Kids In Nature Program

[Tim Smith]

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Local Projects to Help Kids Get

Outdoors

Funding will support partnership programs in 18 states and Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2011- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced

$1 million in cost-share funding for children's programs in 18 states and

Puerto Rico, furthering USDA's commitment to connect young people around the

country with America's great outdoors. The two programs receiving funding

through this announcement will reach tens of thousands of young people this

year, and support the goals of both President Obama's America's Great

Outdoors Initiative and First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Initiative.

The funds will be divided between "Children's Forest" programs and "More

Kids in the Woods" projects. Combined, they build on long-term partnerships

and at least 25,000 more children will be able to participate in outdoor

activities and expanded opportunities to make first-time and long-term

connections between kids and the outdoors.

"America's children should have the opportunity to experience our great

outdoors and gain first-hand knowledge about our magnificent natural

resources, which are important to this country's wealth and health," said

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Now more than any other time in history,

our children are losing their connection to nature and our hope is to

reverse that trend while instilling a curiosity about nature and a life-long

commitment to conservation and stewardship."

Each year, the Forest Service conducts thousands of programs that reconnect

kids with nature - from nationwide, year-round programs that reach large

numbers of children, to local events that are designed to address local

needs. Collectively, conservation education, recreation and other programs

reached more than 25 million children in 2010 and engaged thousands of

partners across the country.

The More Kids in the Woods program, now in its fifth year, is a competitive

funding program for partnership projects that get kids outside and engaged

in active, meaningful learning experiences. Projects focus on serving

diverse youth and reaching under-served populations, using outdoor

activities and nature-based learning to establish meaningful and lasting

connections to nature and to improve children's health. Projects funded in

2010 reached more than 15,000 youth. This year, selected projects range from

a mentoring program, to outdoor camps, to science education and experiments,

to discovery and stewardship adventures, to programs that reach at-risk

youth.

Today's announcement expands a growing network of Children's Forests in

every Forest Service region. Forests designated as Children's Forests will

receive additional funds as they work with partners to connect kids and

families with outdoor activities and the forest, support communities by

creating new education and career opportunities, connect kids with education

and mentorship programs, foster climate change understanding and solutions,

and expand citizen stewardship of the nation's public lands.

"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."

The recipients of the cost-share funding, selected from 174 agency

submissions, include 21 More Kids in the Woods projects and nine Children's

Forests. Awards were made to projects in: Alaska, Arizona, California,

Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Hawaii, Montana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New

Mexico, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington,

Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

A full list of projects, descriptions, and funding is available at:

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/2011/releases/04/mkiw-recipients.shtml

<http://USForestService.pr-optout.com/Url.aspx?530638x220420x203828> .

Providing greater access to recreation in outdoor spaces is a priority of

the Obama Administration. Let's Move!, a comprehensive initiative launched

by First Lady Michelle Obama, has set a goal of solving the problem of

childhood obesity and promoting healthy lifestyles. This Obama

administration priority is fundamentally changing the conversation about how

we eat and stay active, helping to ensure future generations are ready to

win the future. Learn more by visiting www.LetsMove.gov

<http://USForestService.pr-optout.com/Url.aspx?530638x220419x425577> .

The Obama Administration's America's Great Outdoors initiative is a 21st

century conservation and recreation agenda to create partnerships between

the federal government and American communities on locally led conservation

initiatives that protect our outdoor spaces and make them accessible to

American families. Learn more by visiting www.AmericasGreatOutdoors.gov

<http://USForestService.pr-optout.com/Url.aspx?530638x220418x647324> .

[Justin Spencer]

These programs are just going to make our favorite fishing spots more busy, good place to cut the fat!

[Tim Smith]

These programs are just going to make our favorite fishing spots more busy, good place to cut the fat!

Not sure the fishing tackle industry would agree with you, but it is something to think about.

Maybe we should be subsidizing the video game industry to keep the game quality high so they never venture outside?

[Justin Spencer]

I guess I rely on people wanting to be outdoors also, so I vote to keep the program. As parents work longer hours in search of the almighty dollar by the time they get home I can see how they just let the kids play video games instead of getting them outside. I'm guilty of that myself from time to time, and I have easy access to all kinds of outdoor fun. People complain all the time about all the floaters on the rivers (especially the fishy ones) in the summertime, many of these people bringing their children, I am happy to say these people outnumber the crazy party crowd here at our campground. Then we turn around and say we need to get the kids outdoors. Limited space means that good places to vacation in the outdoors are going to be crowded during the peak months, and unfortunately we can't have it both ways. I'm just rambling for no apparent reason, but I think anything we can do to keep people (not just kids) active and in the outdoors is healthy for the individual and society as a whole.

[Tim Smith]

I guess I rely on people wanting to be outdoors also, so I vote to keep the program. As parents work longer hours in search of the almighty dollar by the time they get home I can see how they just let the kids play video games instead of getting them outside. I'm guilty of that myself from time to time, and I have easy access to all kinds of outdoor fun. People complain all the time about all the floaters on the rivers (especially the fishy ones) in the summertime, many of these people bringing their children, I am happy to say these people outnumber the crazy party crowd here at our campground. Then we turn around and say we need to get the kids outdoors. Limited space means that good places to vacation in the outdoors are going to be crowded during the peak months, and unfortunately we can't have it both ways.

It's a hard question.

The outdoors as a "growth" industry is sort of scary to think about. Where do you put all these people when they decide it's a great thing to be in "nature" without having them trample it into the ground.

If solitude (or at least having some peace and quiet) is one of the things we value about being outdoors, you can't get that on a river stuffed full of people.

Yet that's where you get a constituency for outdoor concerns. Nobody is going to care about rivers and fishing or anything else outdoors if they don't even know what's there.

Whether or not the government does this, I agree it needs to be done.