Journal 1

Joe Hartshorn

Dr. Dan Williams

29 August 2017

Nature Journal 1

            This is the beginning of my personal nature journal that I will be keeping throughout this semester as a part of the Treks and Texts in Nature course. While I find it ironic that I am keeping a journal regarding my experiences outdoors and thoughts on the concept of wilderness on an electronic device, I believe I will be able to express myself in the same manner I would keeping a handwritten account of these natural encounters. I hope to be able to gain value out of these reflections that I express in my weekly journal entries and anticipate that my appreciation for the natural world around me will grow as a result. Today was our first experience contributing to the Fort Worth Nature Center, and it didn’t start off exactly great, as I missed our exit on the highway and caused us to be ten minutes late. Once we arrived at the service center, we were provided instructions on how we should go about cleaning up trails and removing any debris. Our group was given Plum trail as our trail that we would work with throughout the semester.

            I have yet to introduce my group as part of my journal. My group consists of myself, Ben Taylor, Julia Zellers, Katie Myers, and Nicole Burns. These groups were randomly selected, but I happened to be great friends with Ben, Julia, and Katie prior to beginning working together. I had not met Nicole before but she is great and fits in well with our group. After receiving tools at the service center we drove to our designated trail. We cut down some privet here and there that was along our trail, but for the majority of our time we walked the entirety of our trail and scoped it out. We thought that having a solid idea of what our trail consists would be helpful for the rest of the semester as we work on beautifying it. What stood out immediately regarding our trail and the Fort Worth Nature Center as a whole was the sheer amount of privet and brush throughout the area. For large stretches of our trail’s path the sides along the path seem to consist mainly of brush that is too thick to walk through. The thickness of this brush in contrast to the open walkway of the trail was interesting, appearing as though it required a lot of effort to clear the area for the trail. Many of the benches along the trail seemed to have the largest amounts of privet surrounding them, which causes me to wonder how often people are using the benches. However once we clear these areas, these benches will be much more appealing to use. Our dialogue discussing how our trail is laid out was really the only sound that existed along the trail, other than the slight wind rustling the brush and tree leaves every now and again. After the fact I realized that I walked the trail without focusing my attention specifically to my thoughts regarding the natural environment around me like a nature writer would. With this course and writing these journals comes learning how to keenly observe and ponder the natural environment I am engaging with, and I hope to improve upon this skill each time we spend time in a natural environment.

            As I reflect on this first experience at the nature center, I have spent a lot of time contemplating what value I can take away from what we are going to do for this semester. I have always been drawn towards outdoor activities such as camping, fishing, and hiking, yet throughout the past few years I have been in college I have felt detached from this love and appreciation for nature that I had growing up. I took this course with the hope to spend time each week rekindling my affection for the natural environment, and believe I will have the opportunity to. Being at the nature center and away from campus and the surrounding city was a fantastic change of pace, and as we continue to spend time outside I hope to develop a connection with the natural world that I can relate to anytime I am outdoors.