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The wilderness as found in Algonquin Provincial Park, photograph taken near the shores of Lake Louisa by the Author. According to a recent survey, 62% of Americans believe that they could survive more than two weeks in the wilderness alone, could you survive?
The
other day I was reading an article written by Chris Melore, called “Average person thinks they can survive for 2
weeks in the wilderness — but most can’t start a fire”. It got me to thinking about a conversation my
wife had with someone who told her she wanted to bug-out of the city and live
in the wilderness, unfortunately this individual doesn’t know how to disinfect
water, how to find food, or start a fire, or ... anything!
Did you ever wonder what the “average” guy, thinks that the wilderness is like and what they know about the wilderness?
Now
if you are reading this blog then you are not an “average” person and
you probably know how to start a fire or at least are in the process of
learning how to. Sometimes, I wonder if most
Americans, you know “Joe Six-pack”, the “average” guy, thinks that the
wilderness is like a campground or city park, which it is most definitely not. So hopefully, this article will help you
understand some of the “average” people that you might meet in the woods.
The
survey was commissioned by Avocado Green Mattress, and it was performed by OnePoll, who tested 2,006
people across the United States on their “Nature Knowledge”, and this is what
they found.
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A campfire on the shores of Lake Louisa, Algonquin Provincial Park, photograph by the Author.
The
survey found that only 17% of respondents felt “very confident” about
their ability to start a fire “if only given a flint (without a fire
starter, lighter, etc.)”. That isn’t
surprising, in fact, I would have been more surprised if the percentage were
higher! Before the invention of the
match in 1827, or “lucifers” as they were soon called1,
everyone knew how to knock sparks into char-cloth with a flint and steel and
blow them into a flame with some tinder.
But now, with matches and the ever-present BIC ® Lighter, starting a fire with flint
and steel is no longer a common skill and is only something that a small
percentage of people still know how to do.
That is not to say that we all shouldn’t know how to start a fire this
way, because we should! Flint and steel
never freeze up like lighters can in the winter and it doesn’t matter if they
get wet. Flint and steel are an
excellent back-up method for starting that, oh so important, fire.
I
would have been interested to know how many people felt “very confident”
about their ability to start a fire with a lighter or with matches, because in
my experience most “average” people that I have taught, have a hard time
even with modern tools starting a fire -- especially when the weather is wet.
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A black raspberry plant, photograph by the author. More on black raspberry plants can be found HERE.
Only
14% of the respondents felt very confident in their “ability to identify
edible plants or berries in nature” and just over half of the respondents,
52%, were confident in their “ability to identify different types of trees
and plants”, and yet of these respondents only 26% were able to correctly
identify a black oak leaf when shown a picture of one and only 35% knew what
poison ivy was when shown a picture of it.
Even more amazing only 34% of the respondents knew the difference
between a deciduous and a coniferous tree!2
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Eastern poison ivy, photograph by the author. More on how to identify poison ivy can be found HERE.
I
guess the good news is that almost 65% of the respondents were able to identify
maple leaves and 55% could identify ferns!
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The shores of Lake Louisa, Algonquin Provincial Park, at dawn. Photograph by the Author.
So,
if you can start a fire with flint and steel, and if you know the difference
between a deciduous and an evergreen tree, can identify an oak leaf and a poison
ivy plant from a picture then the good news is that your wilderness skills are
way above those of the “average” American!
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Map Scales...Say What! ©”,
where we will talk about those bars and numbers on the bottom of maps that no
one pays attention to or really understands anyways.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1
From “Friction Matches Were a Boon to
Those Lighting Fires–Not So Much to Matchmakers”, by Kat Eschner.
2 A
deciduous tree is a tree which lose its leaves every fall, and an evergreen
tree is a tree which keeps its leaves all year round. While most evergreen trees are coniferous
trees and have needles, the evergreen American Holly, ilex opaca, which
can be found throughout much of eastern North America, has leaves. And not all trees with needles are evergreens
either, the Tamarack, larix laricina, is a needle bearing, deciduous
conifer! So, you see, not all evergreens
are coniferous and not all deciduous trees have leaves.
Sources
Eschner, Kat; “Friction Matches Were
a Boon to Those Lighting Fires–Not So Much to Matchmakers”, November 27, 2017,
[© 2021 Smithsonian Magazine],
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/friction-matches-were-boon-those-lighting-firesnot-so-much-matchmakers-180967318/, accessed June 17, 2021
Melore, Chris; “Average
person thinks they can survive for 2 weeks in the wilderness — but most can’t
start a fire”, May 24, 2021, [© 2021 41 Pushups, LLC], https://www.studyfinds.org/americans-survive-2-weeks-wilderness/, accessed June 8, 2021
Castronuovo,
Josh; OnePoll, (Personal communication regarding “Nature Test” survey performed
for Avocado Green Mattress, June 11, 2021)
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