Let’s Talk! Nature Unbound_欧洲杯决赛竞猜app_欧洲杯足球网-投注|官网

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Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:30:09 +0000
Let's Talk!, Let's Talk! Podcast Collective

Let’s Talk! Nature Unbound

Summary: Asher interviews Anna Stemach, an Environmental Education Instructor and Director at Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District (THPRD). Anna discusses her role in providing outdoor educational activities that are inclusive for children, particularly those with disabilities such as ADHD and autism.

Hosted By: Hannah “Asher” Sham

Guest Speaker: Anna Stemach

Produced By: Let’s Talk! Podcast Collective

Audio and Transcript Editing: Hannah “Asher” Sham and Miri Newman

Web Hosting: Eugene Holden

Released on: 09/29/2025

More resources at our home website.

Episode Transcript

Transcript edited by Hannah “Asher” Sham

Introductions

Kylo: You are listening to Let’s Talk!. Let’s Talk!, is a digital space for students at PCC experiencing disabilities to share their perspectives, ideas, and worldviews in an inclusive and accessible environment. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Portland Community College PCC Foundation, or our community partners. We broadcast on our home website, pcc.edu/DCA, on Spotify, on XRay 91.1 FM and 107.1 FM, and KBOO Community Radio, 90.7 FM.

Asher: Welcome to this Let’s Talk podcast. My name is Asher, and today I have the pleasure of interviewing my good friend, Anna Stemach. We’ll be talking about her job as an Environmental Educator and what she does to educate the next generation on the environment. Thank you for joining me today! Can you tell me who you are, what your name is, and what your pronouns are??

Anna: Yeah, absolutely. So I’m Anna. She/ her. My official title is Environmental Education Instructor and Director. It’s kind of a mouthful, but just day to day I mostly just lead activities and games in our two hundred and twenty two acre in Nature Park to help our K through six kids get outside and they get involved with local ecology. So, I basically am just a glorified nature summer camp counselor. I think that’s the easiest way to describe what I do, and I think that’s the correct vision that you’ll have in your head when I say that.?

Asher: That’s awesome. What is your organization called and what’s their mission statement??

Anna’s Work at the THPRD

Anna: Yeah, so I work for THPRD, which is T. Walton Hills Parks and Recreation District. We were formed in 1955 and our mission is to provide a high quality park and recreation, facilities, programs, services, and natural areas that meet the needs of the diverse communities that we serve. I thought this was kind of fitting; we also have our own equity, inclusion, and belonging statement. I’ll rattle off that as well; tHPRD’s goal is to serve every individual with dignity, fairness, and respect. We’re dedicated and hold ourselves accountable to being a welcoming and inclusive organization that lives our values by advancing equity, inclusion, fairness, belonging, and respect for all. As stewards of public lands and spaces we’re committed to keeping those spaces safe, accessible, and bringing people together.

Asher: Awesome. That’s so cool. How do you or the organization you work with, support kids with disabilities while they’re out exploring and discovering nature??

Anna: Yeah, there’s a lot of ways. When I was trying to develop, “how did I want to answer this question?”. I kind of started to go to certain disabilities that we see the most in my camps. But, as I was trying to do that, I noticed that, just as disabilities are unique to the person who has one. So, are the ways that I and my team assist someone with those disabilities. So, I’ll just share a few. But, seriously there’s so many different tools and strategies that we use both outside and inside our education spaces in order to help students get involved. I’d say that the largest way that we accommodate the needs of our kids with disabilities though, is through our inclusion aid program. So, students with a documented disability, this is free for their family, they get a staff member who’s like sole job is just to make sure that they’re able to engage in programs and have their needs met. I, as a instructor and director, work really closely with that person to make sure that we can come up with a plan together to suggest modifications to an activity. Or sometimes the aid is there in order just to give that student some space to be away from the group. If they have a lot of sensory overload from being in the group; it can be kind of loud sometimes– working with kids, that happens– if it does get louder, then that person is also there in order to create a quiet space for them. Another like really common tool that we use with our kiddos is using like fidgets. They’re just like little toys, if you don’t know what it is, they’re just little toys that are really satisfying to hold for, one reason or another, and they help kids who have excess energy, at the moment, release it. I like to use this while I’m doing a lot of verbal explaining to the kids. Sometimes when we’re outside, I don’t have all the tools that you have in a classroom, right? So, I often will give more verbal directions as well as a couple of visual aids that I can bring with me. If I’m, describing something and that student has a hard time, then I will give them a fidget; which is just like a little something for them to hold so that they can focus, or rather, release some of that excess energy that they may have. We’re mostly using those for kids who have ADHD, or on the autism spectrum. Sometimes my fidgets, that I use, are not also always ones that you can buy on Amazon. Sometimes they’re just nature fidgets. Actually, I’ll challenge you; so, next time that y’all are outside, in a natural area, try and find something that’s just satisfying to hold that’s on the ground. You’ll find that there’s sticks that are covered in really loose bark or really loose moss and it’s really fun to like peel it off. So, that’s a fidget, right? So, we do a lot of that.?

Asher: I love that. That’s awesome! As someone who has ADHD myself, as well, I love to fidget with things.

Anna: Yeah, right?! They’re great!?

Asher: Fidget with wires, and hair ties, and whatnot. But, that’s really cool that there’s just things in nature that you can fidget with even if you don’t have a fidget toy. So, the students, or the kids, that you support in your organization; do you mostly see kids with ADHD and kids with autism? Or do you also see other children with other disabilities as well??

Anna: Those are our main ones. Yeah. So, we follow the standard outlook, I guess, of what kind of disabilities that you see, like just in classrooms in general. We’d look about the same. So, most of them are ADHD or autism spectrum. We have had some students in the past who are hard of hearing and they often come with their own tools from home, as well as, we do some things in the classroom; writing down instructions for those students so that it’s easier. If I can’t be loud enough in order for them to hear, then I’ll often do written instructions as well.

Asher: That’s great. Yeah. I remember our conversation, we talked before, that there was a blind student at one point. Talk about it a little bit more to our listeners as well??

Anna: Absolutely! Yeah. So, that was with another organization that I worked for. That was with Northwest Outdoor Science School. But, yes, we did have a blind student and I had to do a lot of language changes. So, we had like an attention getter that was, “1, 2, 3! Eyes on me!”, and then the students would say back, “one, two! Eyes on you!”. So, I had to change that! I was like not everybody can put their eyes on me, right? I had to change it and I changed it to, ” 1, 2, 3! Ears on me!”. A lot of my inclusion tools, that I have, I often switch and swap based on what I need for the group that I’m with. As we all should, right? There was also some activities, where writing for him would look a whole lot different, and so I worked really closely with his aide in order to make sure that he was able to participate. I have found though that nature, like what we’re talking about, is like super inclusive. There’s so many sensory things that you can manipulate and like ways to explore with all five of your senses. That was something that was really huge at outdoor school where I had that blind student. It was really sweet. I was talking about a salamander, at one point, like we found one on the trail. He was super interested in it and he was coming up closer and I could tell he was like moving towards me and trying to get close to it. And I said, “do you wanna hold it?”. He holds out his hand, I put it, and he goes, “oh no! I don’t! Change my mind! No! Get rid of this salamander!”. But, that was a really fun learning experience. He could experience it with his hands.

Asher: I’ve never touched a salamander before and I don’t hope to, at least? Or encounter one? But, yeah! That sounds really interesting! With that, what do you love about your job? And, I know you talked a little bit about going from the Northwest organization to going to the one that you’re working in now? Also just tell us about that transition and everything.

Anna: Yeah, for sure. So, I have worked with THPRD for a while. This is where I currently work, off and on. But, then for the whole last year I was with, Northwest Outdoor Science School. They do very similar programming. But, with THPRD I do a lot more like summer camp stuff. It just basically changes am I teaching mostly or am I trying to help you have fun? So, with my current organization, I’m mostly doing recreational type activities. Where, with out door school, I was doing mostly educational. I love both of them. I think the part that I love the most about THPRD though… well, I guess in both, honestly, this happens in both. But I think I just really, really love those moments where someone is like transfixed on something that we find in nature. Kind of like that salamander thing I just mentioned with our blind student. Sometimes we’ll find like a frog or we’ll find a really, really cool plant, and we just sit there and we’re just like staring at it and holding it and sometimes you can smell it if you want to, that’s a great way to explore too, and we just marvel. I think that often transcends many of the barriers, that you might see to inclusion, because we can all engage in those ways. Just in those moments we’re developing an appreciation and a desire to understand and engage with the subject, whatever that is, and that’s the bedrock for learning. You have to be motivated or at least curious enough to start investigating, to learn. So, once I have them engaged, with whatever we’re looking at, there’s like so much that we can do to just further their understanding. I really, really enjoy taking that step from, ” Wow! What is that thing?” to like, “well, let’s find out!” Like, “let’s explore!”, “let’s ask the right questions!”. So, yeah. I just really like teaching.?

Asher: I love that. That’s so cool. Why is it important to protect the environment? You’ve been explaining as well of being able to explore and being able to engage out in nature and that helps kiddos to even learn more, I feel like as well, regardless of whether they have disabilities or not.?

Anna: Yeah, absolutely. The environment… It’s so broad. I have like a short answer; you should protect the environment because you live in it and you depend on it. Short answer. But, longer answer, and I could talk about this for a long time.

Asher: Go for it! This is your stage!?

The Importance of Our Environment

Anna: Our environment includes many components that offer us, what we call, ecosystem services. I have a lot of articles about that as well; so, like ecosystem services. It’s defined as the benefits that people get from healthy ecosystems for free. Both monetarily and with labor. So, we don’t have to work for it and we don’t have to pay for it. So, for example, we don’t have to pay anyone to clean our air, right? That just happens. We don’t have to pollinate every blueberry flower because the bees are doing it for us, and we don’t have to refill the aquifers, because the ground and time does that for us. But, when we don’t have a healthy environment, those things start to break down. So, the air actually does become unclean because we have pollution. We start losing the ecosystem services, and then because of that we have to start replacing them ourselves. You often do those in ways that don’t work very well, or at least it’s not very efficient. A good example of this would be like on the upper Mississippi River basin, there was a lot of levees. So, the levees would keep flood waters at bay and those are made by people. But, the levees began failing and they were causing massive flood damage in the area that created millions of dollars of damage essentially. So, then this all happened because people were draining the wetlands. They removed the excess water or they stored it, rather, in those wetlands. Because they drained those for agriculture or whatever means that they had building buildings, stuff like that. Then they had to come up with ways, expensive ways, in order to replace that ecosystem service and it didn’t work even. So, those manmade solutions to ecosystem services don’t always alleviate the problem. Sometimes they do. But, again, they’re much more labor and cost intensive. I think if I summarize that, it would be that the environment is important because it cares for you. There’s often things that you don’t think about. But, day-to-day you rely on these things. So, caring for the environment; it doesn’t just help the environment, it also helps you in a roundabout way.?

Asher: What is a le- a “levy”? A “Levi”? A “Levy”?

Anna: A “Levee”.

Asher: Ah! “Levee”. Okay! What is that? I’ve not heard that before.?

Anna: It’s often made of cement wall, basically??

Asher: Is it like a dam, kind of thing??

Anna: It’s very similar to a dam. Yeah. Yeah.

Asher: Oh! Okay, okay, okay…

Anna: It just doesn’t produce power.

Asher: Oh, well… It’s just there!

Anna: Yeah. It’s just a giant, like cement block. They use it in order to remove floods. Like do a water break or something.?

Asher: Oh, I guess it didn’t work!?

Anna: No, it didn’t.

Asher: It flooded!

Anna: It did not. No.?

Asher: Oops… Do you have any fun, interesting, stories about your adventures and escapades out in nature with these kiddos? I’m sure you have plenty.?

Stories From Nature Camp

Anna: Yeah, lots actually. One that like immediately stands out; so, I was working with a pair of, identical twins in a nature camp that I was running and they both were on the autism spectrum. They would often get really, really overstimulated then they would run outside of the program area, and that’s a safety concern. So, I was asking my coworkers about it, “what should we do to help them engage?”, ” Asking mom and dad what are some ways that we can get them both not being overstimulated and, when they do become overstimulated, how do we keep them from running outside the classroom? I originally tried really hard to just keep the other campers quiet. Like, “Books on the tables. We’re gonna try and be as quiet as possible.” Just like a very chill environment. But, they were third or first to third grade, so that’s kind of difficult for their age. So, it wasn’t working as well as I had hoped and our campers were still not being successful, as I knew that they could be, in that camp. So, we ended up kind of brainstorming together, me and my coworkers, and they said, ” what if you use headphones?” And, I was like, ” really? I didn’t think about that!”. Instead of making the environment quieter, why don’t we make it quieter for them? I thought it was brilliant. So, we got matching headphones for them. So, we put that on them and they used that tool throughout the rest of the week that they were with us. Towards the end of the week, they started using them like themselves. They would recognize when things were getting louder and they were getting more dysregulated. So, I was really happy that that tool worked well for them and then it became like a way for them to like more easily engage. They started opening up more and like being more willing to hang out with other students and engage socially, um. So, I would call that a win. That’s one of my favorite stories when I think about inclusion in camps and something that was like a real big win for them and us.?

Asher: Aw, I love that. That’s so cool. I would love to invest in some noise canceling headphones. I feel like those are very much helpful, I feel like, in a lot of situations where it’s just really loud. Whether it’s in a classroom setting or whether it’s outside, it’s just… Noises. I don’t know how it works, but it just gets so overwhelming at some point.

Anna: Oh, for sure. Yeah, right? Oh, my gosh! Noisy environments! Do you remember being in like a gym in high school or something??

Asher: Everything’s echoing and everything’s just going around!?

Anna: Exactly! Right? There’s like a lot of things going around in front of you, a lot of visual stimulus. I think when we tune down one sense then that’s easier for us to not get overstimulated. When there’s a lot of visual input and there’s a lot of auditorial, and maybe also like something that’s touching us weirdly. It can get overwhelming. So, I’ve noticed, especially with our students on the autism spectrum, that increasing some satisfying or like enjoyable sensory experience while decreasing other sensory experiences or other stimulus that they don’t like. That can be different for each of our students.?

Asher: Yeah, for sure. Have you guys ever just tried going out into… Well, I don’t know if there’s any “Woods”… “Forest” in Oregon and just standing and just listening to what’s going on outside and letting that silence just like, “hah…” kind of thing? I feel like that’s just so peaceful.?

Anna: Absolutely! Yeah, I’m happy that you’re bringing that up. We call that a “Sit Spot”.

Asher: I love that! There’s a name for it!

Anna: There is! It’s a “Sit Spot”! You see that in a lot of really popular outdoor curriculum, it’s called “Beatles”. That’s basically like the Outdoor Educators Bible. We love taking students out into nature, because nature is super regulating, like in and of itself. We had a student who was not diagnosed with any sort of disability. But, he often had a hard time spending time with the group. He would easily get overstimulated in the camp environment and so we would take walks with him, and while we were on those walks we would do a “Sit Spot”. So, we’d sit down and then we’d just start counting like, what are five things that you see and like, what are four things that you can feel with your hands or like with your legs? What are your feet touching right now? Can you feel the grass? Just taking the time to ground him and that often helped him to regulate enough in order to join the group.?

Asher: I love that. I’ve always wanted to do that, honestly. To just lose myself into a forest or woods… Minus the mosquitoes! And just stand…

Anna: Yeah! Yeah!

Asher: And just stand there, and just listen and just be. Because, just the busyness of everyday life, even not being in school anymore and working right now, it’s just too loud. Everything is just too loud. And it’s like, “all right, just stop! Everything stop!”?

Anna: No, absolutely! Yeah, your blood pressure actually does decrease, like when you’re in natural environments. Yeah, I think we need to get more people outside. I’m also definitely speaking from a biased place. But, everybody should get outside more. Just spend time taking it in. We also, at the Nature Center, have Forest Bathing for adults. Which is exactly what you just described. Like you just go out with someone, as a group, and then they help guide you in how to relax in the forest. How to just enjoy it and take in your surroundings. As well as, just to let go of maybe some of the things that you’re stressed out about, or things that are in life that are like rain down.?

Asher: I’m going to have to ask more details about that from you. That sounds like something I would love to do!?

Anna: Oh, yeah. Forest Bathing is so much fun!?

Asher: When you said “Forest Bathing”, I was like, ” are we literally going to the forest to take a bath? Like, what?…”. I’m like, “oh, wait! No, that’s not what you mean!”.?

Anna: However, I think like a bath out in the middle of the forest does sound really relaxing??

Asher: What kind of health benefits do you gain just from being outdoors a little bit more??

Benefits of Being Outdoors

Anna: There’s lots. I think major ones is just decreasing stress. So, people will often describe that like being out in nature, especially for the occasional and the rare adult programs that we do. Adults will often describe nature as a place that they feel safe; that they feel calm in. It’s much quieter. Noise pollution is a huge thing. We’re kind of talking about that already. If you’re in an environment long enough that’s very, very loud; for people who live in cities versus live in rural areas, you do actually see an increase in heart issues for those individuals. I’m happy to share more details on that. During my studies, at PSU, we talked a lot about that. In one of our classes about the effects of too much noise on the body and that like quiet spaces are very important and often large natural areas give you the opportunity to experience some of that quiet.?

Asher: Yeah. Going back to your organization; what are they up to right now? Or what are you up to right now? I’ll ask that.?

Anna: Yeah. Well, right now we’re gearing up for our Fall Programs. We have lots of activities. We publish a guide every single season, so we have new stuff going on in the fall, we have new stuff in the winter, spring, summer. So, right now our activity guide, we have a lot of activities that focus around adaptive and inclusive recreation. So, for your listeners, I would point them to there. We have services like, adult and child therapeutic classes. Those ones are often art based or their social emotional learning. That’s specifically created around adults and children, who have disabilities. We also have wheelchair basketball and we have that in multiple facilities, so if you’re interested, that’s really, really fun. I’ve watched a couple of games before and it gets pretty tense out there!

Asher: I bet!

Anna: They have fun time! We also have seated exercise. We even have… It’s called the Rec mobile– basically, most of the time during the summer, they are traveling to different parks and they’re doing different games and activities in different parks that are in the Tualatin Valley area. But, they also do adaptive gardening. They specifically have a garden that you can come to and that you can do some gardening with them. They have tools that are formulated for people who might have physical disabilities. They’re very aware of the different needs of our community as well and making that an inclusive space.

Asher: Where is this garden at? I don’t have a green thumb at all, but I would love to try to get one!?

Anna: Yeah, we have like a couple of garden plots. There’s three or four of ’em and I’ll send you the specific one that they’re at.?

Asher: Oh, yeah! Of course. I will also share it with our listeners too. So, this rec mobile, goes around and it has these activities that like whenever they park at a park, I guess, and then they go out and they provide these recreational activities? Is that what this is? Or…?

The Nature Mobile

Anna: Yeah, basically, I mean you’ve said it really well. Basically, they show up with this really big van. There’s two to three staff there, and they go to different parks that are within our district. They’ll stay there for max six hours, but most of the time it’s about three to four. Whoever is enjoying the park, they are welcome to participate in any of the activities we bring. I know for the nature center, we have the Nature Mobile. So, it’s very similar to the Rec Mobile! It focuses on nature.?

Asher: To the Nature Mobile!

Anna: It’s the Nature Mobile! You’ll see us we’re like a bright green truck; it’s really hard to miss. We just bring nature materials that people can interact with of all ages. We have skulls and pelts, so you can kind of explore natural materials that we bring. We also have a theme whenever we come. So, like we might talk about birds, and then we’ll do a craft where you can make a bird. There’re all supposed to be educational as well. All of our activities are very sensory, so we can be the most inclusive.?

Asher: So, all these ” mobiles” are they based around Tualatin or do they go around other places as well?

Anna: Yeah, they stay within our district. So, Tualatin Hills Parks and Rec. So, imagine the center of Beaverton, wherever you think that is, and then just expand out until you hit Portland and Hillsborough; and that’s kind of where we stick. ’cause Hillsborough and Portland have their own parks department. So, we just serve the people in our community that are within that, like Beaverton… I think we go all the way up to Bethany. So, that’s where like our northern area, and then our Southern is just before you hit Tigred.?

Asher: Oh, wow! I wish I could have gone to stuff like that because that was when I was living before I moved all the way up north!

Anna: Yeah. Well, now you have Portland, right? Yes. And Portland Parks and Rec!?

Asher: Well, I would still try to make a trip down there and see if I could like catch one of your “Mobiles”, whether it’s the nature one or…

Anna: Oh, I’ll text you!

Asher: Oh, yeah! For sure! What does the Rec Mobile look like? I know you said the nature mobile is green. What does the Rec Mobile look like??

Anna: They’re white and it has our logo, like all over it. Yeah. So, just like “THPRD” and I think there’s pictures of kids running around on a basketball court as well. It’s just very Rec based versus ours is like green, “nature”.?

Asher: Awesome. So, what are some resources for listeners who are interested in enjoying the outdoors here in Portland??

Resources for Enjoying the Outdoors

Anna: Yeah, like so many! I think it depends on how much nature you wanna experience and to what extremity. So, I think for those people who are more interested in not very extreme and not too much nature; we don’t wanna be roughing it. Then I would suggest parks, we have a lot. We also have a lot of adaptive equipment parks. So, those are parks who specifically have materials and tools that you can use, and equipment that is made for people who have physical or developmental disabilities. There’s many in the area that I’m in. We have a park; it’s called, ” Jenkins Estate”. We have a park on the northern end of that, which is where “Camp Riverdale” happens. Which is an inclusive and adaptive summer camp that happens every year that is just made for those with physical or developmental disabilities. We have a park there that is very inclusive, so it has like soft mats, they have a wheelchair swing. So, I would suggest Portland Parks and Rec, and Hillsborough Parks and Recs has that as well. So, wherever you are, you can find adaptive equipment parks. For those who want a little bit more extremity. But, again, not too much nature. Then I would suggest that you look into summer camps that are in Oregon. There’s a website, it’s called very SpecialCamps.com, and they have special needs summer camps. A list of them all the way from like those with developmental disabilities to those with spinal cord injuries. Then for those who want high extremity and then bunch of nature, I would suggest outdoor recreation, like guided experiences. There’s a group in Forest Grove, it’s called “Adventure Without Limits”. They do outdoor recreational activities, that include kayaking, rock climbing, rafting, hiking, and these are all made to fit whatever disability that you come to them with. So, they’re happy to make custom trips for a weekend or a week. We have adaptive tools and adaptive equipment, to make sure that you’re able to do that. There are other people who like to get out. Kind of want a lot of nature, you know…?

Asher: Go hard or go home.?

Anna: Exactly those people! There’s lots of self-guided outdoor recreation. This was a recent initiative that Metro did, it’s called accesstrails.org, and they created this entire site to explain to people the different trails in Portland, what people with disabilities can learn more about that trail, and decide whether or not it’s a good fit for them. So, they have a map on their website and they have a list of if you experience this disability, then we would suggest this trail for you. There’s also disabledhikers.com, and they have trail guides for all of Oregon, so not just Portland. Accesstrails.org has more information for just our Portland metro area. But, then if you really wanna get out there and you wanna take a trip ?somewhere in Oregon, ?than you can find it on there. They also have articles, hereisoregon.com, on how to get beach wheelchairs. Because I know that that’s a hard place to access for many wheelchair users. So, there are free rentable beach wheelchairs that you can get at many Oregon State cities.

Asher: Beach wheelchairs?

Anna: Beach wheelchairs! Yeah!?

Asher: What? Are they able to just like cruise along sand or something? Are they like four wheel drive or,

Anna: Yeah! Well, from what I can tell, I’m not an engineer, but they have like these giant wheels that look very bubbly; instead of your normal wheelchair is like very thin. These ones are very thick, so then you don’t sink into the sand.

Asher: Whoa! That’s really cool! They have like a little remote, I guess, on the wheelchair itself to move it around, or for the user to move it around? Or does someone need to like push it??

Anna: I think they have both. So, you can either get like motorized or you can get like a non-motorized and like someone pushes you.

Asher: That’s really cool! Beach wheelchair!?

Anna: A beach wheelchair! Yeah. Yeah. Everybody likes the beach!?

Asher: Whoa, I’ve not been to the beach that much often. But, yeah, I feel like that’s very useful to have, especially for those who have mobility issues in that way.?

Anna: Yeah, absolutely.

Closing Thoughts

Asher: Well, thank you so much, Anna, for talking to us today about what you do and how much you’re helping kiddos. Especially those with disabilities or those on the autism spectrum or on the spectrum, in general, to get out in nature, to explore, and to learn more. We really appreciate you! Do you have anything else to tell our listeners, whether it’s about what you do or about nature or to protect the environment more.?

Anna: Yeah, I think I would just say get outside. Smell some grass. Find “Nature Fidget”. Okay. That’s what I’d leave you with.?

Asher: Well, to end off; what’s your favorite Nature Fidget?

Anna: My favorite Nature fidget? A smooth rock. Okay? Because you put it in your pocket and it gets like warm from your body heat, and then you just have a little smooth rock!?

Asher: I’m gonna have to try that one day!?

Anna: Yeah.?

Asher: Thanks, Anna! Thank you so much! Appreciate you for coming on today!

Anna: Absolutely! Thanks for having me!

Asher: Thank you for listening to Let’s Talk!. Portland Community College’s broadcast about disability culture. Find more information and resources concerning this episode and others at pcc.edu/dca. This episode was produced by the Let’s Talk Podcast collective as a collaborative effort between students, the Assessable Education and Disability Resource Department, and the PCC multimedia department. We air new episodes on our home website, our Spotify Channel, XRay 91.1 FM and 107.1 FM, and KBOO Radio, 90.7 FM.

Resources

Ecosystem Services & THPRD Resources

Information on ecosystem services

Definition of ecosystem services

Latest scholarly articles on ecosystem services

THPRD Resources?

Fall activities guide at THPRD

Nature Mobile?

Rec mobile

adaptive gardening happens every Friday all fall at Mountain View Champions Park

Oregon Parks & Outdoor Rec Resources

Parks

Portland Parks & Recreation (adaptive equipment parks)

Hillsboro Parks & Recreation (adaptive equipment parks)

Summer Camps

Veryspecialcamps.com (Special needs summer camps in oregon)

Outdoor Recreation guided experiences

Adventures Without Limits allows adults and children with disabilities the opportunity to kayak, rock climb, raft – to name just a few – with adaptive equipment and custom trips.

Self-guided outdoor recreation?

This site has a map of trails in the Portland area of interest for those with disabilities so they can make their own informed decision on whether they would like to try a trail.

Trail guides for Oregon.

Article on beach wheelchairs that you can rent for free all over the Oregon coast.