Parks and Recreation hosts survival event

While stripping tree bark to build a protective shelter might not seem like a standard activity in Bloomington, some local families practiced this survival tactic this weekend at a local park event.\nThe Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department held a winter survival training session Saturday at Winslow Woods Park, a few miles south of campus.\nPlaying on the Discovery Channel’s show “Man vs. Wild,” hosted by Bear Grylls, the department dubbed this event “You versus Wild.” The main areas covered during the program were creating a proper shelter and starting a fire to keep warm.\nAngie Smith, natural resources coordinator for the department and the event’s leader, said this program has taken place since 2004. This year’s attendance for “You versus Wild” was up compared to last year. This year drew about 15 participants, while Smith said only two people showed up in 2007.\nEven though there aren’t too many situations in Bloomington where one would have to go into survival mode – such as in the mountains or another remote location – Smith said these skills could be used in the event of a power outage or for an emergency with a vehicle.\nFor the shelter activity, Smith split everyone into five groups so they could try to make a proper shelter on their own. When people get into a survival situation, Smith said, they should first stay calm and get their bearings. That way, they can figure out what to use to build a shelter, Smith said. Smith added that building a shelter is a great way to stay warm during the day.\nSmith gave the group pointers to make a good shelter, including to use sticks for covering and tree bark for shielding from the wind, to heat stones with a fire to keep warm and to not build the shelter too high up or too low to the ground.\nFollowing this activity, the groups then had a competition to see who could build the quickest fire. Smith told the group the best strategy for building a successful fire involved getting tinder – dry pine needles, straw, grass and paper, getting kindling – \nbig twigs and small sticks, and adding “fuel” – bigger sticks and small logs.\nSmith said the department will host a summer survival program for the first time this summer.\n“Survival is a state of mind,” she said.