The following article was written by Jason Prigge, the Development Director at the Woodland Dunes Nature Center.
I needed a break from the cold glare of my laptop screen, so I took a walk in the greatest break room on the planet, one of our trails. For me, Willow Trail has a way of slowing time.
I found myself moving more slowly and quietly than usual, observing. There is an ancient rhythm that exists wherever wild things still go about their lives unnoticed. However, today I was noticing. The trail wound ahead through fresh summer growth, each view offering another small surprise, another reason to stop and look a little closer.
The dogwoods with a few delicate white blossoms remaining, contrasted softly against the deep greens of the forest. They seemed to float among the leaves like scattered stars, catching the light. At that moment, surrounded by buttercups and daisies, I felt like I wasn’t walking through a preserve, I was stepping through a living painting.
Wildlife was abundant. A rabbit darted across the path and disappeared into the cover of grasses. Not long after, I was delighted to spot a woodcock, one of the woodland’s most curious and charismatic birds. It saw me and darted off in an arial sky dance through the trees.
The air was alive with smaller wonders as well. Butterflies hopped from one buttercup to another, moving like bits of color carried on the breeze. Insects hummed, buzzed, and glittered in shafts of sunlight. I see much of nature’s work happening at this scale, unnoticed by hurried eyes. As a long-time artist, I have trained myself to notice the details. When we slow down enough to observe, an entire universe appears beneath our feet and above our heads.
What struck me most was the sense of abundance. Not abundance measured in money or possessions, but in life itself. Every leaf, every birdsong, every fluttering wing seemed part of a larger conversation that has been taking place here long before any trail was built and will continue long after we are gone.
Walking the Willow Trail reminded me that nature does not demand our attention, it simply waits patiently for us to notice. And when we do, even an ordinary break from office work can become something extraordinary.
The dogwoods bloom, the woodcock hides among the leaves, the butterflies dance through sunlit openings, and for a little while, we are fortunate enough to belong to their world.
We are all connected in some way to nature, that simple truth is what drives me and everyone connected to this amazing place to be good stewards of the gift of nature.
