Anderson: Get the younger generation outdoors

Challenges facing outdoors enthusiasts in many cases are the same challenges, on a grander scale, the world faces.

Example: North American hunters and anglers have led the charge over the past century and a half to conserve the continent's water, habitat and wildlife.

Some of this has occurred for selfish reasons: Sportsmen and women want ample supplies of fish to catch and game to hunt.

But altruism also has been a driver. The natural world is a seductive temptress, and those who spend time in it ultimately succumb to a much broader view of its value, aside from the table fare it might provide.

This appreciation, rekindled every time an angler launches a boat or wades into a river, or when a waterfowler paddles onto a marsh in the still-dark of early morning, or when a big-game hunter draws back a bow or squeezes a trigger, is the bedrock upon which modern conservation was founded.

And continues to thrive.

But perhaps that foundation is giving way to shifting sand.

Some people of course don't have the time or money to join the conservation fight. But most simply don't "get it.'' Or don't want to get it — even today, when global warming is widely fretted about, and when supplies of clean water seem so at risk.

Complicating matters, in the near future, as baby boomers age and kick back more often in easy chairs, forgoing outdoor activities, fewer hunters and anglers are in line to fund conservation through license fees and other self-imposed taxes.

The reason? The younger generations are smaller. And fewer among them hunt, fish or otherwise participate in the outdoors in revenue-generating manners.

Thus a conundrum of our time:

Can people be sufficiently motivated to counter what seem to be coming major threats to the environment, and perhaps world order, as skirmishes break out over resources, when too few of them have direct experience in, or appreciation for, the natural world?

What is known is that exposing more young people to the outdoors, and instilling in them a conservation ethic, is something every older hunter and angler can do to help meet this challenge.

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Greg Fecho of Golden Valley is a longtime hunter who realized some years back that relatively few kids accompany their dads or moms into the field.

He has two boys himself. So he was aware firsthand of the distractions young people face. Nowadays, a lot is demanded of kids in school and in school activities, especially sports.

Parents face obstacles, too. For many in the middle class, money is tight and recreation time limited. It's not every day that a trip to hunt or fish in Minnesota's hinterlands, or those of a neighboring state, can be taken.

"When I've gone pheasant hunting in South Dakota over the years, I never, or rarely, have seen adults with their kids,'' Fecho said. "One reason, I think, is that the costs have gotten too far out of hand.''

Thus Fecho's idea.

What if, he thought, in November, fully a month after the South Dakota opener, an outfitter could be convinced to give a price break to a group of dads and their kids?

"I started making some calls,'' Fecho said.

That was five years ago. In the years since, he, his sons and a group of other dads and their sons have hunted with outfitters in different South Dakota locales, including Presho, Murdo, Reliance and Clark.

This fall, the group hunted with Rock Road Outfitters near Miller, and as in years past (18 made the trip, including 10 kids) they bunked in a rented farmhouse and cooked their own meals.

Derek Zaugg of Eden Prairie was among dads participating, even though his son, Jackson, 15, is a high school football player who had a playoff game this year the Friday night of the hunting weekend.

So Derek and Jackson arose Saturday morning at 3:45 to scurry to South Dakota.

"The kids really look at this as a special event, and they don't want to miss it,'' the elder Zaugg said. "The moms know it's important, too.''

Interestingly, Zaugg grew up in a non-hunting family and didn't hunt until he attended college in Winona.

"I wanted to expose my son to hunting in part because as you go through life, you're going to have all kinds of ups and downs, financial and otherwise. Crazy things are going to happen. But hunting and the people you share it with, including the local people the kids meet in South Dakota who live different lives than they do, that's something they can depend on, and can keep forever.''

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The Minnesota DNR has programs year-round designed to expose young people and their parents to outdoor activities, including hunting. (Go online at www.dnr.state.mn.us/harr/index.html.)

The intent in part is to mold a more conservation-aware citizenry.

But parents who think they can drop their kids off at a state-sponsored youth hunt or similar activity, thereby broadening their child's experiences and enriching his or her life, likely will be disappointed.

And the best kind of "outdoors practice'' happens when Mom or Dad is at their child's side.

Said Fecho: "Take some kids from the Twin Cities to small-town America, where people are so generous and pleasant, while getting the kids together with their dads, and it's an experience no one forgets.''