Nature Docents Learning to Walk on the Wild Side

When the children encounter a bees nest, Nancy Berk steps in: “Bees are very busy doing their work here, and if we leave them alone they will leave us alone.”

After she explains the role bees play in the cycle of nature--pollinating flowers, for example--the children’s fright usually changes to appreciation.

“When people have fears, it generally comes from lack of knowledge,” says Berk, who trains volunteers for the Children’s Nature Institute to lead nature walks for children up to 8 years old.

Next week, she will direct a series of docent-orientation sessions at outdoor sites in Griffith Park and Topanga State Park to train a new crop of volunteers. When they finish training, docents will lead nature walks at least once a month for family or school groups at a park or nature preserve near where they live. For example, volunteers from the San Fernando Valley would take groups to sites from Studio City to Valencia.

The Children’s Nature Institute was created in 1985 to introduce city and suburban families with small children to the outdoors. Its Outreach Discovery Nature Program provides free transportation to and from the nature site for kids in youth shelters, special needs programs and schools where 50% of the students are on the federal lunch program.

“So many people don’t know that we have the kind of nature and wilderness areas that we have close by Los Angeles,” Berk said recently. “As a result, many [children] on nature walks come to us from a concrete-paved world or a manicured world like the West Valley.”

Berk does not want potential volunteers to be intimidated by thinking the docent training is complicated.

“We mainly want our docents to get across the excitement of the natural environment and the need to respect it,” she said. “Plant identification is a big part of the training. Kids are very close to the ground and see them and are interested in them.”

Docents point out plants such as California sage, the sticky monkey flower and some that have medicinal qualities or are poisonous. They also identify insects.

Each day’s docent-training session runs 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Among the topics covered are how to plan a walk for babies in strollers to 8-year-olds, familiarizing children with birds and animals in the hills, recognizing reptiles and amphibians, plant identification on the trail and songs, stories and life of local Native Americans.

Each docent will develop his or her own style of leading a walk, using ideas presented in the training sessions, Berk said. Participants are asked to make financial contributions to pay for the training. Full or partial scholarships are available.

BE THERE

Children’s Nature Institute, volunteer walk leader training program, Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Requested contribution $60; scholarships available. Meets Tuesday and Thursday at Griffith Park and Wednesday and Friday at Topanga State Park. Call for directions and information: (310) 998-1151.