Susie Speckle grew up in a big city, Brooklyn, to be exact, so there was never much chance to see wildlife.

Now she teaches about conservation and the natural world.

Today, we're going to take a little hike with her with some very interesting students to start with.

This is getting very.

Thank you, Audrey.

So chipmunks are getting ready all ball to go to school for the winter Today, we're in the town of Hancock, New Hampshire, at the Harris Center for Conservation Education.

And I'm here with a teacher at that center, Susie Sprinkle.

We're going to lead us on an interesting hike today with some very curious people.

That's true.

We're going to have our babies and backpacks and toddler and toe hike.

So it's going to be parents and maybe grandparents with some babies in front packs or backpacks and then little little toddlers with little legs and a lot of curiosity.

So we're going to head out and see what we can see beautiful.

How far we're going to walk that that far.

Because we have daily work.

Yeah.

So I guess we should they're getting here.

So we're going to go say hello.

All right.

Yes.

Okay, good.

Oh, they'll love how it feels.

They can touch it.

They can watch it.

It's sort of ticklish.

It's a perfect kid animal.

It's a wooly bear.

It's even got a kid's name.

You can see this It's a little wooly bear.

A caterpillar.

You can touch it.

The theme song The Harris Center is in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire.

The building and trails sit right astride the King's Highway and Hancock.

That's where you'll find Suzy with students of all ages.

Such a college.

You might get the impression Suzy is good with kids.

That's because she draws from the memories of her own childhood.

Oh, my.

My own life.

Do you want to hold your hand?

Your mom will.

You want your mama Well, she ain't.

You are from Brooklyn.

That's right.

What's that?

Without some trees.

A tree grows a tree grows in Brooklyn.

Lots of trees grow in Brooklyn.

I found them all.

I love them all.

Yeah, but you're a big city.

I mean, you went everywhere by sea in a subway or bus or cab.

Lots of subway, lots of biking.

So I grew up in the middle of a big city, too.

But somehow you and I both when we.

When we got Indonesia, had to work for you.

Yeah, I was just really fortunate.

My parents were schoolteachers, and they had a little summer house in Vermont.

And the last day of school, we picked my dad up from his job as a teacher, a principal of a school, and we would go up to Vermont and we spent all our summer time up there.

And they were the happiest times of my life.

Like, as anybody else want to turn around, you know, all the summers that Susie and her older brother spend away from the city were more than just fun.

They provided her with a glimpse of her future.

How about you Jacob?

Would you like to tell him you wandered around getting into trouble?

He has climbed a lot of trees and rolled down a lot of meadows and swam and all those great rivers around there.

And, yeah, it just sort of got in my blood.

And when I would go back to Brooklyn, I would look for weird little, like, places like that, wherever I could find them.

And, you know, if you look hard enough in a city, you can find them.

You can learn there, you can hold my chipmunk.

Let's keep them in here, though.

Brooklyn was Susie's home.

You want to hold them?

She finished high school there and then went to college.

After graduating from Barnard in New York City.

Susie turned her eyes to the north tiptop super group.

Now you're out of Barnard.

Now what?

I worked for Mass Audubon.

Oh, yeah.

That's what they hired me as a summer naturalist for one of their sleepaway camps, Camp Wildwood, which was in Greenfield, New Hampshire.

And I just.

I realized wow, you can teach people about nature.

And I never knew that could be a profession.

So I just worked for Mass Audubon for a little bit.

This ship is very busy right now, getting ready to go to sleep for the winter.

And then I got an internship at the Harris Center, and I have never left I just stayed.

It was a perfect fit.

How long you've been here?

Since 1993.

Gee, I started when I was 12.

No, that's longevity.

That's a long time.

Does everybody get a chance to see them?

You want to find a place to let them go free and you want to.

Okay.

You.

Maybe you could work together.

Susie is much more than a naturalist.

She's a teacher who embraces the mission of the Harris Center, Conservation, Stewardship and promoting respect for the natural world.

She's one of the most important parts of it.

She's in the Education Department.

Two of them.

I'm going to put them right here.

Eleanor Briggs is quite familiar with the Harris Center.

This beautiful region.

She founded it.

The Eleanor Lake Susie grew up in the city on Long Island.

Her grandparents owned this property and spent time here.

Well, they wanted to escape Boston My grandmother and grandfather built it in 1928, which was originally a white elephant.

My father sold everything to a developer and I bought it back and I decided that the best thing we could do with it was the Harris Center.

Yeah, because people who are born here don't usually really understand how special this place is.

This was to get everybody interested in this beautiful region.

And the idea was to get them to fall in love with it by having a good time outside and learning about it.

And then they would want to protect it.

Although it may have what could have been a development became a nonprofit in 1970.

There are miles of trails that take people away from the center into the woods and nearby hills.

There's wildlife and land that's worth conserving That's why Eleanor saved it.

Because it was where I had had all of these wonderful experiences as a child.

And I knew how special it was.

I'd also grown up in Long Island and a beautiful, beautiful place that was only 41 miles from New York City.

So it got paved over and I watched it go from a wonderful, magical place to a place where many, many, many, many people could live.

So it was good and and sad.

And so I when I settled here, I realized that this it could happen here as well.

Before I could talk about today, Susie opens the classroom to area toddlers and their parents.

So I have here a card I'm going to give each of you and you're going to try and find a color that will match its score.

Well, it didn't last long on behalf of I think you who, us?

You who made it.

Who do you think made the apple?

Made the apple you.

I did not make the apple.

Know the tree, the tree and the bees and the sunlight and the bees Oh, there's a chipmunk.

So I think this one, she's only just a little over two and a half.

So she's been very isolated.

We're outdoors people.

So we've always, you know, been able to get outdoors with her, but she needs to see people, too.

So that's been our mission since spring, is to get around and and it's safe here for her without any, you know, vaccination to be outdoors with people.

So we're we're trying to meet her developmental needs or social needs and and we love the outdoors.

It's a great playground.

You know, we're going to be tree.

This is the chipping tree up here.

Mm.

23.

Give me time to think.

It's a tree where a lot of chipmunks live.

So I call it should be tree.

This is our first time being out here.

We actually came across this from a recommendation from Nina over there.

She was mentioning it to us, but it's really beautiful place.

And I'm looking for something actual tree, something that chippies like to eat.

There's always something new to explore.

And it's wonderful for the kids to get out and just explore.

Nature Park.

Exactly why this is such tree.

It's nice for sure.

I mean, just the the fresh air and just kind of getting out in it and just.

Yeah, like, especially when it's a gorgeous day, it just really helps to kind of, like, relax.

Yeah.

And kind of reconnect to everything Look, Audrey brought us her yellow card with her yellow flower.

Good work on me.

So we are, again, like, we are at chipping tree, and I happen to have a little chippie right here.

This is my chippy right here.

And say hi to my kids.

It's great for him to be out in nature and to be taught how to enjoy nature and also to see other kids and for us to see other moms.

And it's very peaceful to be outside as well.

This type of thing wouldn't be as fun on our own, but with lots of other kids and nosy here to guide it for us, this is what an acorn looks like.

Two of them.

I'm going to put them right here for the Ginger team.

Last time we asked her if it was all right for my son.

No one's be picking up the monarch butterflies at our house.

And she said that because that it was really important for kids to learn to be gentle with nature, and that some naturalists may disagree, but she's not allowed to touch it and experience that he won't appreciate it.

So that was a really good lesson for us.

As parents to know that at home you can let them pick up stuff as you know and learn to be gentle with it and put it back.

What do you think of that picture, huh?

Oh, my gosh.

So much nicer because he doesn't have to sit and be quiet still.

And he can do while we're climbing rocks and looking at leaves.

And we're it's so informal he can sit and listen to the lesson, pardon or run around.

And all of that is fine.

So that's really nice.

I he's he's a wild, wild three year old boy.

I happen to have I have apples season for everybody.

And it's nice because, you know, you don't worry about anything because they can't really hurt themselves too much in nature.

So put that little apple or an acorn in their paws.

They tuck their thumbs in, they don't have any thumbs.

And then they go like this, oh, well, I try to get the kids out every day.

So it's nice to be out in a place where there's other kids and there's a facilitator kind of guiding them a little bit more than I could.

And it's close by.

So you look like it's get these great hands.

Like he's like, I like to eat chips and you must leave.

Are you ready to it's your mom who would like an apple who hasn't got one?

Margaret, you had an apple.

You know, I know the boundaries will laugh, though.

I watched you operate this morning.

You're good.

Thank you.

You got a bunch of kids.

They don't know each other.

They don't know you.

Well, they know is mama was right behind them.

And I can see them looking at you over again.

Just someone I like or not.

And then you started.

You sure?

The only bear, the bond.

You walk down farther, and then you gave them the colors.

Yes.

And a couple of them were successful.

And then you did the squirrel thing, and it every and every one of these stuff, they came a little closer to you as if they were saying Yeah, I can trust her.

And then you give me something to eat, wake up and eat that apple middle of the winter.

And I said, Yeah, I have a three that was good.

Thank you.

I'm sure they can't wait to come back.

I hope they do come back.

I love that program and I love seeing them kind of grow like what you're saying.

Is getting more comfortable being outside and sort of modeling for the parents how easy it is to be outside with your children.

And, you know, nature's always delivering it's always something to discover.

Did you guys know that chipmunks can stuff their cheeks?

Look at this picture.

They have a pockets in their cheek and they can stuff their cheeks full of food to bring back to their den.

I think I actually never grew up.

I just love being outside with kids.

And so and people of all ages.

And I think that's partly because I haven't lost that kind of love of of what the natural world has to offer yeah.

I'm a I kid at heart, I guess.

Or maybe more grown up.

Should be more kid at heart.

Would you guys get so to leave least to leave, you tell me.

Oh, God, this food.

Not all of Susie's lessons are taught at the Harris Center.

She takes the show on the road to a nearby third grade classroom.

Oh, such a cool program is a pilot program we're doing.

It's head starting of turtles.

So a couple of years ago, I read an article about a program out of Massachusetts that had school kids helping endangered turtles by raising them when they were just hatched and then rereleasing them into the wild.

And I thought, that's so cool.

I wish New Hampshire could do that.

And Adam, we're going to come over to the people this year.

And Savannah and Cody.

Susie partnered with New Hampshire Fish and Game and got the turtle program into five area schools and get a little black dog.

He's got the same notice.

We talked about the students on campus, the painted turtles hatch and nearby weapons.

And the students raised them.

They cared for them all winter long and release them in the spring.

My favorite classroom turtles is penny cans.

She has a loaded shell and we can tell her about it very, very easily.

I love this program because it gives kids a chance to have a real hands on experience with an animal in a positive way, giving them a chance to feel like they're doing something.

Our world is full of so many kind of sad stories for kids about the environment.

For them to feel like they're making a difference and doing something helpful I think is really inspiring.

Inspires me and kids love the Turtles.

What's not to love about a baby turtle?

My favorite turtle is are the endangered turtles because they they they will not be alive for much longer.

So I think I would like to keep them safe so we hold the turtle.

Students are caretakers and we've got 2.6.

They measure the turtles and weigh them.

That's math.

They read about what reptiles eat and learn about the challenges they face.

That's natural science.

And we really are hoping that kids are going to kind of get it in their heart, that they can be helping and conserving wildlife and being a positive influence on it.

Hands on and of course, Susie gets the students outside.

We're also studying birds in this class, so we're looking at kind of the relationship between birds and turtles and the types of habitat they need.

So we'll be spending a lot of time outside this winter doing winter birding.

And then in the spring we'll do spring birding and then also looking for turtles we'll do an amphibian and reptile survey sort of where we walk up the Bruce Edes area and look for different amphibians and reptiles.

So lots of outside time lots of field work.

Yeah, as these students move through elementary into high school, some might lose interest in nature and science.

You have a turtle diagram Susie spends time with them.

She created the program called Lab Girls and wants everyone to stay connected to my lab.

Girls is a program that comes right from my heart, from all.

The kind of research shows that at middle school girls kind of go underground with their interest in science.

They kind of drop out.

Not all girls, but lots of girls.

For some reason, it's not perceived as something that's, you know, culturally that they do or whatever.

So this is a program that's really about encouraging them not to go underground, to keep it, keeping interested, keep developing kind of curiosity.

And we bring in a lot of role models of adult women in professions, and they come and talk to the girls.

And I think it helps the girls kind of see themselves.

They can imagine, oh, she's a, you know, a paleontologist.

I can be a paleontologist.

It's really focused on natural sciences.

And even if they don't become a scientist, I think that it maybe can help them in their heart, feel like they can be interested in science and excited about the natural world.

Oh, I just found a big grasshopper and we're very fortunate in this part of the woods to have all of the high schools have natural areas all around them so they can go out of the class without being bused somewhere and know the local wetland.

So the woods, the tracks and Suzy is incredibly inspiring in all of that.

I like that one.

You guys want to come see my grasshopper, it might jump on you, but it won't hurt you.

Get ready so, you know, if you live in a city, having grown up in Brooklyn, there, there are so many opportunities.

But if you live here very rurally the opportunities aren't as many and it's harder to have.

Oh, yes.

So I'm really interested in bringing more opportunities for rural girls and kids of all of all types in in rural situations like Eleanor called the Grasshopper.

And it likes her finger.

This is an insect right here.

Kids love just about anything with a screen.

Some people might see that as a distraction and maybe they're right.

Suzy realizes that technology is here to stay.

It's cool.

So why not make the most of it how you can use your phone or your device to help you understand the natural world.

There's lots of great sound, so.

Birdsong Thank you.

I naturalist.

See, I mean, they're such great tools.

So, yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of not having my device with me, but I also see that it's a great tool for kids to kind of if they're comfortable with this world, how can you bring this world into the outside world and hook them that way?

All right.

Let's go this way.

I think the natural world, if you're looking for excitement, if you're looking for drama, if you're looking for mystery, if you're looking for kind of a wild adventure, I mean, why would you look on your phone?

You could just look around you happening all around you all the time.

Before the day ends.

Suzi takes us inside to show was one full prize collections it's a big hit with the kids.

Yeah, I know.

I love teaching with Scott because we have a saying, if you really want to know what an animal eats, take a good hard look at what it excretes.

So this is there, Scott.

This is a really great example of a bear.

I collected it right here at the Harris Center.

Yes.

This was actually a Valentine's gift to me a long time ago.

Very romantic.

This is bobcat scat.

And so you can see this is totally made up of fur and bones.

And this is really different than this type of scat.

It's really composed of different things.

So it's a great teaching tool.

And people and kids in particular find it kind of exciting and horrifying at the same time.

Oh, this is porcupine scat.

So a lot of people would think this might be deer scat, but you can begin to tell an animal's scat well, this is pretty classic.

In my tiniest jar, I have loose scat, and so it's hard to find around here now because we are having a decline in the moose population, really similar to a beaver scat like this one.

This is from Beaver, but this was found on top of the ice in the winter what was once a retreat where Eleanor spent her childhood days is now a destination for all who cherish the outdoors to eat it like tip know, I just wanted to say how fortunate I've been to be working with the Harris Center for over 25 years that it really is a match to my beliefs where I believe that people can fall in love with the place that they live by getting outside and exploring it and being involved in it.

And when they fall in love with a place, they're more apt to want to care for it and take care of it and protect it and love it and they pass it on to their family members.

And so I just felt that the Harrison has been a great match for my my own personal beliefs, my own ideas of of what environmental education can be really can be transformative for people and give people a feeling that they can be part of something helpful and supportive of the natural world.

Right now.

Well, we have sent the kids and their mom is home.

That's right.

And happy.

I think they look pretty satisfied.

And wonder struck by what you showed them, which was great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But this brings us once again to that part of the show that I like the least when we have to say goodbye.

But I do need to thank Susie.

You were just fantastic.

Thank you.

Thank you.

To right back at well, you know, I just do what I do.

But you're fantastic.

Just so sweet.

Thank you so much.

So we'll bid you do and say that we hope to see you again.

On Windows to the Wild Support for the production of Windows to the Wild is provided by the Alice J.

Ring, Charitable Trust, The Fuller Foundation, the Gilbert Verney Foundation, Bailey Charitable Foundation, the Macintosh Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

Everybody want to try talking Chipmunk one more time?

Get your fingers together.

Ready Good, Chicago.

Very good.

You moms are good chipmunk talkers.

It's a new way of talking.

Thanks so much for coming today.

I hope you had a great time and I hope you keep looking at all the nature around you and all the colors and all the animals that you can find.

Keep being a good explorer.