Hawaii’s Back yard
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
HAWAII NATURE CENTER
Environment-friendly crafts and games help shape outdoor attitudes that can last a lifetime.
How do plants eat? What do worms do to enrich the earth? Why can trees keep mountains from eroding? Makiki center gets
families back to natureThe Hawaii Nature Center answers these questions and many more as it works "to foster awareness, appreciation and understanding of Hawaii's environment, and encourage wise stewardship of the Islands in the future." It accomplishes its mission through educational experiences that take participants into Oahu's rain forests, along its shorelines and atop its mountains.
Expect to get dirty. Expect to get wet. Expect to get tired. These excursions will have you crawling through fields, digging in soil, wading in streams and hiking rugged trails in search of beetles, tree snails, native birds, rare tropical flora and other wonders of nature. It's guaranteed to be a day outdoors that you'll never forget.
More than 800,000 children and adults have enjoyed HNC's programs since the private nonprofit organization was incorporated in 1981. On weekdays, HNC educators lead elementary school-aged keiki on daylong field trips that complement Department of Education curricula. Weekends are reserved for family activities, workshops and challenging treks for adults. Headquartered in lush Makiki Valley, at the threshold of one of Oahu's most popular trail systems, HNC also is a valuable resource for hikers seeking maps and natural history information.
ALTHOUGH HNC shares its message with anyone who's interested, it regards children as its primary audience. "We believe that if you reach children at a young age, with hands-on outdoor experiences that are carefully structured to impart information, they begin to develop an environmental ethic that is compatible with sound stewardship," says HNC's executive director, Gregg Dunn.
"We want the children -- our future-- to be aware of their environment, how precious and fragile it is, and how they each can be active in preserving and protecting it."
Technology has enabled mankind to achieve amazing things, but in Dunn's opinion, it also has moved people toward passive rather than active experiences. "Virtual tours" are available via a few keystrokes on your computer. DVDs have refined sound and image quality to the point of perfection. Today, you can view magnificent scenes underwater, high in the sky and in a secluded valley without leaving your living room.
"Nature is becoming an abstraction for children -- something to be seen on a cable channel," notes Dunn. "That's not a bad thing, but kids need to get their hands in dirt, discover how complicated a bug is, explore a forest stream."
Trained in environmental sciences and early childhood education, HNC's instructors invite kids to delve into their surroundings and to be inquisitive, whether it's finding out why bubbles rise to the surface or what causes leaves to decompose. Programs strive to build awareness of the environment, nurture appreciation of it and promote protection of even the most elemental forms of life.
Address: 2131 Makiki Heights Drive Hawaii Nature Center
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Call: 955-0100
Web site: www.hawaiinature.org
Summer Series: Activities cover a wide range of topics, from "Caring for Trees" to "Incredible Insects." Some programs are reserved for adults; others welcome families with children as young as three years old. Fees range from $5 per person to $14 per parent/child team for non-members. HNC members receive a 50 percent discount. Call to receive a complete schedule through September. You can also sign up for HNC's programs online.
On one trip, youngsters may be asked to press wet moss between their fingers. During another, they may sniff flowers blooming on a bush, listen to birdsong or admire the spirited dance of a dragonfly. All the senses are stimulated in the learning process.
"This style of teaching helps children understand their connectedness to the natural world, and thus, we believe, encourages them to care for it in the long term," asserts Dunn. He likes to tell the story of a young girl who, after completing an HNC program that focused on recycling, chastised her father, a busy executive, for throwing an aluminum can in the trash. "Needless to say," Dunn smiles, "the family now recycles!"
HNC's work is supported by corporate sponsors, fund-raising events, federal and state grants, individual donors, membership fees and income generated from its Maui facility's museum, gift shop and Rainforest Walk. More than 200 volunteers assist HNC with everything from watering plants to inputting computer data to stuffing envelopes for mailing.
"Many of our volunteers are retired folks who enjoy the atmosphere of our natural setting and the presence of young children," says Dunn. "I think the Hawaii Nature Center is dear to our hearts because when we see children's faces light up on a mountain trail, we know we have engaged them in learning and appreciation of their environment.
"One educator says when she has a difficult or troubled child in a class, she sees this as an opportunity: 'This moment in the forest or the wetland may be the best part of this child's day. I can help make that happen.'"
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer
and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
