“I was desperate to know nature all along. I just needed to find a way to access it.”
Harry Spanglet grew up amidst the concrete and glaring streetlights of Brooklyn’s housing projects in New York City. In his free time, he would scamper off to the nearby Gateway National Recreational Area where he would study with intensity the birds and wildlife. He loved the houseplants in his home and the birds and squirrels that gathered outside his window. He would spend hours at the American Museum of Natural History marveling over ecology and strange organisms.
Spanglet’s interests shaped his early-life trajectory: first, a biology degree from Stony Brook University, then a master’s in Botany from Arizona State. Today, he holds the position of program manager and scientist for the California Department of Water Resources in Davis, California.
Somewhere along the line, Spanglet realized that it was his early excursions into nature that had brought him to this line of work—piquing his interest in the natural world and pushing him to pursue its wonders with zest. The Sierra Club struck him as a place that could serve as an outlet for him to give back by giving to others who, like him, were in need of a link to the great outdoors.
Becoming an “Inspiring Connections Outdoors” (ICO) leader was clearly the best way for Spanglet to share his knowledge of the outdoors. He is able to offer a distinctive quality to his trips as he comes from a place of understanding when working with youth who have never experienced nature beyond the dandelions that push through the sidewalk cracks on their walk to school. For Spanglet, showing young people that nature is “unbelievably cool, and worth protecting,” is an inimitable joy. “Nature stimulates the mind and the senses,” he says. “And instilling a sense of responsibility in kids for the environment and for each other is vitally important.”
Spanglet admits that his take on how trips should be led can be unorthodox. “I let the kids run around like little maniacs and climb trees and put their hands in the dirt,” he says, laughing. “I let them follow their natural instincts.” He loves to see their exuberance—some of them experiencing wild nature for the very first time.
Spanglet recounts a trip that he took with ICO when, after showing the children how to carefully pick up and examine native California newts, another leader glanced sideways at him, asking if this was really a good idea. He replied that for him, it is worth the minimimal effects that these few creatures would endure in order for the kids to gain an understanding of why these animals should be protected and to save more in the future. It is through impressionable experiences with ICO, he feels, that these children will grow up and know how to care for their environment properly. “I guess my interpretation of ‘leave no trace’ is a little different than that of other people,” Spanglet says. “Sometimes you have to touch things to become familiar with them. And if you’re not familiar with nature, it is hard to want to protect it.”
As an outings leader and a volunteer for the Sierra Club’s Sacramento ICO Group, some of Spanglet’s favorite places to lead trips include Point Reyes National Seashore, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Black Chasm Cavern, and the Putah Creek in Davis. He loves camping in lush green areas and sleeping under the stars. His interpretation of how Sierra Club’s motto “Explore, enjoy and protect the planet” should be understood as:
Discover new things every day, learn how to appreciate them and love them, and learn the skills necessary to protect them and keep them for future years, and future generations to experience.