Lodi Lake Nature Area docent program celebrates 30 years of education
In 1972, an undeveloped nature area next to Lodi Lake Park was purchased by the City of Lodi through grant money. It became the site where many teachers would take classes to see local plants and animals in their natural habitats through self-serve access. Over time, Lodians have blazed trails, put up trail markers and set up an education program led by volunteer docents throughout the school year.
The Lodi Lake Nature Area Docents are celebrating their 30th anniversary as a volunteer organization this year.
Docents will celebrate at their monthly meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Lodi Police Department. Jay Bell, who retired from the Lodi Unified School District as a science curriculum specialist, will be giving a talk on mammals that live in and around the Lodi Lake Nature Area. The meeting is open to the public.
The docent program got its start as a collaboration between the City of Lodi and the Lodi Unified School District. It would meet the needs of local teachers who frequented the nature area and also teach the community more about the life that can be found there.
Ron Williamson, former Lodi City Parks superintendent and Dave Mende, a curriculum coordinator for the Lodi Unified School District sought a State of California license plate grant to develop the educational program and received it in 1986.
That year, Jay and Kathy Bell were hired with the Lodi Unified School District and helped develop the manual for what is taught to this day out on the trail.
The Bells had experienced nature and science programs in Sacramento before coming to Lodi and was interested in doing something similar in the area, Jay Bell said.
They both worked to create the interpretive stops along the trail.
“I’m pleased and proud that it’s continued this long,” he said. “It’s nice to have this natural gem adjacent to Lodi.”
Volunteers from the community have stepped up to lead classes of local school children to spot fox dens, listen for birds and learn about the how Miwoks once used the acorns found on the trail for food. Several decades of teachers have both experienced the nature tours and also returned to offer their help in continuing this long and unique Lodi tradition.
With so many different habitats — oak woodlands, blackberry thickets, the Mokelumne River, Pig’s Lake and grasslands — it can be a great place to see nature, Bell said. He has seen otters, minks, beavers, deer, foxes and several different types of birds in the nature area.
Following the creation of the program, Barbara Brown, who had worked as a park ranger and naturalist, took the helm as the Lodi Lake program coordinator working out of the lake’s Discovery Center.
However, the city fell on difficult financial times and the position eventually was left empty and department heads changed.
“Through it all the docents kept on walking,” said Kathy Grant, Lodi Public Works watershed program coordinator, who began working with the docent program in 1999. It was overseen next by Dwight Dauber, former Lodi parks superintendent. He died in 2000 after a struggle with cancer and the program was left to Grant, who continued leading the program through 2016. Leading the docents this year is Julie Giometti-Wahl, a former docent now coordinator of the docent program.
Several decades of teachers have
both experienced the nature tours and also returned to offer their help in continuing this long and unique Lodi tradition, Grant said. Those who remember the tours can often think of the long-time docents like Norman Page (referred to affectionately as Grandpa Page) who holds the record for the most tours.
Dorana Prohaska, one of 14 active docents, took over for her father Dale Prohaska as docent after he died in 2011. He left behind a legacy of 25 years in service on the nature trail. In his final years, Dorana Prohaska went with him on the tour and pushed his wheelchair to help him continue doing what he loved. The family now has a bench on the trail dedicated to his memory, she said.
As a docent, she enjoys spending time teaching the children about volunteerism, how to respect the land as the Miwoks once did and also share the joys of nature. She tries to teach not just with words
but using eyes, ears, noses to explore as he father once did.
“He had quite an imagination. He enjoyed telling stories and making nature real and accessible to them,” Prohaska said.
As the school year continue and the weather improves, more students will make their way out onto the trails.
These days Giometti-Wahl works with teachers to meet their individual classroom needs, whether this will be a introduction to nature or following much classwork on the subject. She is working to make sure the program stays in line with the new next generation science standards that teachers must base their science lessons around.
“The nature area is a very special place. To be able to share that with children and adults — it’s a very important job that we need to do,” she said.