Naturalist Essay

Michael Simmons

For my nature walk, I chose a path a have taken many times over the last couple years. I live off Irving Park Road roughly three blocks from the lake, so biking and walking along the lakefront trail are common activities for me. This particular walk did not seem very different to me because I generally do pay attention to my surroundings and notice the environment moving around me. I came across the same plants and animals I do on any other day. I walked through the Lincoln Park golf course to reach the lake and so there were many trees and a lot relatively well maintained grass. The trees were full of buzzing insects, chirping birds, and climbing squirrels. I saw a rabbit run from one bush to another in the park and along the lake I noticed seafaring birds and well kept grassy areas. Those areas were full of people doing different activities like tossing the Frisbee, playing catch with their dogs, and just laying out. Although there were many fishermen, I did not see any fish.
I think about nature in Chicago as more of a footnote than anything else. I don’t feel much of anything when being “in” urban nature. The lake is a great place to spend time but the rest of my urban environment isn’t very interesting to me. My home town has several large conservation areas, all being slightly different from each other, so I was use to much greater diversity before I moved to the city. I also spend a lot of time camping over my summer breaks in more remote areas that offer untouched nature. I love this type of nature and try to get away from the city whenever I can because spending time in natural spaces with fresh air just feels good.
I interact with nature on a daily basis by walking or biking through the city. Pigeons are a constant obstacle in the Loop and it is a challenge avoiding them. I enjoy the green nature we do have by laying in the grass in Millennium Park, sitting under a tree in Lincoln Park, or lounging on the Fullerton beach. There is a great deal of nature throughout our city if you are looking for it and I try to notice the little things everyday.
My nature walk related more to Kuo’s writing than Muir’s because I had more of a Kuo mindset. He used a scientific approach to study urban nature and how city dwellers interact and respond to green improvements, and because we discussed this idea in class I was thinking in more of that scientific mode. Muir’s piece was a descriptive account of his travels through rugged, untouched nature whereas Kuo was discussing changes in urban nature. Perhaps if I had taken a walk through the woods or a wide open prairie, my experience would have been as poetic as Muir’s. Instead, I noticed people interacting with green areas just as Kuo suggested.