Ward Burton would like to see every youngster get the same opportunities that he had. And the 2002 Daytona 500 winner is not talking about winning NASCAR races. Rather Burton is concerned that many of the youth of today do not know what it is like to enjoy outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing. In 1996, he founded the nonprofit Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, an organization aimed at providing outdoors opportunities to the future hunters and fishermen. Burton, who made an appearance recently at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, is working through the school system in his native Virginia, something that may take more work to accomplish in Pennsylvania, where most school districts have done away with the Pennsylvania Game Commissions hunter education programs. Recalling a recent outing with a seventh grade class from a Virginia middle school, Burton said,”You would not believe the percentage of kids who had never been fishing, or never had seen a beaver swamp or didnt recognize a raccoon track on a bank, just simple common things.” He said he is concerned about the loss of the rural culture which, he said, is responsible for todays young people having what he called”nature deficit disorder.” He said,”They dont understand the things that we take for granted because of the way that we were brought up.”(see the full article at the Daily Item)(2-23-2009)
