Nature Journal 4



This past Wednesday, as a part of class, I went to the Fort Worth Nature Center. It was my first time at the nature center, and I was not entirely sure what to expect. I figured it would be like the wilderness I saw on my road trip to the Grand Canyon last spring. Well, at least the first part of the road trip anyways, when I was just out of the city. I also was not sure what exactly we would be doing. I knew that there was a chance that I might be clearing a trail and was fully prepared to do this because I have done so previously. It about five years ago and I was helping to clear a mountain path in New Mexico with the Boy Scouts of America. However, when I got to the nature center it was revealed that we would be planting grass to prevent erosion and I was a bit unexcited. As the time progressed, I found myself getting more and more into the labor and the nature of it all. There were deer quite close to trail and I was excited to see them standing so near the trail and then there was an alligator. I did not expect to see one that day, sunning on the bank of the river, but there he was elegant and still. He looked more like a statue than a living creature. Then the work began. Now normally I don’t care much for gardening, but there was something about that day that made the work rather enjoyable. Maybe it was shade or the gentle breeze that blew off and on, or maybe it was the comradery that grew as the day went on, or maybe it was that feeling one gets when they find themselves doing something good (like preventing erosion). Whatever the case, the Fort Worth Nature Center was one of the best class periods that I have ever had.



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