August 5, 2005
“Teaching kids about nature through art”
By Amanda Borozinski
“It’s a connection between animals, the earth, and the arts” Mary Doane said.
Last week, at the public libraries in Jaffrey and Troy, children showed up to watch as Doane, program director of Project Nature, sang, danced - and laughed. They had all gathered to celebrate turtles.
Doane developed Project Nature in 1998 as a way in instruct children about the Earth and nature through art. She uses a “multiple-intelligences” approach to education with the primary goal of keeping wild animals in the wild.
Project Nature is a full time job for Doane when travel, planning, set-up and clean-up at each of the program sites are considered. These sites include elementary schools, preschools, summer camps, libraries and Montes-sori schools across New Hampshire. Doane said the turtle program has really been growing.
Although she doesn’t specifically rescue or rehabilitate turtles she said she currently has more thatn 15 living at her house. For rescue and rehabilitation Doane directs people to Chris Bogard, a friend with whom she collaborates. Bogard is a New Hampshire licensed turtle rehabilitator who lives in Epping.
During her program at the Troy Library, Doane stressed the idea that it is never okay to take a turtle out of the wild. “What do you think it would feel like to be taken out of your home?” she asked the children. Doane stresses the emotional implications and the relationships that all animals have with their environment - not to mention that in most cases it’s illegal to remove the animals from their natural homes. “Rescuing them off the road is good,” she said, “but that doesn’t give us the right to make (turtles) pets.”
At at typical program Doane starts by talking about the “Magical Earth” and then moves on to the topic of reptiles, specifically, turtles and tortoises. She wants to make sure the kids understand that the number of species of turtles on the Earth is not exact. This is how she brings up the idea of extinction. “It’s not over the top. I just introduce the idea that there are things we do to the environment, good and bad.”
Doane shared more turtle facts. For example, she said, turtles on average don’t start breeding until they are 15 years old, and they might live to be 75 or 80. So, Doane reasoned, if we remove a female turtle from the wild that is of breeding age, then we are taking away many future turtles. The chances of a baby snapping turtle making it to adulthood are only 1 in 1,000. When one is hit by a care, Doane said, that one single turtle that made it might be destroyed.
Doane sang songs about turtles and introduced the kids to three of her reptilian friends. During an open-question time in Troy some of the children asked her, “Do turtles have teeth?” “Why does that turtle have paws?” and, “How hard is his shell?” At the end of the program the children made and their own clay turtles to take home.
For Doane, the goal for the future is simple - to do more programs and talk to more children. “I feel so passionate about reaching kids,” Doane said.