Learn survival basics at Kane County Forest Preserve
Would you know what to do if you were stranded in the forest, miles from civilization, with no food, water or shelter?
Ben Katzen would, or he would have a pretty good idea.
The Kane County naturalist led a group of adults and children on a short hike through the Tekakwitha Woods Forest Preserve Saturday to talk about outdoor survival skills.
The forest preserve created the survival series last year in response to the growing interest in the topic, fanned by TV shows like “Man vs. Wild,” “Survivor” and “I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here!”
Unlike some of those shows, the forest preserve programs do not feature Patti Blagojevich munching on a tarantula or Lou Diamond Phillips being bitten by rats; instead, Katzen teaches real survival skills like how to find edible plants and start a fire.
According to Katzen, “the knowledge of plants is the baseline of being able to survive in the wild.”
With that in mind, Katzen named four plants that can provide needed nutrients in survival situations: grass (chew to extract vitamins, then spit out the rest), cattails (cook the starchy roots like a potato), acorns and pine nuts, dubbed the “big four.”
People are omnivores, too, and Katzen covered the basics of tracking animals, killing them and removing their hides.
Katzen acknowledged some of his subject matter, such as clubbing an animal to death with a stick, may not be palatable to modern city slickers, but said, “The hungrier you are, the less averse you are to eating things.”
Katzen’s talk concluded with a staple of outdoor education — fire! Katzen showed how to burrow a stick into a piece of wood using a makeshift bow and lots of elbow grease. But after the Boy Scout method failed to produce anything but smoke, he switched to a handy fire steel, ripping off sparks as easily as one would light a match.
Fiona Siepman, 9, of St. Charles, said the fire building was her favorite part of Katzen’s program.
“I liked how he told us about different ways to hunt,” Fiona said. “It’s pretty cool. I like plants a lot. I just like science.”
Joey Gugliotta, 9, a Cub Scout and camping veteran from Bartlett, said he enjoyed “just seeing all the interesting things in nature.”
The survivor series continues Saturday, June 18, from 10 a.m. to noon at Tekakwitha Woods. Registration costs $5. Call (847) 741-8350.