Access News
National
PRWeb – June 11, 2008
New Car-Sharing Program Helps Youth Reach Nature
Bay Area Wilderness Training and City CarShare are making it easier and more affordable for youth educators to take groups of kids on outdoor excursions. BAWT recently purchased two all-wheel-drive minivans, each capable of carrying up to seven people, for the City CarShare fleet. The hope is that making these “BAWTmobiles” available for short-term use will help youth educators avoid the legal, administrative, and financial hurdles that often prevent field trips.
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National | Campaign/Initiative
Sierra announces $23 million in support for Military Family Outdoor (MFO) Initiative
The Military Family Outdoor (MFO) Initiative, a joint project of the Sierra Club and The Sierra Club Foundation, today announced a three-year grant of up to $23 million, provided by generous donors to support three organizations that provide returning veterans and their families with healing, life-affirming outdoor experiences in the natural world.
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State
The Pioneer Press – February 17, 2008
Ice Fishing Weekend Hooks Young Minnesotans
By Chris Niskanen
State and local officials in Minnesota are trying to determine how best to respond to a series of studies showing that an increasing number of the state’s young people have little or no interest in the outdoors. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has taken the lead in trying to reverse this trend. Among its efforts are new mentoring and access programs to recruit young anglers and hunters, including the Take-A-Kid Ice Fishing Weekend in February.
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Local | Education
KQED Radio – November 20, 2007
KQED Radio Features a Local Cure for Nature-Deficit Disorder
By Gabriella Quiros
A new program in San Francisco is introducing the city’s low-income youth to the pleasures of camping outdoors—without leaving the city itself. Developed by a collection of nonprofits, Camping at the Presidio aims to overcome the barriers that traditionally keep urban youth from visiting national parks: costs and a lack of exposure to camping. Eligible groups sleep overnight in a grove of eucalyptus trees, right within the city limits.
Quest is a TV, radio, Web, and education series by KQED that explores science, the environment, and nature in Northern California.
National | Campaign/Initiative
the Atlanta Journal Constitution – April 27, 2007
Sierra Club a camp booster: Donation to aid children in military families
By Gerry Smith
The Sierra Club announced it will donate more than $1 million to send military children to Operation Purple camps across the country. For one week this summer, children will kayak along the Broad River, learn the history of the Cherokee Indians and roast marshmallows with other children who know what it feels like to have a parent in the military.
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Local | Campaign/Initiative
Orion Online – May 01, 2007
Working to Build Bridges in Greater Cincinnati
By Betsy Townsend
Betsy Townsend of Leave No Child Inside – Greater Cincinnati describes her group’s efforts to form alliances with local organizations already involved in health and education. Thus far response to these efforts has been overwhelmingly positive.
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State
(New Jersey) Star-Ledger – March 23, 2008
New Jersey Audubon Invites Kids to “Try Nature”
By Fred J. Aun
The New Jersey Audubon Society is conducting a new outreach campaign during the month of April to encourage what it calls “enlightened nature-based discovery.” The effort includes activities designed especially for children and families, such as Skunk Cabbage Safaris and Salamander Searches. Vouchers for free enrollment are being made available online.
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State
Press Democrat – February 08, 2008
A California Perspective on Outdoor Recreation Trends
By Derek J. Moore
Though international in its scope, the recent Nature Conservancy report on the decline in outdoor recreation in the U.S. and abroad is provoking interest on the local level. Even in nature-loving Northern California people are hearing, perhaps for the first time, of the precipitous drop in attendance at many area parks.
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Local
Sacramento Bee – January 02, 2008
Citizens Organize State-Funded Nature Walks in Sacramento
By Blair Anthony Robertson
A former city dump, now a regional park, has become the site of nature walks for Sacramento schoolchildren. The field trips, funded in part by a California state grant, are the brainchild of area residents who believe that children today need more contact with nature.
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Commentary | Local
Star Tribune (of Minneapolis-St. Paul) – January 02, 2008
Bloomington Parks Adapt to Today’s Needs
By Mary Jane Smetanka
Randy Quale, manager of the Parks and Recreation Division in Bloomington, Minnesota, has a unique perspective on children and their connection, or lack thereof, with nature. “You start to wonder how many kids have the chance for unstructured play outside,” he says. Thus one of his priorities is for the city’s parks is to provide a place where parents feel secure letting their children engage in unattended outdoor play.
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National | Event
The (Puyallup) Herald – December 20, 2007
Last Child in the Woods a Topic at Land-Use Forum
By Susan Schell
A public forum on how to manage more than 2,000 acres in Washington’s Carbon River Valley provided citizens a chance to stress the importance of reconnecting people with nature. “These topics are becoming more and more important to a wider population of people,” noted one speaker, who added that the book Last Child in the Woods reflects a shift in public thinking over land use.
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Allies | Event
Small farmers cultivating tourist trade
By Nancy Cole
WHY AGRITOURISM ? “The simplest definition of agritourism is anything that brings the buyer to the property,” said Miles Phillips, who oversees nature tourism in Texas. Nature tourism includes not only agritourism but also hunting, fishing and adventure tourism. “There’s a lot of activity in the whole sector,” Phillips said, which has been spurred, in part, by Richard Louv’s 2005 book Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder.
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C&NN has designated April "Children & Nature Awareness Month." As part of this effort, we invited network members (like you) to list their April programs and share their strategies for building public awareness. Find out what's happening in your community on the C&NN Movement Map.
As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published two new resources for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels:
An annotated bibliography of 20 premier studies focusing on the children and nature connection.
