For all of Oregon’s wild beauty, sometimes the best way to enjoy nature is right nearby.
“All you need is a patch of ground with cool bugs or a tree to climb,” says Beth Stein, Executive Director of Nearby Nature in Eugene. “There’s nature everywhere. We help people learn to find it, appreciate it, enjoy it and take care of it.”
As caretaker of Alton Baker Park on the Willamette River, Nearby Nature hosts thousands of Eugene-area kids each year to experience a beautiful riverfront natural area. Students from preschool to high school visit during field trips, day camps, work parties and regular school lessons in Eugene’s “Central Park.”
In 2008, Nearby Nature had a vision to turn an expanse of grass into the ultimate outdoor classroom, and they turned to the Gray Family for help.
“The grant changed everything for us,” Stein says. “We have transformed what used to be a boring, flat, green lawn into this thing called the Learnscape.”
The Learnscape is a series of dedicated play spaces, outdoor classrooms, edible gardens and orchards where youth can touch, taste, smell and experience nature firsthand.
One play space is filled with buckets of nature’s art materials like sticks, cones, rocks and lichens. Here kids let loose and create imaginative designs in the sand—with beautiful results. In another classroom called Frog Haven, kids can learn from tadpoles while sitting next to a Pacific Tree Frog sculpture.
“Every day we have kids in our space making tremendous use of the Learnscape in their day-to-day learning,” Stein says.
Today the Learnscape more than just a space. It’s the beating heart and home for Nearby Nature’s thriving programs, which in 2013 helped Eugene-area kids spend an astounding 28,000 hours outside.