Kids ‘out there’ become adults who care
- John Lorson: The Rail Trail Naturalist
- July 23, 2024
- 540
If you noticed my absence, I’m thankful for that. It’s been over a month since I vanished from this page, but it’s been for good reason. I’ve been out there in it — exploring, learning and teaching.
While speaking recently to a local community service organization, I spent a great deal of time talking about “the Ohio that was.” Historians often describe the landscape as a vast and seemingly endless forest, an ocean of old-growth trees stretched in broad canopy over a land teaming with wildlife, and the indigenous people who lived here did so in a balance with their natural surroundings. Man’s impact on the land was negligible at most.
In the eyes of settlers arriving to the Ohio country from the east, the place was a bit of a mess — a shadowy, predator-filled wilderness that would need to change dramatically if they were to make a go of raising crops and livestock here.
Change it did. By the turn of the 20th century, most of that wilderness was gone. According to the historians with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the forests that had at once covered up to 95% of the land mass were reduced to as little as 10%. The trees, once a seemingly inexhaustible supply, had been cleared for both cropland and commerce.
Much of Southeastern Ohio’s Appalachian region had been clear cut to feed the furnaces of iron production, leaving the hillsides ripe for erosion. Water quality plummeted. Wildlife that had not already been purposefully driven out suffered enormously. It was not until the early 1900s that the state legislature became officially concerned to the point of action. In 1916 the state began acquiring and rehabilitating cut-over forest lands, hoping to reestablish balance on the land and waters capable of sustaining wildlife. Such was the beginning of the state forest system — a beautiful piece of which we enjoy locally as the Mohican State Forest, which was established in 1928.
Fortunately, both because of official efforts and economic circumstances — once the trees were gone, the iron industry turned toward coal — the forest cover in our state has rebounded to around 30% and water quality and wildlife have responded accordingly. The wild things of Ohio are doing vastly better. Still, there’s always room for improvement. And even holding our own in an ever-changing world is a huge challenge.
At the end of my talk, a listener asked, “What is the most important thing we can do today to make a difference for the environment?”
My answer was quick and simple. “Take a kid outside,” I said. “If people do not personally recognize the value of nature — of wild things and wild places — and experience the joy of being out there in it, they will never support it.”
I went on to remind my audience that behind every effort to conserve, preserve or restore are people who genuinely care about the wild world. More often than not that caring is rooted in values learned as a child. Make sure the kids in your life spend some time out there, the more the better. The world will be a better place for it.
If you have comments on this column or questions about the natural world, write The Rail Trail Naturalist, P.O. Box 170, Fredericksburg, OH 44627, or email jlorson@alonovus.com. You also can follow along on Instagram @railtrailnaturalist.