For many of us who love the great outdoors, the warm weather and occasional spring sunshine are sure indicators that it’s time to go outside and play. Great fun and relaxation await us as we go hiking, beach walking, boating, bike riding and so much more.

Around North Kitsap, a lot of one’s time spent outside could be involved in what we term “passive” recreation, such as walking, birding, nature photography, etc. We have the beaches and trails to create many lovely days’ activity. The Olympic Peninsula is just a hop away and provides even more of the same.

We need these times with nature even more than we might know. Nature has always been the best antidote to stress, and it seems even more critical with the advent of our life with technology and screens. Numerous studies have documented what is obvious to most of us — that being in nature, especially without our screens, is healthy, calming and rejuvenating for humans.

Recently, I read about a study that showed the opposite is true for the wildlife that receives us in their habitat when we go out to play.

It is quite obvious that motor-powered recreation vehicles, such as powered parachutes, motorbikes and all-terrain vehicls are terrifically disruptive to all wildlife in the area.

In North Kitsap, any wooded area probably has a lot of wildlife living in it that are very disturbed by the noise and activity of motorized vehicles of any kind, on the ground or in the air. These vehicles need to be kept away from all wildlife habitat areas, and the humans who use them need to have clear directions about where they can safely be used. For instance, powered parachutes should not be flown over a wooded wildlife area such as Carpenter Lake Reserve, and the human operators need to know and respect that.

What is surprising to many is that the non-motorized recreation, the walkers and birders are also complicit in the disruption to wildlife. In fact, researchers are finding a significant impact by hikers and back-country skiers. The quieter human activities can “sneak up” on unsuspecting wildlife. Whether or not to allow trails and passive recreation in wilderness areas is becoming a controversial debate once again. The naturalists don’t want to lock humans out of nature, because being in nature is the way we all learn to love nature. On the other hand, we humans can tend to “love nature to death.”

The constant challenge is to find the balance between enjoying nature and protecting it, realizing that sometimes we need to limit our human activity in nature if we want to have any natural places in the future.

If restrictions are noted, we need to obey them —they are there for a reason! Most of us can’t think like or understand the behavior of an eagle or a sea star, let alone a copepod or a salamander. So we just need to have a healthy respect for the habitat of our wildlife neighbors and obey posted restrictions, stay on the trails, and “walk gently.”

Enjoy the woods and the beach this summer. But please do everything you can to minimize your impact and disruption.

— Naomi Maasberg is director of Stillwaters Environmental Learning Center. Contact her at  naomi@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org.