Seize the Swamp Stories
The calendar was not created by Romans observing lunar activity; but rather by those with great power, who place the “real” seasons on the calendar: duck, quail, turkey, deer…, so says my 14-year-old son. Those seasons provide the framework of our personal lives throughout a traditional calendar year; but the pinnacle of the hunting season are the days dedicated to youth hunting. Those few days put kids in the center of the action. The forests, fields, and waters are theirs to borrow for a while.
While the subject of kids and guns can be controversial to some, I contend that kids with guns…and dogs…and faith and family are “stewards in training” for the special places we love. Hands on lessons in nature invite them under the umbrella of complex biological systems. But even more powerful and under recognized is a child’s ability to tune in to the world around them, observe, assess, and articulate an energetic, passionate story of their experience. Afterall, life isn’t a google search. One can’t just cue the duck and go home. The cacophony of birds and insects in the pre-dawn hours, the rich aroma of damp leaves, the shadows of movement that put a mind on high alert, these are the things that get shared with great enthusiasm over a hot breakfast - remembered and passed along through the generations.
Far too often, we, in the conservation arena, frame our success stories through a dry linear lens of dollars and acres. What if, instead, we seize the power of “story” with the energy of a 14-year-old boy on a youth hunt day, to embolden our staff, to ignite our board, and to bring others to support the important work that defines us? What if we tell the stories of the places we protect in a way that connects people, whose feet have never left the pavement, to our important work? What if we make the stories that accompany our work, part of our culture, not just something we dig up for an upcoming announcement? We may just see that the passion ignited by well-told stories is the secret sauce that we’ve all been seeking.