If you’re planning an upcoming vacation, Lara Thomas may have a few ideas for you.
“Go to any of the parks and you can see visitors staring primarily at their phones, trying to pet wildlife, pointing at a mule deer and asking, “Is that a moose?” Thomas said. “They’re primarily experiencing the park through a car window or a gift shop.”
Thomas said her interest started when she spent the summer of 2010 working as a horseback riding instructor and nature program instructor at a summer camp in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. What intrigues her, she added, is how people of all ages can better develop a connection and relationship with the natural world. For Thomas, that relationship is strengthened when she visits a park and immerses herself in the experience. Although she has visited an impressive number of them, she also is intentional about experiencing all that she can at each site rather than simply checking it off a list moving to the next.
“The parks are really stunning, and it can be tempting to try to see everything and take as many pictures as possible and get in and out of the car all day,” Thomas said. “That’s one way to do it. But for me, it’s just so much more meaningful to pick out one trail with a length you are comfortable with and spend the majority of the day exploring that one part of the park. It feels like you actually form a connection and engage your senses that way, rather than it just being a blur of people and cars and photo-taking.”
Aside from the majestic views and fresh air, Thomas said she also is learning lessons she can apply in the classroom. Part of what she’s discovering is how different parks approach the educational component for visitors and how Thomas can use that with her students.
“To a notable extent, nature has been commercialized in these parks, and it aids a disconnect between nature and the American public, a disconnect that I would also argue is bred and reinforced in the American public education system,” she said. “My passion is about how do we authentically educate about nature in -- and out of -- nature. The parks intrigue me because they are also trying to answer that question. I went from loving nature myself as a young adult to realizing that not everyone had that connection with nature, and that I could use my own connection to facilitate their interest.”
So as the summer break approaches, even though it may be peak season, Thomas encourages people to visit national parks. She said she’s planning to re-visit some of the ones she’s already been to so she can learn even more.
“I would say that the main things I have learned from the parks is that is it not about seeing everything in the park or seeing all the parks. It’s about slowing down and interacting with the parks in a meaningful way. Getting out of the car, camping more remotely, learning about the ecology,” Thomas said. “A lot of people go for the views or to take a picture or buy a T-shirt and completely miss a connection with the ecology or silence or history of that place. The parks can teach us how to slow down, and when we do there is so much more to actually ‘see’ or ‘discover’ about you and how you connect with the natural world.”