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NARRATOR: Ricardo Perez hasn't always enjoyed the outdoors.
But today he's the supervisory park ranger at Rock Creek National Park in Washington, D.C.
The first national urban forest reserve in the United States,
its over 2000 acres of plant and wildlife is located right in the heart of the nation's capitol.
And with this urban wilderness, Ranger Perez's has seen his childhood discovery of the wild come full circle.
RANGER PEREZ: Well I think I'm kind of representative of one of those youths who grew up in Southern Los Angeles
where I thought that most of the universe was brown skies,
concrete and the only wildlife were pigeons and seagulls.
And it wasn't until I joined Scouting - and I came from a very large Mexican household,
and they weren't going to take us camping
I mean it - that wasn't in our culture - but I joined scouting, the Scout Master took us out on an outing
and for the first time i realized the sky was blue,
and the mystery of the stars and - there were bears, there was wildlife.
So I think that my first inspiration into the park system comes
from organizations that took us outside the concrete jungle.
NARRATOR: In his work, Perez spends much of his time with local D.C. youth.
He hopes to help them discover nature through the Park Service as he did through scouting.
RANGER PEREZ: Coming from an urban upbringing,
I appreciate and understand the challenges of diverse urban youth into the National Park experience.
I can put myself in the same place they were in feeling
scared or feeling intimidated by things that go bump in the night
when it comes to being into the great outdoors.
The other thing is to culturally know it's OK to enjoy the outdoors
to take a moment to breath it all in to feel the experience.
NARRATOR: For some, Rock Creek Park's miles of forests and trails
provide a welcome oasis from the noise of the concrete jungle.
But for those who have never even spent time in a wooded area - much less taken a hike -
Ranger Perez teaches about the value that can be found in
stepping outside of your comfort zone and experiencing something new.
RANGER PEREZ: And it's a learning experience. I mean how do you know how to put one foot in front of the other and take a hike
I mean it seems like a very simple thing but unless you
have somebody to share and show you how that's done it can be very foreign.
But once they get the idea and they know that it's OK,
everyone puts one step in front of the other from all walks of life
the doors is open it's a matter of you taking the first step.