Every year, the fifth grade Meeker Elementary School class takes a field trip to Trappers Lake. Staff members of the U.S. Forest Service Blanco Ranger District (BRD) coordinate with teachers to interact with students and share their knowledge of the “Cradle of Wilderness,” its many wonders, and how to best protect it. The trip shows the power of a place to inspire, and it encourages kids to become involved in the stewardship of their public lands. “We like to bring the Meeker kids up to Trappers Lake and hopefully inspire them — at least give them a taste of what the forest, the wilderness and all those concepts of conservation are all about,” said Curtis Keetch, Blanco District Ranger. The trip shares a common theme with the story of Arthur Carhart’s influence on Trapper’s Lake.
Gillian Purvenas (left) and Mia Camacho (right) perform a cross cut demonstration for students. | KATIE LOCKWOOD PHOTO
“Arthur Carhart was the very first Forest Service employee to manage recreation. In 1919, Carhart was 27 years old, and he was tasked with coming up to Trappers Lake to survey a road around the lake with 200 summer homes. At this time, national forests and recreation were new idea. Carhart spent the whole summer at Trappers and completed the survey for summer homes and the road, but he had a new idea. When he left Trappers, he had a bright idea that there are places that rightfully belong to everyone. This gave birth to the concept of wilderness [as] a place to find naturalness and solitude on the landscape, and the Forest Service began to move away from just timber, mining and grazing, which was their primary focus at the time. It took years for the agency to adopt Carhart’s ‘radical’ idea, but it led to the Wilderness Act in 1964,” explained Aaron Grimes, BRD Recreation Program Manager.
Carhart was very young when he was sent to survey Trappers Lake. “I sometimes wonder how I had the nerve as a young punk to get my superiors turned around on some of these things. I feel real good about how it all turned out,” said Carhart shortly after the Wilderness Act was passed.
Arthur Carhart is not to be confused with the Carhartt clothing brand. Carhartt clothing was founded in 1899 by Hamilton Carhartt in Detroit, Michigan, and initially provided clothing to meet the needs of railroad workers. In the 1930s the brand expanded to include clothing for hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation. Meanwhile, Arthur Carhart, despite being a ‘young punk,’ went on to help preserve some of America’s most beautiful places and has inspired generations of conservationists.
“I sometimes wonder how I had the nerve as a young punk to get my superiors turned around on some of these things. I feel real good about how it all turned out.”
~Arthur Carhart on the passage
of the Wilderness Act
“Youth are the most important in conservation because they are certainly the future of public lands,” said Aaron Grimes.
On this year’s field trip, in accordance with the power of Carhart’s youthful perspective, students were passed the microphone to share their own ideas about conservation and the difference kids can make.
When asked if one person can make a difference, many students mentioned Carhart.
“Yes, one person can make a difference, because like Arthur Carhart, he didn’t do the plan (implementing the summer home plan at Trappers), but he made it better by making it a place where everyone could go and have fun,” said Rylan Grimes.
The fifth graders showed an overwhelming trend of positivity in the belief that almost every individual could make a difference, and most went further to recognize the greater potential when people came together.
“Yes, one person can make a difference, but I think it’s better with a lot of people because one person is one out of billions of people, and you can still see a difference, but if you have all the billions of people working then you can actually see a faster change,” said Grayson Coryell. Miles Franklin added, “One person can make a difference because say you go out and pick up trash with a friend, then they might start picking up trash with another friend, and then it just spreads to lots of people.”
Chevy Mohr (left) and Jerry Olp (right) teach student “Leave No Trace.” | KATIE LOCKWOOD PHOTO
After spending the day interacting with and learning from Blanco Ranger District staff, students began to see the true impact that they could make. When asked what they thought they could do to make a difference, the kids were brimming with ideas.
“I can plant seeds of different tree species all over the forest,” stated Afton White.
“I can make sure that there are some trees that don’t get cut down,” said Tayler Current. Many students agreed on the importance of planting new trees.
“I can teach people not to litter or leave trash everywhere when they go camping,” suggested Heather Dunton, which many other kids also stated.
“I can put out my fire after I’m done with it when I go camping,” said Ollie Thomson.
“I can be nice to other hikers and be respectful of the wilderness,” Franklin added, highlighting the importance of attitude when it comes to conservation.
Kaiden Shue (left) and Brogan Watson (right) are accompanied by Rosie the mule to talk about invasive species. | KATIE LOCKWOOD PHOTO
Many BRD staff members appreciate kids’ willingness and excitement to get involved in stewardship at a young age. Jerry Olp, Wilderness Trails Lead, stated, “The most misunderstood thing about conservation is that things change. Kids go camping and learn from their parents and grandparents and learn how to take care of certain things, but as we grow and evolve so do ethics and morals and what may have been acceptable then is no longer now. Burying garbage used to be a normal and proper thing to do in the ‘60s, but it isn’t really now… Kids are important because you can help them start to think about stewardship and teach them modern conservation early so they have many years to develop their own process of taking care of these areas. They also can impact others around them, such as their parents and family members. I think it goes a long way when an adult is not doing things properly and then the kid can step in and help provide their new perspectives and learned ethics.”
According to Aaron Grimes, one of the most consistent challenges regarding conservation on the BRD is education. “Many visitors come here with their hearts in the right place and are excited to recreate, but maybe they haven’t taken the time to learn the regulations and the reasons for them to have an appropriate experience on public lands.”
These visitors, Keetch added, have increased in numbers since Covid-19 hit and have presented greater diversity in user groups which presents some complications. “Blanco is more of a traditional ranger district in that we have multiple uses including grazing, outfitter guides, OHVs, etc. As far as conservation goes, our biggest challenge, but also biggest opportunity, is ensuring all of these different user groups work together.”
Education may also be the best potential solution to counter some of the impacts on the forest. “We see a lot of dispersed camping impacts with human waste, trash and fire issues in the fall,” Olp said. “So, a lot of our crew transitions from field work into public education and outreach. Education is the way to go…explaining why practices are the way they are is important. We explain why it’s important to pack out trash, why it’s important to bury human waste properly, and why it’s important to properly deal with fire impacts. By chatting with people, hopefully you are getting them to change their practices long term.”
Aaron Grimes added, “There’s a whole bunch of resources out there for education; you can visit our website or make a phone call to the district office.”
The Trappers Lake trip is a first step in facilitating conservation through youth education. Beyond education, there are multiple ways for youth to get involved.
“There are opportunities to participate in the stewardship work we do here with the Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Youth Corps is a partner we’ve worked with over the past several years. There’s a program for 14-17 year olds — a short, few week trip — which is a great introduction to conservation. Those who are even more interested and want to jump into a career related to conservation may like our program for 18-25 year olds on traveling trail crews. They’ll come out and travel across the state with their own crew leader. We also host interns here on our district through many partners such as our Colorado Mesa University intern program, Colorado Mountain Club, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, Student Conservation Association…” Aaron Grimes said.
“It’s been said a million times before and will be said a million times again,” Keetch said, “kids are our future.”
By KATIE LOCKWOOD – Special to the Herald Times
