
DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9710300345

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 7    EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: BEACH PEOPLE 

SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NAGS HEAD WOODS                   LENGTH:  102 lines

SHE BRINGS THE WOODS TO LIFE

Tracy Matthews feeds a black snake that slithers around in an aquarium on her desk. She catches hawks, calls owls and bands thumb-sized hummingbirds hovering near her office. She bakes cookies dotted with lavender beauty berries she picks from the bushes and cooks squirrel stew on special occasions.

She shares such talents with more than 1,000 children each year - and shows them how to interact with their environment.

Matthews is the education coordinator for the Nature Conservancy's Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve.

``Bluebirds can sleep standing up. They have special toes that lock around branches and keep them from falling over. Can you imagine what would happen if we tried to sleep standing up?'' Matthews, 32, asked a group of second-graders who recently took a field trip to the Outer Banks' soundside maritime forest.

``We'd fall off the branch,'' one 7-year-old assured her.

``That's right. Because we're not made to stand on branches,'' Matthews replied. ``We have our own special adaptations, as people - like thumbs so our hands can grip things.''

Hired 2 1/2 years ago as Nags Head Woods' first full-time education director, Matthews takes up to four school groups a week on trips through the forest's 1,400 acres. She hikes five miles of trails with some groups, shows others how to paddle kayaks through shallow, shady ponds and leads most through interactive games and exercises designed to teach them about nature - and themselves. During summer months, she coordinates and leads eight camps for students of varying ages.

Her work sometimes gets her up before sunrise - and often requires her to report to an outdoor office on Saturdays.

But her enthusiasm for education and the environment is evident in everything she does.

``What's something a fox is born with that helps it survive?'' Matthews asked the wide-eyed children whose hands eagerly shot into the air.

Fur, teeth, ears, nose and eyes were among the shouted answers. And when one boy called out ``four legs,'' Matthews applauded the ordinary answer. Then she got down on her knees and elbows to demonstrate a fox's walk.

Spoons, tweezers and ice tongs become bird beaks in her creative activities. Toothpicks, marbles and plastic jacks turn into grass, mosquitoes and worms. Then the children forage for the fake food using only their kitchen implements to discover how feathered creatures find their breakfast.

``Here comes a predator. Everyone go back to your trees,'' Matthews called after a few minutes of frenzied feeding - swooping over the crouched kids with her arms outstretched. ``Hide, hide, hide you little birds.''

An environmental studies major with an emphasis in natural resource management, Matthews has been involved in environmental education for seven years. She taught at an innovative science school near Jackson Hole, Wyo., and lead programs at Virginia's Museum of Natural History before moving to Nags Head in 1995. She was chosen from more than 100 people across the country who applied to be the Nature Conservancy's first full-time educator.

``Tracy is really smart, has a lot of enthusiasm and is very, very good with kids,'' said Nags Head Woods director Jeff Smith-DeBlieu said. ``She has a strong background in science, which really strengthens the programs she leads out here. She's a very special person. I have a lot of admiration for her. I don't think we could've asked for anyone better.''

Asa Matthews, a 7-year-old second-grader at First Flight Elementary who is not related to Tracy Matthews, seemed to agree. He said he really enjoyed ``Miss Tracy's'' recent program and the games she helped his class play. ``She made stuff interesting,'' he said. ``And we got to go bird hunting with her. I had a lot of fun learning new stuff.''

Tracy Matthews lives with her husband, Hart, a writer, and their 18-month-old son, Walker, in a one-story house on the edge of Nags Head Woods. She bikes, takes her two dogs for walks and plays sand volleyball on an award-winning team. Recently, she was asked to join the board of directors for the Outer Banks Forum, which brings symphonies and drama to the barrier islands.

``She's a very committed person in everything she does. And she's a great team player,'' Smith-DeBlieu said. ``She has helped us provide more community-oriented programming and has really increased awareness and membership in Nags Head Woods.''

Many of the local school children she instructs have never visited a maritime forest before - much less seen a red-tailed hawk or tasted a beauty berry. Seeing their excitement in the outdoors, she said, is what she enjoys most about her job.

``When you really reach them, and they understand what you're saying, their mouths drop open and their eyes get real big,'' she said. ``It's like they're seeing a miracle.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW WILSON

Tracy Matthews, education coordinator for Nags Head Woods, often

acts out the parts of the birds and animals she's describing to

groups of visiting children.

Graphic

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Besides teaching school field trips and summer camps, Tracy

Matthews leads family programs at Nags Head Woods Ecological

Preserve almost monthly.

On Nov. 22, she is planning ``A Thanksgiving Cornucopia'' that

will include information on how Native Americans and early European

settlers used the woods to survive. She'll prepare a feast of forest

foods for everyone to enjoy.