Kip’s Comments - November 13, 2025
The Greatest Oaks Have Been Little Acorns
During a discussion with a cabin neighbor - a good fellow I might add - opinions on several important topics were shared. Agreement was quick on one theme, something that poses challenges for each of us.
Our discussion began when I was asked if I had read anything by Aldo Leopold. Immediately Leopold’s book “A Sand County Almanac” came to mind. Our thoughts of Leopold and what he did for conservation encouraged the question… “Who is going to carry on caring for the land when we are gone?”
I do not want to insinuate that only a few of us care for the outdoors. That is not the case as there are many folks with a passion similar to ours. However, when you look at the ages of those deeply involved in outdoor concerns and/or activities, we are not seeing too many young people. From what I have observed, we have not one, but at least two generations of people disconnected from the outdoors.
What does that mean? Folks disconnected from nature have not enjoyed paddling a canoe (or kayak), hiking through the woods on an autumn morning, shuffled across ice on a frozen pond, or hooted for owls as evening darkness is settling in.
Why is this? What caused this lack of outdoor connection? From what I have observed we - each of us - have too many things pulling at us. Look at your calendar… how many free days do you have? How many weekends are not spoken for? How about the young people in your life. How many activities are they involved in? What is their “free time quota?”
Rather than looking to place blame, let’s consider what we can do to rectify this situation. This is where each of us with enthusiasm for the outdoors can make a difference.
Please, if you enjoy the outdoors, set a goal to share your passion with a younger person. Younger could be a kid or a kid’s parent. Take a kid and their parent fishing, or hunting. Share with them a hike in the woods or walking along a river bank. Expose them to what you appreciate so they too develop a fondness for the outdoors. Plant a seed of outdoor concern that will grow and mature. As the folks you expose to the outdoors become more involved in nature, their concern will follow. Eventually their increasing thrill with the outdoors will transition to a passion - a love of nature - that will they will hopefully share with their children and grandchildren. We protect (and share) what we love.
As I reviewed my images for today the conversation enjoyed with my cabin neighbor seemed to align with this image of acorns. I remembered the saying “Might Oaks from Little Acorns Grow.” When I read the saying “The Greatest Oaks Have Been Little Acorns” this afternoon, I thought it appropriate as we discuss planting seeds of concern for the outdoors.
Someday in the future I am hopeful you might reflect on someone close to you with a strong outdoor passion. I am hopeful those persons have grown from an experience you shared with them. As mighty oaks grow from acorns, influential, conservation-minded people — who were once young and harmless (like acorns) - took root from an outdoor experience you shared to foster in them a sincere passion for the wellbeing of our natural world.
Acorns on Oak Leaf - Image 1043878
