Open space observations
Mike Swanson
To a select group of Laguna Beach residents taking its first hike
through Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on June 13, nothing tickled
emotions and dazzled eyes more than animal scat and the stinkbugs
that live off of it.
Judging from the Top of the World first-graders’ questions,
answers and comments at their end-of-the-year field trip, either Art
Linkletter or Bill Cosby should have been hiking along with
microphones and a TV audience.
Regardless of gender, no quote was more prolific than, “There’s
more scat!” but “Another stinkbug!” took a close second.
Ian Ring took the scat observation further with the assertion that
a particular pile couldn’t have come from a coyote, but must have
come from a reindeer -- an unprecedented Laguna Beach discovery.
Even when he wasn’t making groundbreaking discoveries, Ring found
the ground he walked on exciting. During a brief rest that featured
trained docent Kimberly Bixler Leeds explaining how the plant Mule
Fat was named, Ring thumbed through a handful of dirt saying “neat,”
devoting at least three seconds to the vowel sound.
While explaining that Mule Fat received its name because it makes
mules fat, Leeds said mules’ reaction to the plant is much like
humans’ reaction to beans. The children looked at each other with
scrunched faces and bandied a mild four-letter F word about for about
10 seconds before something else caught their attention.
“It’s always interesting to see what kids pay most attention to
out here,” Leeds said. “Every group gloms onto something different.”
Once the children filed out of the bus at the Willow Staging Area
and organized into three docent-led groups, Leeds’ opening question
for her collection of about 20 first-grade hikers, “What do you think
of when you hear the word ‘wilderness’?” set a fine precedent for the
day’s answers.
“It means that they’re, like, going crazy,” Patsy Sewell said.
Shaza Rabahieh countered with, “It means that creatures live here
that don’t live in your houses,” and Sam Wogulis summed it up with,
“Wild means, like, nature out in the fresh air.”
The children’s answers led Leeds to an explanation of what people
need to live, finishing with the only answer the children couldn’t
come up with -- space -- and emphasized why it’s so vital.
“We wouldn’t be able to live piled on top of each other, would
we?” Leeds said, drawing a serious parade of noes from the group.
Leeds and other docents hope their series of field trips with
Laguna Beach elementary school students show children what a unique
backyard of open space they have and the importance of preserving it.
While the children’s interest appeared more small-scale than
docents’ aspirations, as should be expected on first exposure, some
of teacher Margaret Arnold’s class displayed early signs of a Sierra
Club future.
Everything fascinated Ian, who in the first few paces on the trail
yelled, “There’s a hole!” and in the last few paces took a special
interest in the tick discovered on the back of Sewell’s shirt. As
Leeds held the tick, showing the students what it looks like for
future reference, Ian yelled, “It’s going to tear through her skin!”
wearing an intrigued smile.
Tamara Torres was the speed racer of the group, staying right on
Leeds’ back as she quickened the pace to hit the picnic tables, where
other children wanted to be but couldn’t handle Torres’ pace. She
appeared to have a bright future lugging 50-pound backpacks across
national parks, but some didn’t have it so easy.
“I can’t do it,” a boy in the back screamed. “I’m just hungry!”
He did it, as did the rest of the group, and they heaped “thank
yous” upon Leeds once happily holding their sandwiches. Time will
tell how the day impacted these hikers, but June 13 looked like a fine introductory course to the Laguna Coast Wilderness system.
Ian’s mother said it was her first time at the park, but upon
seeing her son’s interest in everything, it probably won’t be her
last.
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