Forest
Stewardship News Release
May
20 , 2005- For Immediate Release
Contact: Allyson
Muth , Phone: 814-863-0401 E-mail: abm173@psu.edu
Discovering the Forest Anew
Do you remember your first experience in the woods? Do you remember when you made that important connection that has guided you towards land stewardship? What stands out to you in that memory? Was it all the different leaf shapes; a centipede scurrying across the forest floor; the earthy smell of the disturbed leaf litter; the sun flecks dancing on moss; picnics and s’mores in a secret place under the canopy; or the sparkling, singing creek flowing past gnarled roots?
If you have a love of the forest, undoubtedly someone took time to take you there and showed you something special. That person gave you the opportunity to explore. Think back to those times when you could just enjoy the peace and solitude offered by the green high forest canopy. These days, knowing and understanding a forests is not necessarily a given.
Today, many things keep us out of the woods. For kids it might be school, urban settings, computers, or sports competing for time. Even adults find less time to find renewal in forests – work, children, golf, or simply age conspire against creating or recreating memories we might have valued.
As an adult, when was the last time you went to the woods for renewal? More importantly, perhaps, when was the last time you took a child to the woods to discover the myriad things that you remember from forest visits years ago?
For many of us, that first event that started us down a path towards stewardship occurred in the summer. Summer is a time of freedom, a time of camping, a time to be outside and playing for as long as you possibly can. It’s the time when you were free from school and could work and play alongside your parents, grandparents, or others whom you admired. Those early experiences probably instilled in you a love of the land, a love of the woods, and a desire to help others have that same kind of experience.
It is now summer and forests have taken on their new green mantel. The sun is playing across the forest floor, some spring flowers are still in bloom, most of the young animals of the year are born, and the streams are full. There is much to see in the state’s forests. Most importantly, it is time to introduce a young person to forest values and mysteries.
What can you do to introduce a child to the forest? What can you do to help a child care about trees, flowers, animals, and green hillsides? You can take a child to the forest. Take the time to allow them to explore, play, and observe. Show them those things that you first saw in the forest. Float a stick in the creek, watch an insect explore its home, listen silently to the wind in the treetops, watch the sun create shadows. The simple things that make up a forest can really touch the heart and, given time, can grow into a relationship that provides a lifetime of respect for forests and what they provide.
What a forest has to offer is learned best by going there. Pictures can inform, books can describe, stories can relate, but only a visit and time can tie it together creating a real relationship with a forest. If you value forests, take the time this summer to renew a memory or to create a memory with a young person in your life. Forests are for life.
If you need resources to help you in your work to introduce young people to a love of the forest, check out Forest Stewardship Bulletin No. 3: Teaching Youth about Forest Stewardship. It can be found on the web at: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/uh077.pdf
The Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program provides publications on a variety of topics related to woodland management for private landowners. For a list of free publications, call 1-800-235-WISE (toll-free), send e-mail to , or write to: Forest Stewardship Program, Forest Resources Extension, The Pennsylvania State University, 320 Forest Resources Building, University Park, PA 16802. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry and USDA Forest Service, in partnership with the Penn State's Forest Resources Extension, sponsor the Forest Stewardship Program in Pennsylvania.
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