The Great American Backyard Campout on June 23rd brings together thousands of families for a night of outdoor fun at sites across the country. (Photo courtesy of Curtis Fisher)

Why is this important? As you probably know if you’ve browsed this blog before, more and more kids are giving up on regular outdoor play, favoring TV or video games instead. In fact, American kids now spend less time outdoors than any generation in modern history. Not only does this affect kids’ physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, but it greatly reduces appreciation of nature, and therefore thins the ranks of future conservationists.

Get Outdoors Day helps fight this trend by offering kids the opportunity to try activities like fishing, geocaching and camping, and learn about subjects like sustainability, health and nutrition (the event supports First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Outside campaign to eliminate childhood obesity within one generation).

To see all 130 locations hosting National Get Outdoors Day activities and find out whether there is a site near you, click here. You can also get involved by volunteering or hosting a National Get Outdoors Day event.

Every Day Can Be ‘Get Outdoors Day’

NWF has developed a few handy tools to help families fit nature into their lives and make any day ‘Get Outdoors Day’:

• The Great American Backyard Campout on June 23^rd brings together thousands of families for a night of exploration and fun at sites across the country. Sign up today! When you participate, you can support NWF’s programs to get kids outdoors as part of our Be Out There campaign.
• NatureFind helps you find local nature sites and events by zip code, city or state, including directions and visitor ratings.  It offers immediate information on 10,000 beautiful outdoor locales, and 50,000 events and organized activities.

• Our free parent guide to outdoor play, everyday provides information, tips and activities to help busy parents, kids and families overcome many top obstacles to outdoor play.
• Find a new outdoor activity in our Activity Finder database. Crafts, games, recipes and more. You can search by keyword, your child’s age, or level of difficulty. Every activity is designed for the outdoors or has a wildlife twist.

If you would like to learn more about NWF’s programs that help parents provide outdoor opportunities for children, visit our Be Out There ™ website.

Enjoy National Get Outdoors Day!

Lupine likes to grow in dry, sunny areas like this hillside in North Cascades National Park. Photo by Michelle Kruszewski.

Explore the Outdoors!

June is Great Outdoors Month — a time to get outside and enjoy America's wild places. Check out Top 5 Ways To Celebrate Great Outdoors Month for some fun ways to get involved.
 

This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

Great Outdoors Month is a perfect time for kids to get out in nature (flickr | Jonf728)

Thankfully, enjoying the Great Outdoors is an exception to that rule.  Today is the start of Great Outdoors Month, as officially proclaimed by Republican and Democratic Governors alike.

President Obama issued his proclamation today as well, just as he’s done the last three years, and as George W. Bush did before him.

With Great Outdoors Month underway, it’s time to think about how YOU plan to celebrate.

Here are my Top 5 Ways to Celebrate Great Outdoors Month!

1. Take a hike!  Tomorrow (June 2nd) is National Trails Day and there are thousands of events happening all over the country.  In 2012, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of this event hosted by the American Hiking Society.
2. Saturday, June 9th, is National Get Outdoors Day with family-friendly events planned all across the country and supported by the U.S. Forest Service, the American Recreation Coalition and other partners.
3. Find nature close to home using the NWF Nature Find tool.  Just enter your zip code and find green spaces close to home and activities for the whole family.  Or use the NWF Activity Finder to get ideas for outdoor fun in your own backyard.
4. Join us for the Great American Backyard Campout on Satuday June 23rd.  Join a community event or create your own and be sure to register your event online!
5. Back to the election year stuff: Talk to your Members of Congress, Governors, State Legislators, Mayor, City Council, School Board and other elected officials about the importance of outdoor play and education for our children’s health and wellbeing.  Email your Members of Congress and ask them to support the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act and the No Child Left Inside Act.

However YOU decide to celebrate Great Outdoors Month, please share it with us by posting a comment on this blog!

If you participate–and we hope you do–here’s an idea for something to do in the dark without your television or computer handy. Just sit quietly and listen! Depending on where you live, you’re likely to hear one or more of the following animals vocalizing sometime between sunset and sunrise.

1. Owls

Barred Owl by Peggy Hanna

Listen to the “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?” call of the barred owl:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. Katydids

Katydid by Katherine Clifton

Listen to the sound of katydids singing at night:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. Frogs

Frog Close-up by Evan Gracie

Listen to frogs calling at night:

Click here to view the embedded video.

4. Crickets

Field Crickets by Gail Napor

Listen to crickets chirping at night:

Click here to view the embedded video.

5. Mockingbirds

Northern Mockingbirds by Dennis Raffelson

Listen to one northern mockingbird’s amazing song:

Click here to view the embedded video.

All of the photos above were donated by past participants in the National Wildlife® Photo Contest. To enter your best shots in this year’s competition, visit the contest site.

Explore More: Check out five animal species you may see in your backyard at night. To learn more about nocturnal wildlife and how to attract and nurture native species that come out after the sun sets, read “Enjoying the Nightlife” by Janet Marinelli in National Wildlife magazine.

Certify Your Property: Make your backyard more attractive to wildlife active both day and night by turning it into an NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat®  site.

Photo taken of Gus at the beach by Colleen Fitzgerald

In December, I became a father of a beautiful, now 8-month old boy named August.  We call him “Gus.”

As someone whose full-time job at the National Wildlife Federation is to reconnect children with nature, I often joked that I now have my very own case study on this issue within my own family.

Experiencing the Outdoors With My Son

It was tough to get outdoors with Gus in the winter months, but as the weather warmed up we would go for family walks in our downtown neighborhood of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

Gus would notice the robins, doves, pigeons and cardinals on the street, reach out the baby-carrier to grab the wet leaves of bushes and trees.  We would occasionally take a longer hike through Rock Creek Park.

Photo of Gus taken by Colleen Fitzgerald

In March, we went for a week-long visit to the beach in Florida and then to the Jersey Shore in July, spending hours outdoors every day, often just sitting on the back patio or in the shade on the beach.

We were blown away by how well Gus slept that week and were told by many, “oh, that’s all that fresh air.”  It seems to be a well known fact that kids sleep better when they get time outdoors and fresh air. As a parent, I’ve seen it with my own eyes!

Code Orange Days Impacting Outdoor Time for Kids

Then, this summer, on May 30^th, we had our first “Code Orange Air Quality Day.” I’ve heard these alerts in the past, but the warning on the radio that morning advising “sensitive groups, including young children” to stay indoors caught my attention.

The next day was “Code Red,” the warning was stronger.  I called our pediatrician, who advised us to keep Gus inside on Code Orange or Red days, except for the early mornings or a quick trip to get in the car and go somewhere.

At first, this seemed like a hassle, but manageable.  As summer unfolded though, about 1/3 of our days in DC this summer were Code Orange or worse, due to ozone pollution from cars, power plants and other sources.  So much for getting that fresh air!

As I spent my days  encouraging children and families to spend time outdoors through First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Outside initiative, National Get Outdoors Day and the Great American Backyard Campout, and as President Obama and nearly every Governor proclaimed June as “Great Outdoors Month,” we were ironically keeping our son indoors.

For parents living in urban areas, this may be “old news.”  For me it was a pretty astonishing paradox.  Summertime for me has always been about playing outdoors, exploring, going to camp, and generally having fun outside. We understand that a variety of societal changes have led to childhood moving indoors, but the safety of the air we breathe was not on my list.

Now it is.

EPA Under Pressure to Change Acceptable Ozone Pollution Levels

The Environmental Protection Agency is also considering changing the threshold for how much ozone pollution is acceptable for our lungs. In 2008, during the Bush Administration, the EPA ignored its own scientific report suggesting that the standards were not strong enough due to industry pressure.

Any day now we will likely see revised standards that share the truth with the American people.  According to a poll by the American Lung Association, the American people are hungry for the truth.  Though, after reading this Washington Post article about big business and big oil lobbying against the standard, I’m concerned we may never know which days are safe and which are not.

The only thing worse than my son not going out for 1/3 of the summer would be learning that we’ve been kept in the dark by our government about the true health implications of spending time outdoors during the supposedly “clean air” days…

And don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of days even in urban areas are safe to spend time outdoors – indoor air pollution often makes time outdoors a healthy option!  But that will be the subject of another blog…

I enjoy living in a diverse city where I can walk to the grocery store, church and work, and maintain a low carbon footprint.  For the health of my son Gus, I wonder how long we will be able to do so.  And enough about me!  What about those who don’t have the means to pick up and move where the air is cleaner and safer for their children?

Please share with us “Why You Care about Clean Air” so we can share your perspective with policy makers in Washington.  I hope you will also learn more about policies that reconnect children, youth and families with nature by following me on Twitter @PatrickNWF and visiting www.beoutthere.org/policy.

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

Here’s what Robin Schepper, Executive Director of Let’s Move!, had to say about the event: 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Members of the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK), the Administration and others participated in five outdoor recreation activity stations to teach youth new skills to enjoy active time outdoors in nature.

The National Wildlife Federation and REI participated in a learning station where small groups of students received hands on experience in camping. They gained new skills for enjoying the great outdoors and now know how to pitch their own tents.  

The students were excited to engage in a variety of activities including rock climbing, kayaking, healthy snacks, fly-fishing and mountain biking - and even assembled their own healthy trail mix; the perfect healthy snack for their next outdoor outing! 

Later this month, in support of Let’s Move Outside and with the support of REI, thousands of American’s will participate in the Great American Backyard Campout on June 25^th and find close-to-home parks and green spaces through NWF’s Nature Find. 

It was a fun afternoon on the White House lawn to help support Let’s Move Outside.  And most importantly, the students had a blast!

For more updates on Let’s Move Outside and Great Outdoors Month, follow me on Twitter – @PatrickNWF.

June is Great Outdoors Month!

June 3, 2011 – Some people can’t get enough time outdoors, surrounded by nature’s gifts and being refreshed by a world of green. Others need a little more nudging to get outside, and if there was ever a time to be encouraged to open up that door, it’s the month of June. That nudging starts at the very top with President Obama proclaiming June as Great Outdoors Month, along with almost every state governor. The Presidential Proclamation urges all Americans to spend time in the great outdoors and to uphold our nation’s legacy of conserving our lands for future generations.

Learning To Manage, Not Fight, the Mississippi River

June 2, 2011 – When the floodwaters of the swollen Mississippi River subside, experts say it may be a perfect opportunity to re-evaluate our relationship with the river. The opening of the Morganza Spillway in mid-May is not only helping ease the rising river, it is diverting nutrient-rich sediment to Louisiana’s rapidly deteriorating wetlands. This might demonstrate how more diversions and working with the river, instead of against it, may be the best way to battle the rising waters in the future.

Get A Crewcut! Support NWF’s Gulf Restoration Efforts

June 2, 2011 – J.Crew, clothing manufacturer and retailer, wants to make sure wildlife in the Gulf receives the protection it needs, which is why the company is supporting National Wildlife Federation. Crewcuts, the company’s children’s line, is currently donating funds to NWF by selling a children’s tee shirt in stores and online for $25. NWF is receiving the net proceeds from the sale of the tees.

Proposed Drilling Operations in Cuba Threaten the Gulf of Mexico

June 1, 2011 – More than a year since the Gulf oil disaster, the rush to pursue expanded deepwater drilling is picking up momentum. The long-term impacts of the nearly 206 million gallons of spilled oil are still unclear. New concerns regarding wildlife species continue to arise. But another threat has also emerged. In an effort to discover new reserves of oil and gas, Cuba plans to drill five deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico this summer.

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• The Hill: GOP rejects Obama’s call for ‘Sputnik’ moment on clean-energy development
• PR Newswire: 50+ Groups Urge Congress to Reject $1 Billion in Cuts to USDA Conservation Programs

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

Lesser long-nosed bat by Greg Tucker

Welcome to June 2011—a month that has been designated Great Outdoors Month by President Barack Obama and by dozens of states across the country.

Here at the National Wildlife Federation, we’re gearing up to celebrate the great outdoors with NWF’s Great American Backyard Campout, scheduled for June 25. If you participate, consider nocturnal wildlife-watching as an activity that will keep you and the family entertained even without your computer or TV. Once the sun sets, the cast of critters that roams your yard changes completely. Depending on where you live, here are five species you may be able to spot:

1. Lesser Long-nosed Bat (left): If you live in the Desert Southwest, you may be lucky enough to see one of these nectar-feeding bats on your property. Along with the Mexican long-tongued bat and Mexican long-nosed bat, lesser long-nosed bats migrate 1,000 miles or more from Mexico to feed on nectar and pollen from cacti and agaves in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  To attract them, plant agaves or columnar cacti such as saguaro, cardon or organpipe. The bats may also visit your hummingbird feeders at night.

2. Virginia Opossum: This common backyard visitor is the only species of marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. Native to the East, opossums were introduced to the West during the 1930s as a potential source of food. The animals are best known for the behavior of “playing possum”—reacting to perceived threats by pretending to be dead. In backyards, you can watch the nocturnal creatures chow down on berries, fruit or food spilled from bird feeders.

Luna moth by June Cristino

3. Luna Moth (right): A resident of forests and wooded yards across the eastern United States, the luna moth is one of about two dozen giant silk moth species native to North America. The best way to attract these beautiful insects is to grow the plants favored by their larvae—sassafras, wild cherry, birch, blueberry and dogwood, for example. The lifespan of adult silk moths is short: Because they lack mouthparts, the moths cannot feed and live for only a few days, just long enough to reproduce.

4. Raccoon: Like Virginia opossums, raccoons also are common—frequently unwelcome—backyard visitors during the night. These unmistakable masked mammals feed on nearly everything, from earthworms, birds’ eggs and frogs to birdseed, garbage and fruits and vegetables nabbed from your garden. Lots of fun to watch—particularly youngsters, which romp around like puppies—raccoons are wild animals and should remain that way.  Resist the temptation to feed them!

Great horned owl by Larry Hitchens

5. Great Horned Owl (left): These large powerful owls range across the entire North American continent, breeding in a variety of habitats, from tundra edges to forests to deserts. The birds emerge from hiding spots at dusk and survey open areas from favorite perches. They feed on just about any kind of prey: skunks, opossums, snakes, insects and even other owls.

Explore More: Check out “Enjoying the Nightlife” by Janet Marinelli in National Wildlife magazine to learn more about nocturnal backyard animals and how to attract and nurture wildlife that comes out after the sun sets.

Certify Your Yard: Make your backyard more attractive to wildlife active both day and night by turning it into an NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat.

Enter our Photo Contest!
The photos shown above were donated by competitors in National Wildlife magazine’s annual photo contest. Why not enter your best shots in this year’s 41st annual National Wildlife Photo Contest? Winners in seven categories will appear in the magazine alongside images taken by some of the world’s top nature photographers.

Click here to view the embedded video.