel out what level of climbing the parents are before responding. There are many places to set up a top rope if the adult knows how to build an anchor.  And there are many more places if the adults can lead climb and are willing to walk a bit further away from the road. I love the memory that this family activity grows in children. It’s giving them an appreciation for wild places from an early age. How can parents raise kids to love the outdoors?  Parents don’t need to travel long distances to teach their kids about the outdoors. Start in your backyard. Plant native plants in your landscaping and watch them grow. Living in Illinois, my brother and I had our own 10-foot-by-10-foot native prairie that we burned every spring. Since we lived within the city limits, the fire department came over to keep an eye on things, and the neighbors would come over for “The Big Burn.” Get a reference book and see what native butterflies and insects live in your yard. Have a fish tank. I think adding the small things that children can see every day starts their curiosity for what’s beyond their own backyard. Anything else you want to share about your job or what you love about nature/being outside?  I love meeting new people; many are visiting our area for the first time. It’s great to see people get outside with their families and see what our country has to offer. There are many beautiful places around the world to visit but we truly have quite the variety of natural, cultural and historical sites right here at home. There’s something that everyone can connect with. In addition, I'd recommend keeping safety as a first concern in the outdoors. You ask your children to buckle up and know what to do in case the house catches on fire; likewise, make an emergency plan if you get separated on the trail. If someone gets a cut, make sure everyone knows where the first aid kit is or let everyone have a small kit of their own. Dress in layers. Weather can change dramatically in a short period of time. There are still many places that cell phones won’t work. Take a wilderness first aid class to be prepared in the event of an emergency.

Miriam in the welcome tent at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. In this interview series, I'm going to introduce you to park rangers across the United States. Today's post features Miriam Hornstein, a park ranger at Yellowstone National Park. What is your name and job title? My name is Miriam Hornstein and I am an Interpretive Supervisory Park Ranger at Yellowstone National Park. Is this the first National Park you've work at? If not, tell me what other parks/nature centers you've worked at. Nope, this isn't my first National Park; as a matter of fact, this isn't even the first time I've worked at Yellowstone as a Park Ranger! I've worked at Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Joshua Tree NP, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Big Cypress National Preserve, Colorado National Monument, Yellowstone NP–all as a seasonal ranger. Then I spent four years with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the island of Kauai at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. I worked at the National Park Service at the National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington, D.C., for five years, and then moved to Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area for three years. Finally, I returned to the West for my current position as a park ranger at Yellowstone. Where did you grow up? The country, the city or the suburbs?  I grew up in a combination of places. Mostly suburbs/smaller cities in MN, TX and ND. When I graduated high school in ND, I went to college at Oberlin College, near Cleveland, OH. It's a small town with a focus on green, environmental-type living. I also spent a year living in Munich, Germany, when my father was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher. That taught me that I wasn't cut out for the big-city life pretty quickly. Too many people and too loud! What did you love about the outdoors as a child? What I loved about the outdoors as a child was that it was an endless playground filled with adventures. There was always something to see and do to spark my imagination. When did you know you wanted to work in outdoor education?  I didn't consider a career in outdoor education until I graduated with my degree in Geology. I did a three-month-long internship at Arches NP through the NPS's Geo-Scientists-in-the-Parks program. Half of the time, I worked on synthesizing information for an interpretive trail exhibit, and the other half I worked as an interpretive park ranger. My eyes were opened to a whole new world. Interpretive park rangers are the ones who focus on outreach and education. We're the ones visitors meet in the Visitor Centers and give the guided hikes and programs. We work to help visitors form intellectual and emotional connections to the resources that we're charged to protect because people are far more likely to protect what they care about and understand. After I worked in my internship for about a month, I realized that National Parks were a classroom that changed every day, filled with students who wanted to be here and who wanted to learn. And I haven't stopped loving that feeling since. Who encouraged you to pursue a career in outdoor education? I've had multiple mentors in the NPS who took me under their wing to help me learn and grow as a park ranger, but ultimately the strongest mentors would be my parents, specifically my mom. She was a Girl Scout herself and was determined that her daughter would at least have a basic appreciation for the great outdoors if not the basic skills to handle it. My mom enrolled me in Girl Scouts at an early age and even became a troop leader despite her busy working schedule to help keep me involved and to ensure that the experience was about the outdoors. She and my dad always found a way to send me to camps and encouraged me on adventures like canoeing the Missouri River from below the Garrison Dam to the Bismark-Mandan area the summer between 7th and 8th grade with the Girl Scouts. And when I talked with them about becoming a ranger, both of my parents always encouraged me. They admit that they love having an "in" at all these parks and a reason to visit them. What is the most common question you get from park visitors? Without a doubt, the number one question at any park is, "Where's the nearest bathroom?" But for me as a person, visitors are very curious about how I got started as a ranger. And as I've gotten older, they want to know what it's like trying to juggle a personal life with the remote conditions that I live in. I'm always happy to answer their questions about how I got started, but I draw the line at the questions about my personal life. It gets a little irritating to get subjected to questions like, "What does your husband think about you living out here?" when my male coworkers are never asked questions like that. How can parents raise kids to love the outdoors? From what I've observed, the best way for parents to raise their children to enjoy the outdoors is to take them outside with them and have adventures together. We all spend too much time attached to our various devices and too much time indoors these days. Let your time with your children be your time to get out there and have fun. If it's cold, bundle up and enjoy it! Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are popular wintertime activities for a reason, but even something as simple as sledding can be great fun. I can't tell you how many great memories I have of sledding with friends and family, laughing until we all fell off the sled! One of the best gifts my parents gave my brother and I was a huge sandbox in the backyard. We played for hours in it and most of the neighborhood parents knew that when they couldn't find their kids, they would check our backyard. Hours of imagination and fun!  If it's spring, get out and enjoy what's blooming. There are so many free to low-cost apps for phones that help you identify a plant, flower or bird. And most of them don't require cell service once you have them installed. I use these ID apps a lot and I don't have cell service where I live and work! Anything else you want to share about your job or what you love about nature/being outside? I think what I'd like to share the most is that it doesn't take a big, expensive, once-in-lifetime type trip to a National Park like mine for families to fall in love with the outdoors and nature. No matter where you live, there is nature around you. Take advantage of your city, state and county parks. Get to know your neighborhood and what type of outdoor volunteering opportunities there are available. And take the time to step away from your electronics to experience your world around you. It's such a beautiful, wonderful place. I am so lucky to find my calling and be a park ranger. I hope that if we teach our children to love the outdoors, there will be future park rangers to follow in my footsteps.

In this interview series, I'm going to introduce you to park rangers across the United States. Today's post features Curt Dimmick, chief park ranger at Mt. Rainier National Park. Curt with his oldest son, Eli, at the NPS Centennial on August 25, 2016, at Mt. Rainier. What is your name and job title? Curt Dimmick, Chief Park Ranger, at Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington. Is this the first National Park you've worked at? If not, tell me what other parks/nature centers you've worked at. No, this is actually the ninth. I have worked at Coronado National Memorial (southern Arizona), Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Big Bend National Park, Everglades National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I have been the Chief Park Ranger at Great Basin National Park (Nevada), Crater Lake National Park (Oregon) and now at Mt. Rainier National Park (Washington). Where did you grow up? In the country, city or suburb? I grew up in Illinois in a very small town called Thomson that has a population of about 550.  I consider it the country as we lived on the edge of town without many close neighbors. What did you love about the outdoors as a child? I loved playing in my parents' large yard (we had over 3 acres).  I loved riding bikes and playing all sorts of games and acting out fantasies. I loved animals (we always had a dog growing up and cats) and became interested in wildlife and nature early on. My mother loves birds and always had bird feeders around the house, and I enjoyed watching and learning to identify birds. I loved spending time along the Mississippi River, which was less than a mile from my parents’ house. When did you know you wanted to work in outdoor education? Unlike a lot of my colleagues, I never thought about being a park ranger while growing up. I did know I wanted a job where I could work outdoors at least some of the time. When I started college, I was interested in being a wildlife biologist. I studied and have several degrees in biology and zoology. As I went further in school, I thought I would be a college professor. I got interested in the park ranger profession after I started graduate school and worked seasonal (temporary) positions for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and then later for the National Park Service as a park ranger. I got hooked and eventually landed a permanent position as a protection or law enforcement park ranger with the National Park Service. I have worked as a ranger ever since. I grew up interested in law enforcement too and it is in my family. Both of my brothers are police officers. So this career as a park ranger has combined my interests in wildlife, nature and biology with my interest in law enforcement. Who encouraged you to pursue a career in outdoor education? My parents always supported me and my siblings in whatever we wanted to do. I had several science teachers along the way who helped stoke my interest in the outdoors and nature. Several college and graduate school courses and professors further fed my interest. In the end, it was probably my own internal desire that most led me to this type of career more than any other person. What is the most common question you get from park visitors? Where are the restrooms?  Actually, that is something of a park service joke, but it does ring true as that is one of the most asked questions at visitor centers. At Mt. Rainier National Park, it is usually, "How high is the mountain?  How many people climb the mountain every year?" The answers are 14, 410 ft. and of about 10,000 people who attempt to climb it each year, about half make it to the top. The others get turned around for various reasons. How can parents raise kids to love the outdoors? Get them outdoors early and often. Don’t let weather stop you. Get them rain clothes for the rainy days, snowsuits for the winter days and get them out in all sorts of weather and in all sorts of places. Take them to local, state and national parks. Take them camping, hiking, fishing, kayaking, whatever you are in to and get them started. Read books and stories about the outdoors, animals, nature. Teach them about what they see around them and if you don’t have a nature background, learn with them and take them places like nature centers, children’s museums and programs in national parks to learn more. Anything else you want to share about your job or what you love about nature/being outside? Being a park ranger for the National Park Service, living in or near and working in national parks, is one of the greatest jobs there is. Being part of the mission to preserve and protect the natural resources in our parks and to serve and protect the visitors who come to enjoy the parks is one of the proudest accomplishments I can think of.

In this park ranger interview series, I'm speaking with park rangers across the United States about their job and how to encourage kids to love the outdoors. Today's post features Laura Dvorák, U.S. National Park Ranger at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Eruption/Protection Division. Is this the first National Park you've worked at? This is the first park I have worked at. I have previously worked in a horticultural therapy setting, and in the fields of outdoor/sustainability/permaculture education. Where did you grow up? In the country, a city, or a suburb? The suburbs of northeastern New Jersey. What did you love about the outdoors as a child? I loved fresh air. I loved the spontaneity as well as the stability of animals and plants and natural elements. We didn’t camp often but when we did, I remember the excitement and curiosity at observing newts and geese and raccoons. We spent countless days on the beach in Wildwood, NJ. I appreciate the lack of agenda in the outdoors and the opportunity to just be present with the senses (including the sense of wonder). Photo Credit: Krystal Weir @krystalweirphotography When did you know you wanted to work in outdoor education? My first outdoors job was in the summer of 2000 (at the age of 19) at the Princeton Blairstown Center in northwestern New Jersey. We offered immersive leadership experiences for coming-of-age youth from disadvantaged urban communities. The woods and rivers were like a crucible in which to allow other distractions to fall away. I remember being assigned to blaze a perimeter trail around the 300+ acre property, and discovering carriage wheels, stone walls, and house foundations from the colonial era. It gave me an appreciation for the recent history of the region, a place where time seemed to stand still. I obtained my Master’s Degree in Geography and Leadership for Sustainability Education and while it has not always been the most straightforward or lucrative career path, it has been replete with fresh air, (mis)adventure, and experiences that have built character as well as a deepened desire to know the natural world. Who encouraged you to pursue a career in outdoor education? Many mentors over the years – human and non-human alike. Mostly I saw a need for it. I have worked in classrooms as well as in the outdoors. Experiential and discovery learning had a lasting impact. More than books, more than tests. What is the most common question you get from park visitors? They all want to know how they can get the closest possible to the lava. It is awe-inspiring and at once evokes a sense of danger and reverence. They are astonished that we, too, operate at the mercy of the volcano’s unpredictable actions. One day the ocean entry may be there. The next day it is not. One day the cliffside may fall into the sea. One day the surface lava may flow in crimson rivers, the next day it is a shriveled gray mass resembling elephant skin. We cannot control it, but we can maintain a sense of wonder while keeping visitors safe and natural resources from being disrespected or exploited. How can parents raise kids to love the outdoors? Lead by example. If a lot of your energy and attention goes into your phone and computer and TV, how can you expect your children to act any differently? Establish formative memories together in the outdoors. Offer opportunities for predominantly positive experiences. If a child is bitten by mosquitoes or sunburned, or anxious about spiders or big waves in the ocean, don’t let it deter them from finding something they DO love outdoors; even if it is reading a book. I loved reading as a child and would bring a stack of books to a fort or under a tree and just lose myself in other worlds, in my inner world. I suffered infections from spider and mosquito bites, as well as poison ivy and sunburn, but in the end I did not internalize the idea that I was supposed to be afraid of the outdoors. If you live in a city, get out into your parks. Open the windows. Plant seeds. Visit local resident birds and wildlife, and get to know them. Engage with the outdoors as though you were not a stranger to it, and your child will feel as though he/she belongs somewhere on this precious planet, a powerful investment in future stewards of the environment. Give them space to respect nature while giving them skills of self-sufficiency and protecting the environment. Solo time in the outdoors is very, very healing and powerful for personal development. Even just a few minutes per week or per day can have lasting effects benefiting both mental and physical health. Children these days are not exactly encouraged to spend solo time outdoors, with justifiable fears like getting lost or being abducted, and paramount distractions like video games (and homework). But even just choosing a little nook in the backyard, or a tree stump off a familiar hiking trail, could mean the difference between developing into a person who knows their place on the Earth and one who feels estranged (and therefore more likely to make decisions that are destructive of self and of the environment). A child can learn just as much about mathematics and science, as well as alliterations and metaphors from a forest as they can from a textbook. Learning does not have to stop at the threshold of a classroom or desk. And some of the most important learning that takes place is non-verbal in nature. It cannot be rationalized or quantified. Many thanks to Laura for giving us her perspective on raising a generation to love the outdoors! Follow along with our monthly conservationist series here on the Hike it Baby blog!