Things Wild and Free

by Karen Fisher Photographs by Alan Weisman How many hundreds of years of rock and plant interaction does it take to make a mere inch of topsoil? Can a piñon pine influence the growth of neighboring ponderosa? Will the building of a pond affect local water resources and change the overall pattern of wildlife?... And how does man fit into the pattern of nature? The answers to these and a host of other important questions about man and his relationship to the natural environment are now being sought - and found by Prescott, Arizona, residents in a unique new outdoor laboratory one they themselves helped develop, on a 20-acre patch of piñon-fringed hills and juniper-dotted grassland. And it all came about almost by accident.

Five years ago, when the local school district went shopping for land on which to build a new junior high school, they found the ideal site, but there was a catch. It contained some land too rugged for buildings or playing fields. The offer, however, was too good to pass up. Could this extra land be utilized somehow to make the purchase even more worthwhile? they asked themselves. Yes, came the answer at last. We'll use it to build a nature study park!

The project began modestly, almost inconspicuously, with plans for a small turtle pit and a fish pond. But then creative momentum started picking up. First, funds came in from a school program designed to encourage just such innovative measures. And then came the muscle, a whole host of talented and enthusiastic community residents. When the smoke cleared, they found they had put together not just a park but a unique environmental study center, complete with a special school curriculum, nature trails, a visitor center, an outdoor barbeque and innumerable nature research projects for everyone in the community. They called it the Prescott Community Nature Center. Through the guiding efforts of its director, Dr. Harry Dahlberg, four committees were initially appointed to shape the center's purpose and its community programs. Included in the mix were local geologists, botanists and entomologists, all of whom helped with the development of the nature study area. They restored natural flora and sited trails, and swore secretly to add nothing that was not truly native. At last count, 55 organizations and a number of individuals, ranging from Eagle Scouts to the County Agent, had become involved. Guidebooks have been written, colorcoded to match numbered wooden markers on the trails. These call the visitor's attention to underground animal nests, decayed and weathering rocks, and provide a detailed study of 41 plants of the area's 200 or more species. Other markers outline a paved trail around the periphery of the grassland. This was built especially for nature lovers who find it difficult to get around in the woods. And for a limited number of students, coached to remain as inobtrusive as possible, there is an unmarked wilderness trail designed for just watching and listening. Problems of early pioneers also are evident. A section of the trail is an old wagon road connecting Williamson Valley, a rich farmland, to commercial Prescott. Its bumpy, rutted inclines and circuitous detours would be torture for this century's impatient traveler. Groups here that have built a log fence or dam have learned also to appreciate man's technological progress. The most ambitious construction challenge, however, was met in the summer of 1975 with the building of a log cabin by members of the Youth Employment Program. The workers were given the logs, the tools, and The (Left) Proud of her accomplishments, a student at the Nature Center displays some of the fruits of the harvest. The children grow pumpkins, popcorn, gourds and Indian corn for Prescott elementary schools, for use during Halloween and Thanksgiving.

(Below, right) Everything at the Nature Center, including this log cabin, which serves as a learning center for studying pioneer life, as well as a visitor information center, has been built by students and volunteers. Students also learn to cook with a dutch oven, how to use a matate and grind corn into meal, and how to create beautiful colors from natural dyes.

Foxfire Book (as a guide and inspiration), as well as tips from some oldtimers at the Arizona Pioneers' Home in Prescott.

Beautiful? Yes. Interesting? Yes. But did all of it make for a program of environmental education for the community of Prescott? Dr. Dahlberg didn't think so. At least it didn't yet. To do this, he realized, the natural environment should somehow become closely linked with school and growing up.

To get ideas, Dahlberg took the time to visit nature study centers in nine other states. Out of all the accumulated data he then selected what appeared the best and began formulating a plan.

The result of his work was a first! A special school curriculum that exposes youngsters to Mom Nature from Kindergarten through the twelfth grade, and an adult curriculum as well, making the program a true community-school effort.

Every Prescott school is within ten minutes of the center, but the teacher must do more than requisition a school bus. Students must be educated for this outdoor lab, and they must be prepared to carry over some of the experience when they return to the classroom. To carry out the task, environmental studies became a major part of formal training for the teachers.

minutes of the center, but the teacher must do more than requisition a school bus. Students must be educated for this outdoor lab, and they must be prepared to carry over some of the experience when they return to the classroom. To carry out the task, environmental studies became a major part of formal training for the teachers.

Also in keeping with the educational purpose of the project, several college students are engaged in on-site independent studies; others are involved in workshops, such as the Society for Range Management's Range Plant Identification program, and there also is a series of four weekend classes for non-professional adults.

Involvement of science students and machine shop and carpentry classes is inevitable, and others are encouraged to establish their places in the center, too.

Future hopes include the teaching of mathematics by staging bee "races,"

and developing a perfect lab for life drawing for art students. Someday, the planners predict, student violins may accompany the birdsong which thrills audiences in the hillside amphitheater.

Today, Prescott's Community Nature Center, which is open to visitors all summer, is more than a wildlife preserve it is a tool for shaping a community's attitude toward its natural resources. It doesn't simply promote an awe for nature's beauty. Instead, it provides for a systematic development of the child of nature for the niche he will someday inherit.

Editor's Note: As this issue was about to go to press, we learned the project was selected as one of the first areas in the state to be placed on the State Park's new Natural Area Registry as an Educational Natural Area, recognition the project richly deserves. Other schools please copy.