Get Ready for a Great Year Outdoors

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Wish Books for Nature Lovers

Gardeners ward off cabin fever by turning to mail-order seed catalogs filled with titillating photos of shapely produce and exotic flowers. Nature lovers can feed their fantasies with catalogs and other informative think-spring materials, too.

One-stop Naturalist Shop. Check out Acorn Naturalists. What the Sears catalog used to be to store-starved rural Americans, the Acorn Naturalists catalog is to eager-to-learn science and nature enthusiasts. Their hefty 200-page catalog, free for the asking, is chock-full of hard-to-find tools, learning materials, books and field guides. Want an acid rain study kit? A replica of a grizzly bear skull? How about a pro-quality insect-collecting field net? Hand lenses and magnifiers? Acorn has it all — and then some. This is the place to look for nature-study materials of all sorts for all ages.

Habitat How-to. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has a Backyard Conservation program that teaches homeowners how to apply the tried-and-true stewardship techniques farmers use on a smaller scale. The Service offers free tip sheets and a 28-page booklet that outlines 10 practices or projects: backyard ponds, composting, water conservation, mulching, nutrient management, wildlife habitat, pest management, terracing, tree planting and backyard wetlands. You can order hard copies or download the materials online.

Dream Destinations. Maybe there’s a national park you’ve wanted to visit for years. Or a cavern, lake or forest. Now’s the time to send off for literature so you can plan ahead and make those dreams a reality. Start by contacting tourism departments. If you’re interested in a national park, check out the National Park Service’s Web site, then zero in on specific parks and download their brochures and other materials.

Get Out!

Not every winter’s day is a wintry day — and even those that are cold or snowy offer their own sort of beauty. So don’t let the winter blahs keep you from getting outside when weather permits. Bundle up (dress in layers that you can add or remove as needed to maintain a normal body temperature), bring along food and water or juice (staying nourished and hydrated helps prevent hypothermia), and take a hike! Don’t think for a minute that winter’s landscape is barren — even those leafless trees and lifeless “weeds” are wonders when you know what to look for. These fine field guides will help: Winter Weed Finder by Dorcas Miller; Winter Tree Finder by May and Tom Watts; and Wildflowers and Winter Weeds by Lauren Brown.

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