Corridor Buzz - The Premier Source of Arts & Entertainment News and Information for the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor

Get to know Mother Nature

By Katie Mills Giorgio

Earth Day is just around the corner. But for Zac Wedemeyer, creator of and Program Leader for Iowa City-based Taproot Nature Experience, you could say Earth Day is every day.

Throughout the year he leads a variety of nature experiences for kids and families as part of a mission to strengthen the bond between children and nature.

“I think children are born with a love of nature,” says Wedemeyer. “Taproot's purpose is to support and strengthen that love by giving them positive and enriching experiences outdoors. With the ways our culture and lifestyles have evolved, children often have a very difficult time developing a knowledgeable, respectful relationship with the natural world.”

With that in mind, Taproot takes a hands-on, feet-in-the-mud approach to getting kids in touch (literally) with nature. Taproot programs have included hiking, sledding, shelter building, bow making, fishing, found nature object art, creek wading, fire making, gold panning, mushroom hunting, vegetable and tree planting, owl pellet dissecting, tracking, maple tapping, snow shoeing, campfire cooking and outdoor games. Clearly this isn’t your average hike in the woods.

Wedemeyer says because of the complexities and depth of nature he doesn’t have a set curriculum.

“I cannot guarantee that children will be able to identify ten native prairie plants by the end of Session I, but they will know what it feels like to crawl through a prairie,” he says. “They will encounter lessons each time they go outside, and a major thing I hope to help the children do is open themselves to the lessons. I want them to become more aware of their surroundings and watch, listen, smell, feel, and taste nature constantly.”

Iowa City mom Kristin Reynolds (a Corridor Media Group consultant) says the Taproot program has done just that for her kids. She enrolled her twin, eight-year-old boys in the after-school enrichment program last fall and says they absolutely love it.

“It has opened my children's eyes to a whole new ‘outside’ world,” Reynolds says. “So far, they have waded in the mud at the South Sycamore Wetlands, caught frogs, monarchs, and snakes at Wilson's Apple Orchard, floated leaf boats down Rapid Creek, and panned for fool's gold, copper, gamets and magnetite in Lon Drake's pond, just to name a few. Each week they are picked up in Zac Wedemeyer's biodiesel van and they are off to discover. They come home with rosy cheeks and wonderful stories of their adventures."

Wedemeyer, a former sixth and third grade teacher, started Taproot in the fall of 2007 as an after-school enrichment program. He wanted to create an organization that would utilize his passion for all things natural and help him foster that in others. Taproot now offers day-long programs on non-school days, summer day camps, and weekend overnight events.

Summer camps start in early June with two age-appropriate programs. Like the after-school enrichment programs, Sapling Summer Camp is geared toward children ages 7 to 11 and costs $275 per week.

Seedling Summer Camp—$100 for a two-day session—is designed for children ages five and six. And the list of activities would make any kid even more eager for the school year to be over: short canoe trips on the English River, catching and banding song birds, and practicing archery skills.

Taproot also promotes adult programming, including guest speakers, a book club and hands-on workshops on topics of environmental interest such as sustainability and self-sufficiency, ecological restoration, and the simple enjoyment of nature.

As for the name of the organization, that comes from nature of course.

“Many plants develop a strong, deep taproot as one of their first endeavors in life,” Wedemeyer explains. “This taproot provides an anchor to the earth, and sustains them through difficult times. I believe that people need a strong anchor in the natural earth—their own Taproot—in order to sustain them throughout life. We are helping people develop that taproot. And it is our goal to become the center for sustainability, nature-awareness, and childlike-wonder education in Iowa.”

For more information on Taproot Nature Experience contact Zac Wedemeyer at (319) 325-0695 or via email at zacwedemeyer@yahoo.com.