[Odonata-l] Collecting was not the problem

[Dennis Paulson]

I agree with all these thoughts from my own experience and talking  
with others. We really have to try to counter this trend. One way to  
get people, including kids, more interested in odonates is to bring  
the odonates to them by constructing ponds. As dragonflies are  
aquatic creatures, they're not so spread evenly around the landscape  
as other insect groups might be, and you have to help them along.  
This can be done almost anywhere, and in Japan they have programs for  
doing so on school grounds. Of course in the USA, litigious capital  
of the world, someone would object that a student could drown in a  
two-foot-deep pond, or that it would attract sex offenders. These  
attitudes are also among the reasons why children are kept out of  
nature, why we have such well-developed nature-deficit disorder in  
our society.

But if schools fail us, perhaps nature centers and interested  
citizens could take on such projects. It cost us about $1000 (local  
handymen digging it, butyl liner, some aquatic plants from local  
nursery) to build a 19x11' pond, up to 3' deep, in our yard, and I  
suppose with volunteers you might get the cost down even more. If the  
site is located not too far from natural wetlands, it will attract  
odonates immediately, as well as other aquatic insects and perhaps  
even amhibians. It's a source of water for local birds and mammals  
and is guaranteed to enhance biodiversity in the immediate  
surroundings, especially if native upland vegetation can be added  
around it.

There are websites about pond-building, and I think every odonate  
society and local group should consider this activity, especially in  
urban and suburban areas.
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net


On Jul 1, 2009, at 7:20 PM, DENBROO at aol.com wrote:

> I agree that with each generation we lose more contact with the  
> outdoors.
> I'm relating to experiences, as someone who works as an educator at  
> a local nature center and does his own outreach programs.
> There is always a barrage of questions when children view our  
> displays.
> Generally they follow the line; are they real who killed them and  
> why, which followed by an explanation on the various ways these  
> displays were obtained and why they have opportunity to view these  
> creatures.
> I find the children that are more removed from the outdoors are the  
> ones that are the ones that are more offended and ask the most  
> questions.
> Unfortunately, with greater urbanization and more distractions  
> there is no simple explanation or resolution to this perpetuating  
> problem of getting kids outdoors.
>
>
> Denny Brooks
> Midland, Michigan



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