Youth-LINC 2012 - Day Three

It may be safe to say that our drought is over, with as many days that it has rained this week.

But our campers spirits were high, as you can see campers Naielli Hidalgo, Blanca Garcia, and Alma Garcia turned breaking camp into the rain as another chance to giggle, as they're pictured trying to squeeze as much water as they can out of their tent in the middle of a rainstorm. We left Cagle wet, but we still left on time. Mike Ross (USFS Fleet Manager) gave a very relevant safety meeting on the dangers of flooding, warning us to stay out of creek bottoms even if the rain has ceased. After filling our ice chests with ice and water, we traveled to Houston.

Naielli, Alma, Blanca, and Enelidad drying out their tent
with love at Cagle Recreation Area.

Many of the campers grew up in Houston suburbs, and 4 of them went Youth-LINC's destination on Wednesday, to Stephen F. Austin High School. Lantrip Elementary, Jackson Middle School, and Austin High School are official Project Learning Tree Greenschools! due to the efforts of FNFGT, the school administration, and most importantly, the student body itself. Youth-LINC campers Naielli Hidalgo and Blanca Garcia performed a Greenschools! investigation that led to the installation of a 300 gallon rainwater catchment system. Duy Tran and Derek Morrison, biological engineers from Texas A&M University, assisted in the project's design.

Duy Tran (foreground left) and Derek Morrison
(foreground right)  explain the rainwater
catchment system at Stephen F. Austin High School 

Austin High earned its Green School status via its commitment to the environment and its decades old school garden/park area on campus. Youth-LINC showed its commitment by installing a sign commemorating the formation of the Greenschools! "Grapevine", weeded part of the garden, and installed smaller signs labeling the plants there.

Lantrip Elementary, Jackson Middle School, and Austin High
school are all on the Greenschool "Grapevine". The
Youth-LINC campers painted and installed this sign. 

After Austin High, we traveled to the Stephen F. Austin State park. Everyone carefully laid their belongings out to dry on clotheslines they hung themselves. Julio, Alberto, Andre, Franco Gonzales, and Blanca competed against eachother in a chili eating contest, using chiles harvested from the Austin High garden. The results were hilarious, and will be posted on FNFGT's Facebook page.

Alberto Gomez, Andre Saenz, Julio Bedolla, and Franco Gonzales before their faces were soaked in tears from their Chili-Eating contest. Blanca Garcia also participated. Watch the battle on our Facebook page! 

After dinner, the Campers puzzled out the sailor's knot, a leadership exercise that teaches interdependence and perseverance. The campers were tied together in a knot that looked impossible to get out of, but if they thought outside the box and worked together, they could slip out.

We also celebrated the birthday of one of our long time Amigoes, Lyndi Long. Lyndi had been with us since 2008, and led students at Youth-LINC last year. We are all very happy for her, and hope to have many more years of her enthusiasm and education ability.

Tomorrow, we will be tour Stephen F. Austin State park and a recycling plant in Houston, among a tornado of other activities.

"Like" the Sam Houston National Forest? Then donate for free.

If your reading our blog, we already know that you like nature. More than likely, one could even say you love it! Now, through BMW of North America, showing your love on social media is as good as showing your love with a donation, and strangely enough, it costs you nothing!

1 "Like" on Facebook = $1 for Nature!

BMW of North America has given us at FNFGT a unique opportunity to find funding to support our efforts to get more people outside, just by clicking "Like" on Facebook! Starting this Monday, we posted pictures of BMW's new car, the X1, shining in the sun at the shores of Double Lake Campground in the Sam Houston National Forest, part of the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas that FNFGT is all about. For every "Like" on this link, X1RTOSamHoustonnationalForest.com, BMW will donate a dollar to support the Sam Houston National Forest.

Our partner, the U.S. Forest Service has asked FNFGT to administer this grant and leverage the funds towards programs that help us with programs like, Youth-LINC, Prescriptions For Nature (NatureRx), Forest for Every Classroom, GreenSchools, TFS NatureLIVE!, The Children's Forest in Texas, and more! So, every "Like" directly goes to bringing more people, especially the little people, outdoors to enjoy the wonders of nature.

We are well on our way to our goal of $10,000 but we need your help! As of September 7th 2012, 11:54 pm CDT, we've got 4596 likes from 4596 loyal nature lovers! Add to our good progress by sharing this blog post! E-mail it, plus it on Google+, Facebook it, Tweet it! Everyone who reads has an opportunity to get more kids out there in the sunshine!

Getting kids up a going can be as simple as showing them how much you love getting out there. It can also be as simple as the press of a button!

Youth-LINC 2012 - Outdoor Nation Weekend (Days 6 and 7)

Have we been keeping our readership in suspense? The blog on the final days of Youth-LINC's week long adventure is finally here!

DAY 6

 

(Left) The Campers and a few more Outsiders posing with Woodsy! (Right) Ivan Levin and Woodsy Owl!

In case you never heard, Youth-LINC stands for Youth Leadership in Nature Challenge. Leadership has an will always be the cornerstone of this program. That’s why Youth-LINC 2012 final event, the Outdoor Nation Summit 2012 was such a perfect match.

Outdoor Nation's overall goal is to get more people outdoors through projects designed, implemented, and was founded on the principle that if the youth of our nation are to be encouraged to get outside, then they themselves should be making it happen.

First thing Saturday morning, Outsiders filled the Thompson Conference Center at the University of Texas at Austin after a continental breakfast provided by Outdoor Nation. Ivan Levin, Outdoor Nation's director and Chris Bui, the main facilitator, focused the Outsiders on creating a project through a very democratic process. After learning how to use the electronic keypads Outdoor Nation provided and answering a few demographic surveys, Outsiders voted on the most important rights and responsibilities related to being outdoors. Then Outsiders voted on the top 5 issues that prevent people from enjoying the great outdoors. Outsiders brainstormed projects based on one of those 5 issues or a different issue they thought was more important. Projects were fleshed out in little more than an hour and turned into Outdoor Nation. At the end of the day, the Outsiders we're charged with coming up with a 4.5 minute or less presentation to pitch their idea Sunday Morning.

Youth-LINC 2012, equipped with the rapport they developed over the week, collaborate on their succinct and beautiful undertaking

All the participants, especially Youth-LINC, were quickly electrified with new ideas and hope. Youth-LINC 2012 devised Nature's Art Project of Houston a series of art projects intended to beautiful local community parks and connect people to nature through art. Their first project is From Bleak to Beautiful, in which our Youth-LINC campers, now official Latino Legacy Amigoes del Bosque, will create a mural on the Ripley House Charter School (4410 Navigation Blvd, Houston, Texas 77011) using trash found around the area. Youth-LINC worked late into the night on Saturday refining their project, preparing for the presentation, and constructing the example mural pictured below. This was after they got finished dancing all their pent up energy under the thundering skies.

Me and My Wife Lyndi dancing under rolling strokes of light, brought to us by  a generous thundercloud over McKinney Falls State Park.

Alberto and Alma, creating a work of (recycled) art.

"Rain drops keep falling on my head..."

Yes, you read right: thundering skies. It rained AGAIN on Youth-LINC's camp Saturday evening, but it didn't even slow down their work on their project, or erase their smiles.

DAY 7

Ivan gave Youth-LINC this sagacious advice for their presentation: "the presenters that have everyone speak, that practiced the night before, and engage the crowd do the best." Youth-LINC took that to new level with a mini-parade of singing and shouting as they brought their beautiful up front. Ivan Lara lead the crowd in song and dance, and we got at least one positive response to the energy on @FriendsNFGT. The campers did an excellent job talking about their project and we are very proud of them.

After a jumping presentation....

Their contagious enthusiasm paid off: we won a $1,000 dollar grant from Outdoor Nation! The project will soon be moving forward. We will keep you posted on the project as details come.

Go Youth-LINC!

...Youth-LINC 2012 Jumped for joy! A $1000 grant from Outdoor Nation was ours!

Youth-LINC 2012 - Day Five

We have left the places we went better than we found them.

Youth-LINC 2012's theme is service learning, and consistent to our theme, the campers have planted gardens in the Sam Houston National Forest, weeded gardens at the Stephen F. Austin High School, and built signs celebrating a environmentally friendly, multi-school project. Friday, the camper left an impact at Stephen F. Austin State Park buy painting three signs for their park. Lisa Reznicek advised the campers on proper technique and thanked them for helping TPWD keep up with sign maintenance. Lisa also showed them the soon-to-open nature center at Stephen F. Austin State Park.

Youth-LINC 2012 painted 3 signs for TPWD.

Ivan Lara checking out the Rat Snake (behind glass) at the new Nature Center at Stephen F. Austin State Park.

We left Stephen F. Austin State Park early in the morning, on our way to the Austin area to discover the beauty of McKinney Falls State Park. Campers took a hike after pitching our tents over the limestone escarpment that covers the park. The waters of Onion Creek sliding over the rocks and leaping over the falls called the campers to go swim, and they answered at the Lower Falls. We spent most of the day there, absorbing the water and the sounds.

Franco Gonzales fishing at the Upper Falls...

... and everyone swimming at the Lower Falls at McKinney Falls State Park.

The rain-engorged Lower Falls. Nalleli and Blanca carefully stroll over the limestone escarpment.

Playful Nalleli posing with her butterfly compadre as she sits in the cool flow of Onion Creek at the Lower Falls.

After drying off, the campers were told of their great opportunity. Saturday, they are going to Outdoor Nation's Signature Summit at the University of Texas at Austin. Outdoor Nation is a non-profit focused on empowering young people to develop and sustain outdoor recreation among their own generation. Outdoor Nation believes that the future of outdoor recreation lies in young people like the Youth-LINC campers. They will spend 3-4 hours planning a project that will encourage more people to go outdoors. They will propose their project on Sunday along with a dozen other groups, and the best among them will be decided through a vote. The top 5 projects will win a some seed funding for their project.

Good luck at Outdoor Nation Austin Texas Youth-LINC 2012!!!

Youth-LINC 2012 - Day Four

Its rained 10 inches since we started on Monday. The rain still couldn't wash the smiles away. While another 5 inches was coming down this morning at Stephen F. Austin State Park, Youth-LINC spent time inside connecting to nature through a very human obsession: art.

Lisa Reznicek, Bachelors in Sculpture 2004 from University of Houston and Texas Parks and Wildlife Interpreter at Stephen F. Austin State Park, gave us a succinct lesson on drawing wildlife. By focusing on 4 simple aspects, thick outlines, soft shapes, composition, and details, all the campers found their drawing instantly improved. She challenged to draw a picture of animals from old magazines in 20 minutes, then in 5 minutes, then 1.5 minutes.

Lisa Reznicek of TPWD teaching us how to draw, and how to draw well.

Drawing nature is one way to express your land-ethic; some creators use trash to fabricate their visions, as we saw at the Waste Management Single Stream Recycling Center on Gasmer Rd in Houston, Texas. Laura Stein, Director of Education for Waste Management, took us to their unique Education Room. We marveled at how we all wanted a room like this, adorned in everything we threw away (see below and on our Facebook page).The Youth asked dozens of questions of Laura about how their works and what Waste Management does for the community (one of their contributions is funding Keep America Beautiful, and based on our discussion with Laura, FNFGT funding is a possibility).

The lambent and lavished Education Room at  Waste Managment's Single Stream Recycling Center

The boundless energy of youth was finally released at Iron Sports in Houston. Campers learned how to climb on the walls, how to belay, and most of all how to depend on each other. With one camper on the ground holding the rope in the rope lock and the other 15 feet in the air attached to that same rope, learning how be reliable and how to trust was inevitable. While some were frightened, or didn't think they could do it, they overcame their fear, through encouraging each other and being there for them.

Andre takes it to a whole other level!

Iron Sports employee ensuring Blanca Garcia has a safe climb.

Tomorrow, the strength of that teamwork will be shown, when they are given one of the greatest opportunities of the week.

Youth-LINC 2012 - Day Two

Everything is going according to plan.

Our plan for this year's Youth-LINC is to involve our campers in service learning, a form of "learning-by-doing" which benefits the community as it teaches a new skill. Youth-LINC's service learning is focused on leaving the places we go to play better than when we entered into them. Today they learned the principles of forest management, while they contributed to that management by planting native.

Service learning was the buzzword on this overcast Tuesday. After breakfast and a safety meeting with Duy Tran about dehydration, widow-makers, and tree snags, campers put wildflowers in the pollinator garden (generously donated by the NRCS) at the Supervisor's office with Dawn Carrie (USFS Wildlife Biologist) and Nancy Garcia (USFS Recreation). At the USFS Supervisors Office, Dano Jageuri (USFS Wildlife Biologist), Randy Pruitt (USFS Fire Management Officer) and Cheryl Pruitt (USFS Siviculturalist) discussed how the Forest Service manages habitat for the Endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker through timely controlled burns and silvicultural planning. Back at Cagle Campground, Chris Crain (USFS Law Enforcement) showed us all the gear a USFS law enforcer takes to the field, and the precautions they take to stay alive in dangerous situations. Our afternoon was spent at Scott's Ridge Recreation Area, where Dawnelle Malone (Texas Forest Service) informed our campers about how they could become trained citizen scientists and map non-native exotic infestations. Duy Tran (USFS Hydrologist) led our campers in planting the first few plants of a vegetative filter strip designed to abate sediment flowing into Lake Conroe. Others pulled weeds in the pollinator garden around the cul-de-sac.

After working hard, the campers were treated with what they had been looking forward to all day: the waters of Lake Conroe at Scott's Ridge. They learned to fish with FNFGT Amiga Amanda Sutters and Richard Robins (Executive Director of the Sunshine Network) and it didn't take long for camper Julio Bedolla to catch a blue catfish measuring at least 14 inches! They played frisbee-football in the swim area for hours, engaging in that outdoor recreation we wish more kids their age would get into. Ivan Lara (FNFGT staff-in-training) even helped camper Eric Lopez master swimming!

After a burger and hot dog cookout, we returned to Cagle for our last night there. Dave Clipson led the campers through another meeting about leadership and particularly the power of attitude. 

Tomorrow we will spend our night at Stephen F. Austin state park, after another energetic day.

Youth-LINC camper Julio Bedolla and Eric Lopez with a 14 inch (approx)
blue catfish. Julio caught it himself at Scott's Ridge Recreation Area!

Sunset at Scott's Ridge, after a day of fun and service learning.

Always be prepared. Chris Crain opened his box of survival wisdom for
us at Cagle Campground in the Sam Houston National Forest

Dawn Carrie at the Supervisor's Office showing us their pollinator garden.
Students planted a dozen or plants in this official People's Garden

Youth-LINC 2012 - Day One

While rain fell on East Texas, Youth-LINC had its first nature walk.

At 7:00am, our four participants from KIPP High School and 4 from Stephen  F. Austin High School arrived at the W. Goodrich Jones State Forest. The morning was cool, and the weather favorable.

Monday was a day of preparation, getting our charges ready to travel safely through the forest, interact with each other, and absorb as much information as we can give them. To start making those bonds ,Tamberly Conway and Dave Clipson lead the group in naming games, trust falls, and willow in the wind throughout the day. Jim Crooks, Safety Officer at the USDA Forest Service Supervisor's Office (USFS SO) and Dr. Ken Kramm, Texas Master Naturalist (Heartwood Chapter) and professor emeritus of Forestry from Michigan State talked about safety: snakes, drowning, and getting lost were among the subjects.

(Left to right) Julio Bedolla, Nalleli Hidalgo, Ivan Lara, Andre Saenz (purple shirt), Paola Silva, Alberto Gomez, and Eric Lopez braving trust falls.

To make his lesson stick, Dr. Kramm got all the campers "lost". After Ken explained the S.T.O.P acronym (Sit down, Think, Observe, Plan) and how to use their senses to memorize their path, he sent pairs of campers onto the Sweetleaf Nature Trail. One camper in each pair kept their eyes closed while the other guided them off the trail. Then the "blindfolded" camper was left alone to find their way back. Using the S.T.O.P. acronym, the "lost" camper reoriented themselves and got back to the trail in record time. While none of the campers were truly lost (several people knew where each camper was at all times), some of them expressed that they felt a little nervous before the sat down to think about their situation. Right after the lesson was done, we were blessed with a little bit rain, which gave the campers an opportunity to use their trash bag rain ponchos.

Jovana, Jasmine, Naelli, and Abby "getting lost" under close supervision.

After the rain, and after a nutritious wrap lunch, Paola Silva of the Texas Forest Service taught the campers about the trees in the forest and how their managed. She gave them a short dendrology lesson, teaching them how to tell tree apart by differences in leaf shape, buds, and arrangement. She told them about how the Texas Forest Service gathers information about the Jones State Forest through sampling, then sent them off to do their own smaller version of a timber cruise.

Paola Silva showing everyone an ariel photo of the Jones State Forest. 

For dinner, we grilled fajitas with our long-time friends, the Chikawa Dance Group. We invited them to join us tomorrow at Scott's Ridge, hopefully they will be joining us (and maybe showing the campers one of their dances).

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Eating fajitas in the workshop at the Jones State Forest. 

The end of the day was a time for reflection and relaxation. At the end of the day, we made camp in a light drizzle at Cagle Recreation Area. Campers had such a blast setting up their tents that some of them were inspired to exercise, running around the track and doing push ups with tree stumps left over from last year's drought. We met together in a circle and discussed what leadership meant to each of the campers, and they wrote in their journals for the first time that night.

Working out...

... pitching tents...

... and learning leadership at Cagle Campground in the Sam Houston National Forest. 

The campers camped under the overcast moon for the first time as well. Tomorrow, they will have their first service learning project, and their first swim at Scott's Ridge.

Follow this blog to follow our adventure!   

Youth-LINC 2012 - Day Zero

Into the woods, they will go.

Tommorow begins a significant journey for a group of Houston high schoolers. They have agreed to be taken out of their urban comfort zones on a week long expedition into nature. Informative talks, energizing activities, and genuine camping will give them the opportunity to be a part of nature: a place that they may never have been, and may never have had an opportunity to go to.

First will be a Safety Briefing from the Texas Forest Service to start the day. A walk through the Sweetleaf Nature Trail will jump-start our team for the week ahead. We'll make one of our first positive impacts in nature at the Children's Forest in the Sam Houston National Forest. Finally, as the sun sets, will be sizzling fajitas with the Chikawa Aztec Dance Group, long-time friends of the USDA Forest Service, FNFGT, and the forests of Conroe.

Our humid evening at the W. Goodrich Jones State Forest is filled with the sounds of animals that are comfortable in these woods. The youth will hear those sounds too, while camping under a canopy of stars.