On June 22, National Wildlife Federation is encouraging people to try camping as part of the Great American Backyard Campout. The idea is to keep things simple – to set up your tent just in the backyard and try sleeping under the stars – even if it is your first time.

We spoke to two moms who participated in previous Great American Backyard Campouts. They noticed that camping brought their families together.

Carlyce Burns and Ivy Simmons are both from Atlanta, Georgia. They both camped with two children under the age of six. Both moms had camped frequently when they were kids and were eager to share the experience with their children.

Carlyce’s Camping Experience

Carlyce’s family camped in the family’s yard. They made s’mores using a patio fireplace and caught fireflies:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“The best part was probably that we were all in one place, and it was like a quiet place – no TV, no music, no video games or nothing. We were all sort of in one place and supposed to be relaxing. It was nice. We were supposed to be going to sleep but we would be talking about something or telling a story about something, or talking about the day. It was just a nice way to – like, you know – wind down together, which we never do, hardly.”

Ivy’s Camping Experience

Ivy’s family chose to participate in the Great American Backyard Campout event at the Outdoor Activity Center in Atlanta. Volunteers from National Wildlife Federation and REI were on hand to teach new campers how to set up their tents and make s’mores.

Ivy has noticed over the years that time outside is a great parenting technique:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“It’s so much control inside. You’re worried about something’s going to break, your inside voice, your outside voice, don’t climb on that. There’s a certain level of freedom. And a relaxing – you are more relaxed. You have to worry about maybe them going too far and being safe, but other than that? So it takes a lot stress out of parenting when you are outdoors and you are in a comfortable space that you know is safe. Then everyone is free to roam and to be and to shout and to lay down where they want to.”

Please share your camping stories!

Did your family find a peaceful moment while camping?

Or sometimes the stories that get passed on year after year the ones where something unexpected happened.

Inspire others to camp by sharing your stories in the comments below.

We hope you will take the opportunity to camp this June 22 at the Great American Backyard Campout.

June 13- National Wildlife Federation, whose mission is to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future, is pleased to announce a new partnership with FamilyFun magazine, a trusted, go-to source for travel recommendations and family activities for more than 20 years.

FamilyFun magazine has released a special “Get Outdoors” themed issue this month to help families spend more time in nature. The “Let’s Get Outdoors!” feature story appears in the June/July issue of the magazine, on newsstands June 5, and includes dozens of ideas ranging from mapping the neighborhood’s natural wonders to going on a photo safari.

Learn more about NWF’s outdoor programs for kids!

Tar Balls Cannot Be the ‘New Normal’

June 11- BP announced on Monday that the U.S. Coast Guard is ending active cleanup operations in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and that the three states are expected to complete the transition back to the National Response Center (NRC) reporting system by mid-June 2013.

David White, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Gulf of Mexico Restoration Campaign, said in response:

“As much as one million barrels of oil from the disaster remains unaccounted for, and tar mats and tar balls from the spill continue to wash up on the coast. Regardless of how our shorelines are monitored, BP must be held accountable for the cleanup. We cannot just accept oiled material on our beaches and in our marshes as the ‘new normal.’ In particular, we need be sure that there is a rapid and proactive assessment and cleanup of our shorelines in the aftermath of storms.”

Take action and demand justice for Gulf wildlife.

Senate Poised to Pass a Strong Farm Bill

June 10- National Wildlife Federation applauds the final Farm bill and the leadership of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS), for crafting a bill that maintains adequate funding for conservation, includes a national Sodsaver provision, and re-links conservation compliance provision to crop insurance premium subsidies. The bill also authorizes funding for an innovative regional partnership program which would target conservation funding to as many as eight priority conservation regions.

“We are very pleased with the Senate’s version of the farm bill and congratulate the Senate Agriculture Committee and Senate leadership for all their hard work,” said Julie Sibbing, director of Agriculture and Forestry Programs for National Wildlife Federation. “In the present climate of kicking the can down the road and paralyzing lack of compromise in Congress, it is refreshing to see members on both sides of the aisle roll up their sleeves and pass a balanced farm bill that ensures a robust safety net for farmers and for natural resources. The House should follow the example.”

For more information visit our Farm Bill webpage.

And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

• CNN.com: Coast Guard, BP end Gulf cleanup in 3 states
• Baltimore Sun : Program gets kids off the couch and into the tent
• New York Times:  Debate on environment grows as drought tests Texas rivers
• Politico.com: Obama climate rollout may come in July
• The Food Channel: Great American Backyard Campout
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Butterfly enthusiasts fear few Monarch sightings
• Seattle’s Child: Old-Fashioned Fun at the Great American Backyard Campout
• Yahoo!News: Proposed Legislation Would Strengthen Protections Against Invasive Animal Species
• Dr. Green.com: What is this Great American Backyard Campout?

For more visit www.nwf.org/news

Dyan Szall from Georgia decided to spend it enjoying nature. She invited friends to go camping in her backyard.

She asked for donations to help wildlife as a birthday gift. She registered her campout as part of the Great American Backyard Campout at http://www.backyardcampout.org.

“My mom, she was like looking around – she trying to get ideas that I didn’t necessarily like, like bowling and everything, and then she came across the National Wildlife Federation for the Great Backyard Campout thing – and so because it was just the day after my birthday, it was really easy for us to be “Oh, that’s perfect.” It’s right after my birthday. It was not hard to set up and everything. All my friends were really open to donating because I had gotten them into it and everything.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

For most of Dyan’s friends, it was their first camping experience. Dyan camps often with her family, so she wanted to share the fun with her friends right in her own backyard. One thing that her family does on their camping trips is to look for campsites near horse stables, and to combine the excitement of horseback riding with a campout.

Why don’t you celebrate the outdoors this June 22 with the National Wildlife Federation at the Great American Backyard Campout!

Photo by Christine Haines

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Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights
Photo by Flickr member chaines9

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Plans this weekend?

Saturday, June 23rd is the Great American Backyard Campout – an annual event hosted by the National Wildlife Federation that encourages family and friends to enjoy the great outdoors by sleeping under the stars for a night. Learn more and register your campout today!

The author, on the trail at five. Taking kids camping is a great way to encourage them to explore the outdoors and connect with nature. (Photo: Mary Burnette)

When I was young, my parents took me and my two older sisters for three weeks of backpacking in the high country of Yosemite every summer. Yosemite was my Dad’s Mecca. My father rented two burros from the stables in Yosemite Valley to carry our gear and off we went.

I think I was about 4 when I joined this family tradition and was allowed to let the burro carry me when my legs got tired of hiking (my sisters were always jealous).

When my own children were young, every Columbus Day weekend we would head off  to Assateague Island National Seashore to join the wild ponies at a great campout on the beach. Assateague is an island on the coast of Virginia. My kids still remember the year we woke up early one morning to the sound of ponies munching away on a bag of apples I had put in the screened section of our tent. The ponies used their hooves to tear the screen so they could gain access to a tasty breakfast.

Then there is my husband’s family camping tradition, affectionately called “Mud, Blood and Beer.” I’ve now been part of this tradition for 27 years. My husband grew up on a cattle farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  There is a river that runs through the bottom land of the farm.

Every summer the family gathers for a long-weekend camping adventure on the banks of the river.  It started with my husband and his siblings over 50 years ago. Over the years wives, children and a bunch of friends and their families have joined the festivities. I think last year we counted 40 people and about 15 tents in all. Grandkids can’t be far behind. The favorite activity is riding the rapids down the river on a float when the dam up river from the campsite lets out water about every 2 hours.

Singing Around the Campfire

As I think about these camping traditions, I’m reminded that music was always an important part of the experience. My father played the harmonica and I can still hear its jaunty sound when Dad would play as we gathered to watch the sun set over the majestic Sierra Mountains. At Assateague, there always seemed to be a neighboring campfire where someone played the guitar and all were welcome to join in to sing the old children’s classic campfire songs like “She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain,” “Do Your Ears Hang Low,” “Down by the Bay” and “Frogie Went A Court’n.”

Music at Mud, Blood and Beer is always a treat. My brother-in-law is a talented musician and some of the friends he brings camping are equally musically inclined. There are always several guitars, a banjo, a mandolin and a fiddle. One year Henry even brought his giant base along. The music plays on through the night, depending on how much “libation” we have all enjoyed. Sometimes I conk out earlier than the others and there is nothing better than snuggling down in a sleeping bag and dozing off to the sounds of great campfire music being played in the background.

Another group of talented musicians and story tellers was recently brought to my attention. “The Okeedokee Brothers” and their CD “Can You Canoe” would make the perfect accompaniment to any camping trip when live music isn’t an option. Songs like “Campin Tent” and “Thousand Star Hotel” capture the magic that sleeping under the stars is all about.

Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing spent summers at their neighborhood creek, building makeshift rafts, fishing for crawdads, and dreaming of great river adventures. In 2011 those dreams came true when they spent 30 days canoeing down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to St. Louis. During their journey they camped, canoed, filmed and most importantly, composed the songs that make up their album for kids and families. They hope their project and songs will inspire kids to take an active role in their lives, get outside and make their dreams realities.

The Gift of Camping

The OkeeDokee Brothers exemplify what NWF’s Be Out There campaign is telling parents: give kids time to explore the outdoors and connect with nature to encourage creativity, and let kids play with their own imaginations and gain a respect for the natural world, all while having fun and engaging in activities that benefit their health.

Giving kids a tradition of camping is one of the best things parents can do for their children. A perfect place to start is by participating in National Wildlife Federation’s Great American Backyard Campout on June 23. The Campout web site is loaded with ideas and tips to make your camping experience one that your family will want to repeat year after year.

Camping in a pool of light on a dark night creates a close and cozy feel. Photo donated by National Wildlife Photo Contest participant Derek Gulden.

But to be forewarned is to be forearmed, if by armed you mean having a rain suit at hand during a weekend that may feature a cloud burst. Fortunately, for those who travel beyond reach of weather reports, nature provides a lot of clues about oncoming storms and sunshine .

Even close to home, these clues can be helpful. Are you taking part in NWF’s 8th annual Great American Backyard Campout on June 23? Then you can use these 12 tidbits that day to test your kids’ weather-reading ability, making a game out of their skill while at the same time bringing them closer to nature:

1. Red sky: If the sky is red at night, the next day will likely be clear; if red in the morning, expect rain by the end of the day; remember, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailor take warning.”
2. Gray morning: A gray dawn with foggy valleys indicates—surprise!—a clear day ahead.
3. Listen to frogs: Several hours before a storm hits, frogs increase their calling, apparently because the higher pre-storm humidity keeps their skin moist, allowing them to stay out of water longer.
4. Summer halos: a hazy ring around the sun or moon in summer is a reliable sign that the weather pattern is in for a change, usually bringing rain.
5. Dewy dawn: heavy morning or late-evening dew (or frost in cold months) may indicate 12 hours of continued good weather.
6. Hair: the hair on your head will contract when damp and relax when dry, so straighter hair means dry weather, wavier or curlier means wet.
7. Animals: cattle gather in lower elevations and away from exposed hills when the weather is about to change for the worse; in mountainous areas, deer, wild sheep and elk move from mountainsides to sheltered valleys as storms approach and go back up when the blow is over.
8. Wind direction: winds from the south tend to bring rain (old adage: “Wind from the south brings rain in its mouth”), while winds from the north are associated with clear weather. On a similar note, if the wind has been blowing for the past few hours, rushing clouds along, and then suddenly dies, you are in for a major storm.
9. Your nose: if you live on the Great Plains you may smell approaching rain—the lower pressure and higher humidity that come with rain cause the ground to emit a rich, sweet odor similar to that of fresh-mown hay.
10. Campfire smoke: if smoke hangs low to the ground and drifts off into surrounding tree branches, rain is possible; if the smoke rises in a straight, vertical column, anticipate fair weather.
11. Crickets: If you count the number of times a cricket chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40, you can get a close estimate of the air temperature in Fahrenheit; for example, 25 chirps in 14 seconds plus 40 equals 65 degrees F (note: air temperature on the ground where  crickets hang out may be several degrees cooler than the air around your head).
12. Coffee: stir strongly brewed coffee (no instant) in a mug with vertical sides to make bubbles form—if the bubbles scatter and then gather in the center, expect fair weather; if they cling to the sides of the cup, rain is possible.

Sign Up for the Great American Backyard Campout

On June 23rd , NWF will hold its 8th annual Great American Backyard Campout, in which families across the nation—from beginners to seasoned outdoor enthusiasts—pitch tents and spend the night outdoors. Last year, about 175,000 people joined in, more than 60 percent of them setting up camp in a backyard.

The campout is a lot of fun for kids, but it’s also more than that. In recent years, the experience of childhood has moved indoors—today, 25 percent of kids play outside daily, as opposed to 75 percent a generation ago—taking a toll on children. By participating in the Great American Backyard Campout, your children will explore the outdoors and put nature back into childhood. This activity can yield significant results: A study in the 1990s found that people who grew up to be conservationists almost invariably had someone in their lives who introduced them to nature as a child.

The Great American Backyard Campout: Sign up.

This blog was adapted from Basic Illustrated Weather Forecasting by Michael Hodgson. Copyright © 2008 by Michael Hodgson. Used by permission of FalconGuides, a division of Globe Pequot Press.

Photos for this blog were donated by competitors in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. In addition to cash awards, winning photos appear in National Wildlife magazine and on the NWF website.

The Sylvan Grove, Kansas, couple has spent more than 20 years serving as volunteer organizers and teachers of Outdoor Adventure Camp, an annual program Tommie designed with the support of the Kansas Wildlife Federation, a National Wildlife Federation affiliate. “We realized kids were not getting outside like they used to, and we decided that we needed a camp to get the kids outside,” says Tommie, a fisheries biologist.

“From sunrise to sundown and beyond, the Bergers and their hand-picked volunteer instructors teach kids about wildlife and wildlife habitat, and how to trade in the television remote control for a fishing rod, a shotgun, a canoe paddle, the reins of a horse,” says Eddie Nickens, Field & Stream’s editor-at-large. Since its creation, the camp program has provided a weeklong lesson in good stewardship and simple enjoyment of the outdoors to more than 500 youth.

Now in its sixth year, Field & Stream’s Heroes of Conservation program is dedicated to honoring individuals who spend their time working to create, improve or restore fish and wildlife or habitat.

The Bergers and the other 2011 finalists were recognized at the Heroes of Conservation Awards Gala in Washington, D.C, on October 11. The couple received a $5,000 grant for the Outdoor Adventure Camp program.

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

Logan Liskovec

The Campout is a great opportunity for kids and parents to connect with nature and connect with each other. Whether you’re red, gold or green, you can register for a family treat that you won’t forget  at www.backyardcampout.com.