Nature Smart program proves popular

Nature Smart, a new Camas Public Library program designed to connect patrons to the great outdoors has proven to be popular with library patrons this summer.

“Nature Smart is really hitting all three tenets of our mission,” Camas Public Library Director Connie Urquhart said, explaining the library’s three-pronged mission is meant to serve the community by providing meaningful connections, engaging enrichment and pathways to knowledge.

“Nature Smart is really satisfying all of those little pieces,” Urquhart said, “and it feels like a homerun.”

The Nature Smart program — funded by a $4,958 Camas-Washougal Community Chest grant and launched in May of this year — provides library patrons with hands-on ways to play, learn and explore the natural world outside the library’s walls.

“We wanted to encourage people to spend time outside and what better way than to play games?” Urquhart explained, pointing to the Nature Smart program’s selection of games meant to be played outdoors, including croquet, bocce, disc golf, badminton and pickleball sets as well as giant Jenga blocks, lawn dominos and oversized wooden dice meant to be thrown on the ground for a game of outdoor Yahtzee known as “Yardzee.”

Library patrons can check out and place holds on the outdoor game sets just like they would with a book, dvd or other, more traditional, library offering.

The games have been flying off the shelves this summer, Urquhart said, with the oversized Jenga, pickleball and cornhole games proving to be the most popular.

“It started off with a bang,” Urquhart said. “In June, we had 44 checkouts and, in July, we had 34 checkouts.”

The concept of offering outdoor-themed games, classes and other “Nature Smart” offerings came up during the library’s recent strategic planning sessions.

“Part of the strategic plan was to partner with organizations that focus on the natural world,” Urquhart said. “We know that our community highly values our open spaces, green spaces. So we took that information and asked, ‘How do we apply this to the library?’”

The public library already had a few “natural world” partnerships, Urquhart said, including a partnership with the Portland-based Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which bills itself as “a science-based nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats,” for the Camas library’s pollinator garden.

The library also had a long history of partnering with the city of Camas’ parks and recreation department to offer outdoors and nature-based programming; had offered exploratory “Nature Kits” provided by Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge with themes that focused on bees, insects, flowers, trees, hiking, rocks and other natural elements; and had backpacks provided by the state of Washington available for checkout that included a Discovery Pass for entry into state parks as well as maps, binoculars and pocket guides on Washington’s birds, trees and wildflowers.

“That was the basis of our ‘Nature Smart’ collection,” Urquhart said. “But we wanted to do more. The idea was pretty simple — people learn better about nature in nature, when they’re immersed in nature.”

The Community Chest grant helped the city-owned library purchase the outdoor games and hire experts to offer nature-themed classes and seminars.

“We split the money down the middle, with half for programs and half for the collection,” Urquhart said, “but because of the generous donations of time from some of the program experts, we have a little bit of money leftover.”

Some of the Nature Smart classes already offered this summer included a forest-bathing class, an iPhone outdoor photography class held in downtown Camas, a mindfulness class for teenagers held at the Washougal Waterfront Park and a bird-watching class at Round Lake in Camas.

Future Nature Smart classes and events include:

Nature Journaling for Teens from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5;

A guided Nature Walk with naturalist Rebeca Lexa at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12;

Build a Bug Hotel for children in kindergarten through fifth grade at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17; and

Another guided Nature Walk with naturalist Rebeca Lexa from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28.

Urquhart said the feedback on the expanded Nature Smart collection and programming has been nearly all positive, so far.

“I think people have been surprised that we have these items available at the library, but they’re happy about it,” Urquhart said. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Urquhart and other library staff have also heard that Camasonians are thinking about the Nature Smart program beyond just the fair-weather summer months.

“There are people already planning to use some of these games indoors through the winter,” Urquhart said. “They’re planning to use them throughout the year.”

The library director said the Nature Smart program is proving that the library can be a hub of learning, exploring and connecting even during its off-hours.

“Typically, when we’re facilitating connections, it’s at the library. But these things are happening outside of the library,” Urquhart said. “It’s fantastic.”

To learn more about the Nature Smart program at the Camas Public Library, visit cityofcamas.us/library/page/camas-public-library-launches-nature-smart-collection-and-events or search the library’s collection of Nature Smart games and activities through its online catalog at cityofcamas.us/library/page/online-resources, and check out the list of Nature Smart classes and events through the library’s online event calendar at camaspl.lib rarycalendar.com/events/month