Young People Can Do Green Things

Groups from the four states in Region 2 were selected to participate based upon their projects of doing good things for the environment.  We were not disappointed in the number and quality of projects, nor the variety.  One school group reported on how they made their own school yard habitat, one group studied the effects forest clearing had on two species of boreal squirrels.  One group had monitored a stream ecosystem for years and reported on its recovery, while one young lady solicited help from a whole host of others to protect habitat for an endangered salamander in Austin, Texas.

This was the caliber of students honored at the Youth Forum.  It was high time we celebrated the kinds of actions that rarely get the headlines in the newspapers.  No gang war here, just gangs of motivated students searching the natural environment for answers to their, and all of our, questions.  No loitering here, just high energy and focus on showing that young people CAN do green things to help life.  No bias here, as the scientific method was followed rigidly to create credibility in their findings.  The Forum not only taught them, it encouraged them to make conservation a way of existence on this shared planet of ours.

It was also heartening for the adults to see young minds grasp concepts of conservation, communities, and coexistence, concepts adults have trouble defining, yet these young people were living.  And a giving spirit pulsed through it all; giving to each other the help needed, and giving back to the Earth a little help where it was needed.  When the presentations were made, one could feel the cohesion of that spirit between and among the different groups.  A study of the playa wetlands in the Texas panhandle showed how playas are vital to the lives of everyone in seven states living on top of the Ogallala Aquifer, the playas being the major recharger of the underground lake.  This was serious stuff!

The groups weren't only sponsored from schools either.  The Girl Scout from Austin, Texas earned her Gold Award, equivalent to a Boy Scout’s Eagle, by restoring a stretch of habitat for the Jollyville salamander.  This project then earned another award from Regional Director Dr. Benjamin Tuggle for her efforts.  But that was outdone by a letter signed by President George W. Bush commending Sohini Bandy for the project, and thanked her for her tenacity in getting the job done.

As part of the Service’s new initiative to “Connect People With Nature”, the Forum became the first ever to recognize the great things young people are doing to improve life on this planet for all inhabitants.  It won’t be the last, as Dr. Tuggle promised to hold another in this Region next year stating, “this should be an annual event.”  In fact, the national Working Group for Connecting People With Nature is planning a similar but much bigger Forum at the Service’s National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia.

These young environmentalists, these little “wildfires,” soon will be taking over the conservation of our nation, and the Earth, when our generation is finished.  And let’s hope that kind of fire spreads like, well, wildfire!

Dennis Prichard is Acting Refuge Manager at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge