ILLUSTRATION BY JOEL KIMMEL
Crane your neck to look out the plane window near Lambert Field, and you might be surprised to see a swath of forest nestled between Ferguson and Florissant, just north of I-270. A 97-acre island of unspoiled forest surrounded by a sea of asphalt, the Little Creek Nature Area is where children in the Ferguson-Florissant School District have come for nearly 50 years to learn fundamental lessons about science and history. They spend their days exploring this living laboratory: studying wildlife, testing the pond’s water quality, tending a vegetable garden.
As former field biology teacher Vern LeClaire once noted, “Most children today, especially those in the St. Louis area, are completely separate from the natural environment… We want to help children realize the importance of preserving what’s left and sense how important an area such as this is for us, and for the wild things.”
Located just 3 miles north of the Canfield Green Apartments, this cherished refuge serves students whose classes were canceled in 2014, after 18-year-old Michael Brown, a resident of those apartments, was shot by then–Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. The shooting and outrage that followed spurred school districts across the nation to grapple with such topics as racial profiling and segregation.
Four years later, the conversation continues, alongside such other weighty topics as sexual harassment, identity politics, and pay equality. Today, educators are looking for ways to help students understand these problems, even as adults struggle to solve them.
With such a barrage of important issues filling the headlines and airwaves, it can be overwhelming even to step outside the house. But that’s all the more reason we need some sort of temporary refuge.
Spend time exploring the rock formations in Shawnee National Forest or admiring the wildflowers in Little Creek, and the worries of everyday life fade away—at least for a brief moment—replaced with the chatter of chipmunks and calls of songbirds.
It’s needed respite.
