Because They Are the Future

The girl balancing the board is now a 52-year-old schoolteacher who planted a prairie patch with her class, and we have done numerous gold panning activities with her classes. The little girl front and center in yellow is now a 42-year-old consulting naturalist who is very successful writing green grants. I hunt deer every year with the kid being dumped off the board, who is now 47 and teaching his kids about habitat and critters.

You probably already know that Prairie Preview is going to convene for the 36th time – on March 5th. Like last year, we meet at the Clarion Highlander, doors open at 6:30pm, speaker at 7:30pm. The big picture agenda remains the same as in past years, in that it is an opportunity to network face-to-face and renew friendships among like-minded folks who are part of the conservation/environmental/education community. It’s a place to capture a volunteer for your upcoming prairie burn, to find someone who knows about a safer herbicide for the schoolyard, someone who can identify that strange beetle you found, and a chance to serve with folks who are working toward a greener world.

And every year, one or more members of our community offers an in-depth presentation about their mission or one of their projects. In recent years some of us have been especially focused on the theme of children in nature, and it has become part of Prairie Preview exhibits and presentations. This year Dave Conrads and his educational team (Meredith Caskey, Shawn Hawks, Jay Gorsh, and Chad Swope) will tell us about the educational efforts of their programs at the University of Iowa’s Macbride Nature Recreation Area, including the Iowa Raptor Project, UI Wildlife Camps, and the School of the Wild (an accredited week-long experience in the wild in which each sixth grader from the Iowa City Community School District participates).

If you have ever worked with a whole class of energetic sixth graders, turned loose in the woods, this has got to be a challenge. I can’t wait to learn what they do and how they do it. And they are obviously successful because they keep getting invited back.

And as we learn how this school operates, remember that only a decade from now these children will start having children of their own, will start looking for real jobs or specialized education, will be driving, voting, spending… They are the future!!

If you are interested in the origins and history of Prairie Preview, including the themes and topics of past speakers, go to: History of Prairie Preview