Anyone Can Be a Naturalist

The following somewhat lengthy essay was written not long after I completed the Iowa Master Naturalist training a couple of years ago. It is something of the "origin story" of the Sycamore Greenway Friends page and blog.

I have a confession to make. I identify as an environmentalist. A treehugger. Nature-lover. “Green” in so many ways. But a number of experiences in my decades of loving nature led me to believe that I don't particularly like “nature.”

I’ve never been camping, and I don’t feel inclined to try it. Bushwhacking through the woods and getting off the beaten path holds no appeal. I admire the majestic eagle soaring overhead, yet can’t help but think of the various mites and parasites with which it is doubtless afflicted. I am haunted by the time I bravely stopped to inspect a garter snake that was holding its head aloft above the grass one summer, only to flee in horror when it moved to reveal the large, fresh crimson chunk that had been bitten out of its side by a hidden predator. The casual cruelty of the whole setup drives me to despair if I think about it too much.

So I was feeling a bit of a fraud when I signed up to become an Iowa Master Naturalist. IMN is a corps of trained adult volunteers who seek to promote awareness, appreciation, and stewardship of the natural world in their communities. The class consisted of 40 hours of classroom training supplemented by weekly field trips to area parks and preserves for hands-on identification and learning. IMN graduates are required to complete 40 hours of volunteer work and 8 hours of continuing education every year, an ideal outlet for my volunteer spirit that had been stymied by an absence of structure and motivation. My classmates were other nature-lovers, an assortment of young and old; teachers, naturalists, students and those—like me—whose professions were unrelated to the natural world but who have always been drawn to it in their leisure time.

IMN Field Trip (Insects)
Macbride Nature Recreation Area

From the start, I was put at ease with an organizational perspective that emphasized curiosity and learning over knowledge.  It’s okay if you don’t know what that plant is at first glance, or why that bird is behaving that way—as long as you make an effort to understand. It was collaborative learning, with everyone bringing some new tidbit of information from their observations to each class.

Much to my relief, one thing I quickly learned was that “nature” is not limited to pristine areas untouched by human hands, or gnarled, overgrown woods laced with narrow dirt paths. Nature also includes the huge oak tree in your neighbor’s backyard. It includes the little patches of milkweed and other native prairie plants scattered around Wetherby Park on the outskirts of the expanse of grassy lawn. It even includes the ginkgo trees and house sparrows on the Ped Mall downtown, hardy settlers from the other side of the world making a place in a novel environment of brick and glass.

And, dear to my heart, nature includes places like the Sycamore Greenway, a stormwater management system on the south side of Iowa City comprising a series of detention basins planted with native grasses and forbs and flanked by paved trails stretching from Grant Wood Elementary to Kickers Soccer Park. I know that description doesn’t sound very glamorous—it is a constructed environment, built for human needs; yet it provides habitat for many birds, pollinators and other critters drawn to marshy wetlands and low prairie plantings of cup plant, coneflower, coreopsis, and goldenrod.

Lichens program at Kent Park

It also offers a soul-refreshing habitat for people: a short walk from my neighborhood is a microcosm where the wind rushes through clumps of big bluestem and clouds of bees, butterflies and birds forage among a rainbow of blossoms. Sometimes the comical croak of a bullfrog can be heard near the large ponds that form the South Sycamore Bottoms, a popular location for birders seeking glimpses of waterfowl (lucky or persistent visitors may even see a resident family of sandhill cranes each summer). Look up to see dragonflies, red-winged blackbirds, and Monarch butterflies against a cerulean sky; look down to find snails, grasshoppers, and snakes crossing the path or hanging out in sheaves of grass just beyond the mowed edges of the trail.

For some, the Sycamore Greenway is a convenient, flat path for running or cycling. For others, unfortunately, it is a dumping ground. I have fished Frisbees, electronics, a complete gas grill and an ottoman from various parts of the Greenway, and after heavy rains you can collect a couple dollars’ worth of pop cans and bottles washed down from the gutters.  The Greenway greenery also has its share of invasives like Queen Anne's Lace, fragrant white and yellow sweet clover, and the noxious wild parsnip. These robust plants draw ire for their habits of crowding out less pushy native species and taking over large swathes of disturbed land, though they are not without charm for many pollinators. Along with non-native starlings and house sparrows you can see little common yellowthroats and goldfinches, singing not exactly in perfect harmony, but a reasonable semblance thereof (for my purposes, anyway).

Some people are blind to these incredible worlds just next door; they don't bother to adjust their perspective even momentarily to see the thousands of neighbors going about their tiny lives just a few feet away. They may hear the sound of katydids chirring or goldfinches chirping but it registers only as white noise, and they see the majestic big bluestem and cup plants as a bunch of weeds in a ditch.

With Iowa Master Naturalists I have come to understand that we don't all have to love nature the same way. We don't all need to be rugged mountaineers who happily disappear from civilization for days on end with just a backpack and a sense of adventure. We can simply appreciate the semi-tamed nature that finds its place in the margins and creases of our urban and suburban landscapes.

IMN Field Trip
National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

I will leave to others the passionate promotion of our great wild places, the dramatic vistas of Iowa's bluffs and the haunting quiet of our few untouched woods. I will think locally and act locally, to help people get to know their neighbors. The feathered, scaled, petaled and thorned beings who unobtrusively share our cities and suburbs, making a place for themselves in a world that has been profoundly altered from the ancestral habitats they evolved to exploit.

I will be the local eccentric you see wading through ditches to retrieve a crumpled can of Busch Light (why is it always Busch Light?), or breathlessly chasing a flitting black swallowtail down the trail with my camera like a paparazzo. I will learn the names of every plant and animal that stays still long enough for me to photograph and share their stories with anyone willing to listen.

IMN Field Trip
National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

Greenways, like my beloved Sycamore Greenway, offer one glimpse of how we can bring nature back to our cities and suburbs. They can be repurposed railroad tracks, or trails built along rivers or canals. They can be walkways constructed beneath towering, buzzing powerlines, with native plants installed in the right-of-ways managed by power companies. They show how not only individuals, but local governments and large corporations can all help to re-green our lives, and work together to make areas that many species can utilize while still providing value to humans. And they demonstrate how anyone can become a naturalist, just outside their front door. 

For more information about Iowa Master Naturalists and upcoming classes, visit:

• Iowa Master Naturalists web page
• IMN Facebook page