I recognize that butchering deer and feeding fat to magpies might seem a bit extreme, especially for parents who are struggling just to get their kids out of the house for an hour-long trip to the park. But my point is to accentuate the types of interactions that I try to foster between my kids and nature. Beyond the imperative of getting my kids

The pandemic has reinforced our love of nature, and it has revealed our need for the knowledge, skill set, and equipment necessary to experience it in a safe and sustainable way. Another thing reinforced by the pandemic is that we place an enormous value on feeling connected. This was hardly a surprise.

Until the moment I became a father, I never felt truly and absolutely responsible for anyone. Becoming a parent is an epiphany: You’re up! As part of my responsibilities to my children, I knew that I was wholly responsible for teaching them everything I knew about being a human who feels at home in nature.

What birds visit your home habitat? Buy a bird identification book and install a birding app on your phone. (The Sibley Guide to Birds is a phenomenal book; the region-specific Eastern and Western North America books are even better. For apps, try eBird, which was created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.)

Fear prevents engagement; lack of engagement builds into a habit of avoidance; and pretty soon it’s just your family stuck inside four walls, where perhaps the biggest obstacle of all—technology—abounds.

Where’s your closest available magic? Once you’ve committed to taking a look at nature on eye level, where does your glance fall first? You have to start somewhere, and really, it can be anywhere. It may take a while to reach that true eye-level gaze, and even require daily practice, so make it easy on yourself. Wander over to the nearest waterway

our kids need to understand that they are not above, outside, or apart from their physical environment—they are completely intertwined with it, and it with them.

Salmon are an anadromous fish, meaning that they live in the sea but migrate into rivers to spawn. While many people might regard salmon as a saltwater species, because that’s where they spend the bulk of their lives, Danny argues that it’s better to think of them as a freshwater fish. Their lives begin in freshwater and, since they die after

When you allow yourself to become enthusiastic about the natural world around you, your enthusiasm will be infectious to your children. It won’t all be a picnic. Your kids may roll their eyes at you, or worse. The whining and fighting during that two-hour car ride to the lake may make you want to bag the whole trip. No matter what, though, stick