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I am a 37 year old male from Portland. I moved here from Chicago 4 years ago because of the better access to wilderness.

I spend more time outside than my parents, although my parents spent substantial amount of time outdoors. Thanks to the influence of my father, I spend 150+ days a year watching birds -- usually between 3 and 8 hours per outing. My kids (7 and 9 year old boys) spend time outside, although not as much as me (yet). Our vacations usually involve camping and visits to National Parks.

As a parent, I make sure that they prefer being outdoors to being inside. Television and computers are a minimal part of their lives -- that is my job as a parent. They will not have cell phones anytime soon. Parents have more influence than they think, and don't have to let electronics take over the lives of their children.

I encourage my children to explore outside -- to look, touch, smell, taste. I give them free reign when I am in a location with no poisonous snakes. In rattlesnake country, I inform them of the dangers, keep a closer watch on them, but still give them freedom to explore.

I'm a big fan of state parks in theory, but tend not to visit them too often. I prefer National Wildlife Refuges and National Forests. Why? Because state parks often have loud gatherings of people and/or people with very little natural area etiquette, and this distracts from my experience. I usually avoid state parks on beautiful weekends, but visit them occasionally during less popular times.

My favorite state park, in my 4 years of living in Oregon, is Ft. Rock. Why? It is relatively undeveloped, and very few people who visit. Those who do tend to appreciate a natural experience, which is different, than say, a visit to Tryon Creek State Park or Ecola State Park. I suspect there are other wonderful state parks, I just haven't found them yet.

I'm saddened at the thought that state parks, or even NWRs, feel the need to build interactive exhibits to attract and entertain people. As if looking for bugs, snakes, turtles, frogs, birds, and whatever else awaits is not enough!

posted 4 years ago
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