Sharing Nature’s Bounty : Paul Higgins has given up retirement to teach children about Native Americans and the ways of the wild.

Although it wasn’t quite dark, stars were beginning to dot the sky, and the sound of frogs carried over Towsley Creek. Nearby, Paul Higgins gathered a group of 5- and 6-year-old boys around a campfire and prepared to unite two of his favorite things: children and nature.

Higgins told stories as Native Americans once did around their fires. One tale explained how baby deer were given spots for protection. Other stories, as well as games, dancing and discussion, kept the boys, members of the Y-Indian Guides group, attentive for an hour and a half, learning about nature and the people who once lived in it.

“The program was great. The pacing was perfect,” said Marc Winger of Newhall, who, along with other fathers, attended the campfire at Ed Davis Park in Santa Clarita. Winger’s son Seth, 5, said his favorite part was a story about how the stars came to be sprinkled across the sky.

Higgins seems a devotee of Shakespeare’s quote, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” For about two years, he has brought children to the campfires, led them on nature hikes or taken Native American history programs into their classrooms.

It all began when Higgins took early retirement from the U.S. Postal Service, where he had worked a total of 28 years in Harrisburg, Pa., and Santa Barbara. He and his wife moved to Valencia, where he expected to golf and fish the rest of his life. The idea lasted a couple of months--till he got bored.

So, in area parks and canyons, Higgins began to walk, something he hadn’t done much during the years he spent in an office. He read nature books and questioned experts about wild plants and animals. He joined groups dedicated to history and nature. As a docent with the Placerita Nature Center, he learned that he enjoyed teaching children. And he continued to spend time on his lifelong interest, the study of Native Americans.

“I’ve always had close feelings toward the Native Americans and how they believe everything is a cycle,” Higgins said. “Indians are a big part of history. Children need to know about them.” Kids also, Higgins believes, need to learn about nature.

Higgins’ style of teaching is hands-on: Children see, hear, touch and smell aspects of nature to understand the ways of the wild. He leads several nature walks for kids each month, helps coordinate nature and natural history programs weekly for the Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club, and brings Native American artifacts, as well as reproductions he makes in his garage, into classrooms.

“He’s good with the kids. They rally around him and respect him,” said Bonnie Schreiber, educational director for the Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club.

Higgins’ teaching will expand to include children and their parents in three programs offered once a month this summer through Santa Clarita Parks and Recreation. Family programs will include an evening nature walk followed by campfire activities. Easily paced morning hikes will teach families about local plants and animals, as well as the Tataviam Indians, who lived in the area. A program on Native American history covers geographic regions across North America.

On a recent hike through Towsley Canyon, one of Higgins’ favorite natural areas, he talked of the importance of not just telling, but showing children the bounties of nature and its place in history.

“I usually tell them that people lived here, and they didn’t have clothes or Pogs or Nintendo,” Higgins said. “I tell them that everything they see is all the Indians had.”

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In Towsley Canyon, Higgins smiles fondly at soaring red-tailed hawks and points out blooming chia plants, whose seeds were consumed by Native Americans. He rubs a furry piece of sagebrush on his neck, as if it were Old Spice, telling of how cowboys used it before they went to town for the night, thus earning it the nickname “cowboy cologne.”

“I can’t think of anything nicer than to show children this,” he said. “I like to hear them running down the trail and calling, ‘Hey Paul, look at this! Paul, what’s this?’ ”

Children across the country may get a chance to learn from Higgins, as he may eventually develop a series of educational videos.

“I always wanted to either be a forest ranger or a history teacher, but I never had a chance,” he said. “Then one day recently someone told me, ‘You’re doing those jobs.’ ”

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WHERE AND WHEN

What: Family Campfire Programs.

Location: Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon.

Hours: 7 to 9 p.m. June 24, July 22, Aug. 12 and Sept. 9.

Price: $8 per person, ages 6 and older.

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What: Family Nature Walks.

Location: Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon.

Hours: 9 to 10 a.m. June 24, July 22, Aug. 12 and Sept. 9.

Price: $5 per person, ages 6 and older.

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What: Native American History lectures.

Location: To be announced.

Hours: 3 to 4 p.m. June 24, July 22, Aug. 12 and Sept. 9.

Price: $5 per person, ages 6 and older.

Registration: Call Santa Clarita Parks and Recreation, (805) 255-4910 for registration information. Registration begins in mid-May and remains open till classes are filled.

Also: Higgins is available for classroom programs and other special events at (805) 254-5272.