OutdoorsVT 5-8-09

Losing the battle for our kids

This should scare the willies out of all of us. Every time I read another study about our decreasing participation in the great outdoors I get more and more nervous.

I’m afraid that the way things are going, we could be at risk of losing our connection to the outdoors in just a generation or two.

We simply aren’t doing enough to foster an appreciation for outdoor recreation in our kids.

Because of that, our grandkids may not ever get a chance to lay in a sleeping bag and listen to the rain against tent walls before falling asleep, sit by a campfire with a burned marshmallow at the end of a stick, round a bend on the trail and happen upon a doe and two fawns standing in a field or feel the tug of a feisty rainbow at the end of a fishing line.

Most likely you’ve already experienced these simple pleasures — or something very similar — in your own outdoor adventures. Hopefully, you are passing on these opportunities to your kids or grandkids.

Too many of us aren’t.

More and more of us are living in urban areas and the only nature many kids experience is the wild cats that live in the abandoned building down the street.

Even in rural areas, more and more kids are growing up without the outdoor experiences that we used to take for granted.

Entering my fifth decade, I see a big difference. If you’re anywhere near my age or older, I’m sure you don’t have a problem recognizing all the things that compete for attention among today’s youth that didn’t exist when we were kids.

Television has 250 channels today as compared to the 12 I grew up with, and we had cable television. There were no satellite dishes with 24-hour cartoon networks. My kids have half a dozen channels that play an endless loop of animation. Heck, we didn’t even have a VCR until I was in high school.

I never saw a computer until I was 10 or 12 years old and I didn’t know anybody who had one for another decade. I got an Atari when they first came out but with the few games that were available, I grew bored with it after a few months.

But what I did have was a passion for the outdoors. From camping and fishing from a very early age, hunting with my dad as soon as I was old enough to tag along, and plenty of other outdoor fun, I caught the bug early.

As I grew older, my friends and I would go on “expeditions” into places my parents never knew we went. We would take our rod and reel and a few pieces of stolen fishing tackle from my dad’s tackle box to a local golf course pond. We went rabbit hunting. My cousins and I even camped out in the backyard throughout the summer because the few trips to the mountains we took just didn’t cut it.

In junior high I discovered Jim Kjelgaard and his 40-plus books about a boy and his dog, wildlife, survival and outdoor adventure. I bet I read darn near every single one of those books within a couple of years.

Quite often those books, or the outdoor magazines I stole from my dad and took to school, got me in trouble as I read about the outdoors or lusted after the gear I saw advertised on those pages instead of paying attention to a teacher.

When I wasn’t reading about it, or doing it, I most often was dreaming about it. Trust me, my grades bear this out.

Who am I kidding? I’m still doing it today.

While I may have been an extreme case, there aren’t enough kids daydreaming about the outdoors. Too many of them are deep in thought about how to get to the next level of the latest video game or what they’re going to do to their Facebook page.

If they’re not playing video games, or watching television, they’re on the Internet, which isn’t a bad thing all by itself, but too much of it certainly feeds the cycle.

But, guess what folks? We can’t blame our kids.

It’s our fault. It’s your fault if your kids spend too much time online. It’s my fault my kids watch too much TV.

We have to end this cycle now, before it’s too late.

Studies show that a kid who isn’t introduced to the outdoors at a relatively early age is much less likely to stay involved later in life. I’m not blowing smoke.

Why do you spend time in nature? Why do you hunt? Fish? Hike? Bike? Ski? Camp? The overwhelming majority of you are muttering to yourself that it’s just something you’ve always done.

You can’t remember not being active in the outdoors. If you think hard, however, there was an adult somewhere back there who took you into the outdoors — probably many, many times.

If we don’t build an appreciation for nature and outdoor activities now, they won’t pass it on to their kids. The chances of them picking it up later are much, much lower.

A recent survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows the number of kids 6 to 15 who fish has decreased to 12.3 million, the lowest number in 29 years.

A nationwide University of Maryland study found that the number of kids 9 to 12 years old who spend time in the outdoors has dropped 50 percent since 1973.

Visits to National Parks and our national forests are down.

A 2006 study shows that beginning between 1981 and 1991, there was a decline in per capital nature recreation at a rate of 1.3 percent per year. The study looked at a wide variety of outdoor recreation.

That’s not acceptable.

Without new blood joining the fight for sound wildlife management practices, to protect habitat, to battle for clean water and for open trails, we’ll begin losing those fights.

Other interests will take over and land management agencies will make different decisions. Funding will head in different directions.

An administration that wants to privatize the National Parks System, or give preference to the extractive industries over wildlife considerations, will have little opposition.

Many outdoor groups have recognized this and there are many new initiatives being launched to combat the decreasing participation rates.

All the programs in the world won’t matter if we don’t take advantage of them.

We have to take time out of our busy schedules and set aside some time for our kids.

We can no longer sit back and hope they develop an interest in the outdoors naturally. There are too many obstacles and competing interests.

Get them involved now.

Do it for your kids. Do it for the future.

Darren Marcy is a local outdoor enthusiast. His Web site is http://www.darrenmarcy.com/. E-mail him at darren@darrenmarcy.com.