So it makes sense that efforts to connect kids and their families with nature would be key to improving our overall health and well-being at a time when childhood obesity and nature-deficit disorder are very real and detrimental problems. Perhaps even more significant is the nature disconnect of kids from underserved and minority communities.

Photo by Jack Dykinga, USDA.gov

More Kids in the Woods projects engage kids in activities and educational programs to “spark curiosity about nature and promote learning,” and is a cost-share program dependent upon the time, energy and resources contributed by thousands of partners. Children’s Forests, on the other hand, are focused on developed outdoor spaces within national or state forests, in urban parks or at schools, and are used to teach kids to care about the land while allowing them participation and leadership in forest management. NWF is excited to be partnering with USFS on a number of these projects.

The Forest Service grants align with President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Outside! initiatives. Launched in 2010, America’s Great Outdoors seeks to engage the public to work together to conserve and restore our lands and to connect to the outdoors. Let’s Move! focuses on solving the problem of childhood obesity, and includes a segment that aims to improve physical and mental health through outdoor activities.

Inspired? You can help get more kids outdoors by planning a local event to plant trees! You can also learn more about NWF’s efforts to connect kids and families to nature from our Be Out There campaign.

A major focus of the AGO report, released in February 2011, was the importance of reconnecting kids with nature, for their health and wellbeing and for the future of conservation.

Right before this conference, I was thrilled to see that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Education Secretary Arne Duncan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work in a more intentional and collaborative fashion toward common goals. According to the press release, the agreement will enable “the Department of the Interior and the Department of Education to work together in new and more effective ways to connect young Americans to the outdoors, improve environmental literacy, support experiential learning outside the classroom, and form partnerships at the local level to learn from and conserve public lands.”

This is a good sign from the Administration about its commitment to making sure Americans are clued in to the world around them, especially after canceling funding for environmental education programs at NOAA and EPA last month.

Under the agreement, Interior may offer both professional development opportunities for teachers and other educators, including workshops, in-depth subject-matter seminars, and summer employment opportunities. The goals include improving teaching skills and developing deeper levels of subject-matter expertise, with a special emphasis on those who work in, or will work in, Title I, rural, and other high-need schools.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’d like to learn more about America’s Great Outdoors and connecting kids with nature, download the full America’s Great Outdoors report or TAKE ACTION to reconnect kids with nature by supporting the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act.

Na'Taki (Photo by Bryan Meltz)

This was big news in its own right, but it has added importance for NWF. Our very own Na’Taki Osborne Jelks was appointed to the 21CSC Advisory Committee.  Congratulations Na’Taki!!!

Na’Taki is NWF’s Manager for Education and Advocacy Programs in the Southeast Region, based in Atlanta, GA.  She works with individuals and community organizations to restore the communities in which they live, work, play, worship and learn through NWF’s youth environmental education and leadership development program for teens of color, Earth Tomorrow, and many adult civic engagement and advocacy initiatives.

In addition to her role at NWF, Na’Taki is a part-time lecturer in the Environmental Science and Studies Program at Spelman College and is Chair of the Board of the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA), an organization committed to ensuring environmental justice in Southwest and Northwest Atlanta’s African American neighborhoods.  She’s been honored by a wide range of groups–from the Georgia House of Representatives to Turner Broadcasting Services (TBS).  Na’Taki is an alumna of Spelman College.  She earned her Master’s of Public Health in Environmental and Occupational Health from Emory University and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Environmental Public Health at Georgia State University.

Here’s what Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had to say about 21CSC:

“The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps will be a way for our nation’s young people to work on conservation initiatives that drive America’s economy and to find new ways to connect to their communities and build their careers. The conservation-service movement is steeped in rich history dating back to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. I am confident that this committee of dedicated individuals with vast experience in conservation and outdoor recreation will help shape a sustainable structure to train and employ the next generation of conservationists.”

(Read the full press release here.)

Gaspar Perricone, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Bull Moose Sportsmen's Alliance, speaks about the importance of the Land and Water Conservation Fund for sportsmen access and healthy wildlife habitat

How do you get kids, hunters, veterans, ranchers, rock-climbers, archaeologists, birdwatchers, urban planners, business leaders, health advocates and more to fly to DC and go to the same reception?  Besides good food and cold drinks? By celebrating America’s great outdoors of course.

September 19-25 was the first annual Great Outdoors America Week, a celebration of our nation’s wild places and green spaces.  At a time when Congress is bitterly divided on so many issues it was refreshing to see a wide variety of diverse groups and individuals come together under one cause: connecting with the outdoors.

Hundreds of people volunteered time, money and energy to make the trip to our nation’s capitol to call on key decision-makers to protect our natural heritage.  One theme I heard as I went from event to event (eating the entire time) was the concern that future generations will not have as many opportunities as we do to work, play and recharge our batteries outside.

The response from Congress and the Obama administration was overwhelmingly positive.  High-ranking officials from every federal agency that manages land and water praised the participants efforts and made links to the administration’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative.

Big events on Capitol Hill raised the visibility of different priorities related to the great outdoors.  Several receptions (I think I gained 5 lbs over the week) honored important champions of the outdoors, including Latino leaders in honor of Hispanic Heritage month.  We also honored dozens of other Members of Congress that are key players on issues related to sportsmen, wilderness, wildlife, urban parks, forests, agriculture, connecting Americans to the outdoors and preservation of cultural resources and historic places.

Even as someone who works on conservation policy for a living, I learned a lot, especially from the Congressional briefings.  One briefing showed the economic and health benefits of getting outside in nature and the other briefing dealt with issues of concern for sportsmen.  The sportsmen briefing explained to capitol hill staff that hunting and angling contributes $76 billion per year to our economy, an economic force in jeopardy from attacks to programs that support the sportsmen way-of-life, like the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  The briefing also covered threats from harmful proposals that literally give away our shared public lands, including many wild places that provide access to quality hunting, fishing, wildlife-watching and other recreational opportunities.

Great Outdoors America Week, which includes National Hunting and Fishing Day and National Public Lands Day, doesn’t have to end with the weekend. The National Wildlife Federation will be here year-round to celebrate nature and protect wildlife for future generations, but we need your help. Tell your “Great Outdoors” story to anyone who will listen, including your elected officials.  You never know who will be inspired to join the effort to defend the outdoors experience.

June is a special time to celebrate and enjoy the Great Outdoors, as proclaimed by President Obama and nearly all U.S. Governors.  This year, Great Outdoors month was full of all sorts of amazing events and activities around the country.

Please add a comment to this blog and tell us how you celebrated Great Outdoors Month!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Read More about What NWF Was Doing with Our Amazing Partners during Great Outdoors Month:

• Has Your Governor Submitted a Great Outdoors Month Proclamation?
• Outdoor Fun Under the Sun at the White House
• Making National ‘Get Outdoors’ Day Fun and Easy for Parents and Kids
• Get Your Nature On!
• Grin and Gummy Bear It:  The Great American Backyard Campout
• Kids Pitch Tent on Maryland Government House Lawn
• Wildlife-Watching at Night:  Five Species You May Spot in Your Backyard
• Celebrating the Great American Backyard Campout in the Pacific Northwest
• NWF Campouts Connect Families to Nature

As cherry blossoms pop up all over Washington, D.C. and as winter is soon to be a distant memory, my immediate thought is my mother encouraging my brother, sister and I to go play outside until the night falls.  However as we face a changing economic, political, and social environment, it seems that swinging on trees, playing in fields, and collecting bugs and worms to make “delicious” mud pies is not the “norm”  for the future generation of kids. Given this scary reality, I personally see the true value in programs that promote time outdoors for children, and hope that one day, it will not just be me urging my kids to get outside, get dirty, and learn something in nature, but the larger community as well.   

PhotoLibrary.com

The US Forest Service is a major force contributing to a growing national movement to bring kids to nature—and nature to kids.  On April 4^th, 2011, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $1 million in cost-share funding for children’s programs furthering USDA’s commitment to connect young people around the nation with America’s great outdoors.  This announcement comes at the heels of President Obama’s unveiling of the America’s Great Outdoors: A Promise to Future Generations report which encourages active, outdoor lifestyles.  Similarly, Let’s Move Outside!, was launched nearly a year ago as the outdoor component of the comprehensive initiative launched by First Lady Michelle Obama aims to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. 

Now in its fifth year, The More Kids in the Woods program is a competitive funding program for partnership projects that engage kids in active, meaningful learning experiences that get kids outside. Projects focus on reaching diverse youth and serving under-served populations, using outdoor activities and nature-based learning to create meaningful and lasting connections to nature and to advance children’s health.  This year each region of the Forest Service also has a new Children’s Forest initiative!  All of these programs help kids to make the connection between healthy forests, healthy communities and their own healthy lifestyles.  In 2010, funded projects reached more than 15,000 young people.

“The value of these programs and partnerships for youth must not be underestimated,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “Young people are tomorrow’s stewards of our public lands, and we must invest in building lasting and meaningful connections between our youth and America’s great outdoors.”

Photo by iStock

If you don’t think you have anything in common with the President of the United States, think again.  Wednesday night, on February 16, 2011, President Barack Obama, had this to say at the launch of the America’s Great Outdoors report at the White House:

“These days, our lives are only getting more complicated, more busy, and we’re glued to our phones and our computers for hours on end.  I have to — Michelle and I, we’re constantly having to monitor our kids, get outside.  Turn off the TV.  Put away the Skype.  (Laughter.)  Cars and buses shuttle us from one place to another.  We see our kids spending more and more time on the couch.  For a lot of folks, it’s easy to go days without stepping on a single blade of grass.”

Hopefully that will change as the America’s Great Outdoors action plan is implemented throughout the country. The plan will include the following initiatives to get kids more green time instead of screen time.

• Improve federal capacity for recruiting, training, and managing volunteers and volunteer programs to create a new generation of citizen stewards and mentors.
• Support community-based efforts to increase access to outdoor recreation.
• Promote and support replicable programs that teach about and connect children and families with their natural and cultural heritage.

This is extremely encouraging as the “indoor childhood” phenomenon in our nation continues to grow.

In the last year the top government officials in the United States have also acknowledged the growing disconnect between our children, youth and families with nature.  Here’s an excerpt from the introduction to the report itself, submitted by the heads of the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality:

“The outdoors has increasingly lost its relevance in the lives of our children, who now spend only half as much time outside as their parents did, but who spend an average of seven hours a day using electronic devices. Studies show that access to the outdoors can help reverse the obesity epidemic that has tripled among our children in the last generation. They show that time spent in nature can reduce stress and anxiety, promote learning and personal growth, and foster mental and physical health.”

And if the President and agency heads are not enough, First Lady Michelle Obama launched Let’s Move Outside last June where she said:

“…If  adults here can just think back to when we were growing up, back then an hour of just vigorous activity was nothing, because we didn’t call it “activity.”  It wasn’t required.  We called it “play.”  We had recess, we had gym class at school, and when we got home in the afternoons our parents didn’t want to be bothered with us so they kicked us outside…  But all of that was really good for us..  And too many of our kids end up spending way too much time inside in front of the TV, playing video games…. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that today nearly one third of our children in this country are overweight or obese.”

I encourage you to take a look at the America’s Great Outdoors report and the Let’s Move Outside website, and consider how you might get involved in these initiatives. You can also read the Outdoors Alliance for Kids response to the report and learn more about other policy initiatives to reconnect kids with nature.

The report, part of a broader initiative, rightfully makes outdoor time for kids a national priority. It recommends creating parks, trails, and open space in urban communities, providing children access to safe places to play, ride bikes, and just run around and be kids!

Furthermore, the report points out the added bonuses of 6.5 million jobs created every year from outdoor activities as well as the health benefits of spending active time outdoors.

Watch National Wildlife Federation’s John Kostyack, moments before the report’s release:

Click here to view the embedded video.

National Wildlife Federation is part of the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK), a national coalition with the common interest in expanding the number and quality of opportunities for children, youth and families to connect with the outdoors.

The President established the America’s Great Outdoors initiative in April of 2010 and charged several government agencies to develop a 21st century conservation and recreation strategy based on the priorities of American citizens.

Close to 200,000 people weighed in on the report, either online or in person at more than 50 listening sessions around the country.

The message sent by the American public was clear; we can’t afford to lose our threatened open spaces and natural ecosystems.

Conserving open spaces and ecosystems provides a way to nurture healthier kids, many of whom have lost their connection to nature.

At the same times, protecting the wild in our world will give us, as well as future generations, millions of outdoor recreation jobs, places to fish and hunt, diverse wildlife populations, clean water to drink, and clean air to breath.

Watch the President’s remarks as he introduces the America’s Great Outdoors report >>

Their charge? Strategize how Americans can reclaim, redefine and rediscover the great outdoors.

Hosted by the Outdoor Foundation, this diverse youth summit aimed to find ideas to influence policies and programs in the United States. The recent Outdoor Nation summit in New York served as an official listening session for President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative.

To read more about NWF’s experience at the Central Park youth summit, read @PatrickNWF‘s news article, Outdoor Nation!

Watch Outdoor Foundation Executive Director Chris Fanning, below, talk about her summit experience, and visit outdoorfoundation.org to learn more about her great organization.