Friday, August 12, 2005

Wisdom of the Last River Rat Spend a few minutes with Kenny Salwey, and if you don't come away with a few gems of wisdom, you weren't paying attention. Tomorrow night, Kenny is scheduled to entertain WOCA members with some of his adventures. Published in Tales of the Last River Rat and immortalized in a fine documentary by British movie producer Andrew Graham-Brown, Kenny's adventures lend themselves to story-telling, and nobody does it better than Kennny himself. Kenny has a knack for couching valuable lessons in memorable tales and for putting wisdom in a nutshell. I arrived at Trees for Tomorrow around 10:00 p.m. tonight, just as the Friday night gab-fest was winding down. Roger Sabota, Kenny and I hung the last dog, after everyone else had turned in. The conversation got around to the National Archery in the Schools Program, which Kenny's wife, Mary Kay, coordinates with Tim Lawhern. Tim, who is also administers the DNR's hunter education program, is speaking to the group about NASP tomorrow. We got to talking about the importance of getting kids outdoors, and NASP's role in that endeavor. Kenny said, "Outdoor experiences generate feelings, feelings lead to attitudes and together, feelings and attitudes influence behavior." Isn't that what we're all about in the outdoor communications field? It all starts with hands-on outdoor experiences, or at least it ought to. A generation ago, the connection with the natural world began to dissolve, as more folks moved into cities and electronic ways of having fun replaced exploring an old orchard or poking around a pond on grandpa's back 40. Today's kids are more at home at the mall than in the woods, and so we are losing hunters, fishers and even hikers and campers in ever-increasing numbers. As the old timers die off or quit going out there, they are not being replaced by a new generation. If kids don't get to experience the beauty of an autumn sunrise over a marsh or the melodies of spring songbirds, they won't know enough to work to save the places where those experiences can be had. So we've got our work cut out for us, if we hope to turn kids on to such things that many of us take for granted and many more of us don't even know, let alone care, exist. More on that at a later time... 11:24:27 PM    comment []

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