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Discover the Forest

www.discovertheforest.org

This PSA campaign aims to inspire tweens (aged 8-12) and their parents to re-connect with nature, experiencing it first-hand. The campaign brings to life the joy and excitement kids have when they discover the wonders of nature, helping create interest in their environment and a lifelong relationship with it.

Nature gives tweens the ability to explore, use their imagination, discover new animals and plants, and engage in adventurous...

Secretary of Agriculture and Interior Praise Creation of "Flame" Wildfire Suppression Reserve Fund

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/11/0555.xml

Release No. 0555.09 Contact: USDA Press Office (202) 720-4623 DOI Press Office (202) 208-6416 SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AND INTERIOR PRAISE CREATION OF "FLAME" WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION RESERVE FUND

WASHINGTON, Friday, Nov. 6, 2009- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today applauded the passage of legislation creating the FLAME Wildfire Sup...

REI's Passport to Adventure

Show kids how rewarding it can be to spend time in the outdoors. That's what our Passport to Adventure program is all about. Designed for kids aged 5-12, it's a fun way to connect them to the natural world and start them on a lifetime of outdoor recreation and stewardship.

Click here to find out more.

The Chugach Children’s Forest

Get Out. Go Wild. Change the Future.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChugachChildForest

The Children’s Forest is symbolic and substantive, hopeful and hands-on. It is an organizing force for existing programs that get kids outside, and the source of new programs and strategies that engage our next generation of leaders in fostering healthy, sustainable communities and forests by:

• Improving the long-term physical and mental health of children and adults through the ...

Senate Recreation Caucus

The Senate Outdoor Recreation Caucus

Senators Mark Udall (D-CO) and James Risch (R-ID) are recruiting fellow Senators to join the Senate Outdoor Recreation Caucus.  The aim of the Caucus is to encourage healthy, active lifestyles that foster an appreciation of America's lands and waters through participation in outdoor activities such as camping, climbing, hicking, fishing, rafting, skiing, hunting and many others.

Click here to see the full letter.

How to Lick a Slug

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

MOUNT HOOD, Ore.

While backpacking here with my 11-year-old daughter, I kept thinking of something tragic: so few kids these days know what happens when you lick a big yellow banana slug.

My daughter and I were recuperating in a (banana slug-infested) wilderness from a surfeit of civilization. On our second day on the Pacific Crest Trail, we were exhausted after nearly 20 miles of ...

California’s Budget Crisis and the Parks

The New York Times, Editorial, July 15, 2009

Nearly every day, there is another reminder of just how deep California’s $26 billion deficit cuts into the operations of the state. It ripples through schools, cities, highway departments, state agencies — everything that makes California function.

None of the cuts are welcome, and some do less for the budgetary bottom line than they seem to. One example is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to close 220 ...

Lt. Gov. unveils kids' outdoor bill of rights

The Denver Post

Colorado kids have a birthright to camp out under the stars, play in creeks and stand atop the state's mighty mountains.

Those are few of the guarantees Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien listed today in a "Colorado Kids' Outdoor Bill of Rights."

O'Brien said the list was created to bring awareness to getting increasingly sedentary kids more active and to remind them of the state's natural riches, which they must both respect and protect.

Appearing at ...

Recreation in America

VITAL TO HEALTHY PEOPLE AND A HEALTHY ECONOMY!

The U.S. recreation industry is large and diverse, totaling well in excess of $400 billion in conomic activity annually . And it is consumer driven – only about 5% of this spending is by federal, state or local governments. It has many important characteristics including:

1. a predominance of small businesses providing recreation services – campgrounds and guides, dealers and marina operators;
2. a solid U.S.A.-based manufact...