"But this is no field trip. Instead, Boone has come to the outdoor classroom at the Ross Preschool, a half-hour drive from the park. He's part of a special program to bring furloughed rangers into local schools during the shutdown of the federal government, which caused Muir Woods to close its gates. Their small faces are riveted as he passes around a leaf from a California bay laurel tree."
""What do you think it smells like?" he asks them. "Stinky?" suggests one small blond boy. "Bubble gum?" asks a girl. "A cookie!" shouts a child wearing a paper owl crown. "The fun thing about this leaf is it grows in a redwood forest," he tells them. "The Native Americans would use this for medicine. If they had a cold and they were stuffed up, they would make tea with it.""
"Normally, Boone would be doing what national park rangers do everyday - protecting the park, helping visitors enjoy the outdoors, ensuring public safety and answering questions. But with the federal shutdown now dragging out to 29 days, some furloughed rangers are putting their skills to other uses, including taking environmental education to classrooms. On this day, Boone has brought with him a container filled with the tools of his trade,"
Furloughed Muir Woods park ranger Adrian Boone visited a Ross Preschool outdoor classroom to lead a hands-on nature lesson for 17 preschoolers. Boone used sensory items—a California bay laurel leaf, a banana slug puppet, a laminated salmon photo and redwood seeds—to spark curiosity and teach about redwood forest ecology and traditional Native American uses. The federal government shutdown closed Muir Woods, prompting some furloughed rangers to bring environmental education into local schools. The program operates through Grasshopper Kids, which places specialized teachers and enrichment classes in schools and grew from an interaction involving co-founder Cris Tcheyan.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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