youth teambuilding exercise

Engaging Youth: Why It Matters

"To protect public lands for future generations, all segments of the U.S. population need to be engaged and have a sense of ownership," says George McDonald, who coordinates the National Park Service's Youth Programs.  But with economic limitations for some youth and parents who themselves may not have become familiar with the outdoors, connecting young people with the land is a growing challenge.  The National Park Service has undertaken innovative partnerships and developed immersion programs that enable kids to build a relationship with national parks over time.  "If you want people to invest their time, energy, and emotions in something, it can't be once a year type thing," says McDonald.  "It has to become a lifestyle."
 
News Flash: New DOI Youth Office
 
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced a new Department-wide Youth Office to "educate, engage and employ" youth.  See Press Release or Video Announcement.
 
 
Learning from the Field: California
Cabrillo National Monument and Groundwork San Diego

Normally, school field trips to Cabrillo National Monument are a hurried affair:  "We're tied to their school bus schedule, so they have a couple hours to do something and they have to go back," says Susan Teel of the National Park Service.  "It's rush, rush, rush, and there's only so much time to interface with students."  An innovative collaboration between Groundwork San Diego and three southern California national park units -- Cabrillo National Monument, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and Channel Islands National Park -- has changed all that.  Teel says, "Once we get them here, let's keep them here and have a quality experience with them.  It takes more logistical planning, money and time to make it happen, but it's working out really well." 
San Diego Green Team
  California: Groundwork San Diego Green Team at Channel Islands NP

Groundwork San Diego takes urban students, many of whom have not previously been exposed to nature, on multi-day or repeat visits to the parks.  Unlike typical service or cleanup projects, the goal is for students to apply academic lessons in a hands-on way.  Last year, media arts students developed three music videos about Cabrillo National Monument, and science students learned about ecosystems while camping overnight in the Santa Monica Mountains.  They planted native species, and then spent several days studying wetlands and measuring and mapping oak trees at Channel Islands National Park.  "Without this program, I don't think that many of them would have camped or gone out to the parks," says Teel.

Weir Farm stonework
  Connecticut: Groundwork Bridgeport Green Team at Weir Farm NHS

Learning from the Field: Connecticut

Weir Farm National Historic Site and Groundwork Bridgeport

The two small orchards at Weir Farm National Historic Site (Connecticut's only National Park Service unit) are not large enough to open up for public apple picking.  But a good apple crop shouldn't go to waste.  Enter Groundwork Bridgeport, whose Youth Partnership Program participants picked the apples and donated them to an area food bank.  That's just one of the win-win collaborations between Weir Farm and the nonprofit, which brought inner-city youth to the park eight times last year.  They worked at gardening tasks and projects like constructing stone walls, but also were given educational opportunities like an interpretive tour and a watercolor painting session in tribute to J. Alden Weir, the impressionist artist and former owner of the site.
 
"By the time they were finished, they had picked up really good skills," says National Park Service staffer Greg Waters.  "In addition to helping us with deferred maintenance, these kids were able to get a good feel for art and what landscape painting involves, and insight into our mission.  They were motivated and interested in learning."  Dick Tiani, the Executive Director of Groundwork Bridgeport, agrees.  Through the collaboration with Weir Farm and other initiatives including "Green Teams" (which train high schoolers for jobs, especially in the environmental/outdoor field), Tiani is focused on ensuring that urban youth have opportunities to connect to nature over the long term:  "We try to develop the students' understanding through Weir Farm of the career opportunities within the National Park Service.  A couple have expressed real interest, and it would be a great career for any one of them."

Massachusetts: Green Teams from Groundwork Lawrence, Somerville and Providence, along with the Boston African American NHS's Trailblazers Youth Conservation Corps, at Cape Cod NS

Success Strategies: 
Start Early!
10 yr old Isabel received Trail Champion Award at 2009 Alaska RPA Conf.
 
Ten-year-old Isabel Babiak received the 2009 Trail Champion Award from the Alaska Recreation and Parks Association for her efforts to build the Sockeye Run Fitness Trail and Bike Path in Naknek, AK.  Katmai National Park and Alaska's RTCA program are working with Alaska Safe Routes to School, the Bristol Bay School and Borough, and the communities of Naknek and King Salmon -- along with Isabel -- to help build the trail.  NPS presented Isabel with her first professional trail-building tool, a McLeod rake, so she is ready to get to work!
Free Idea #428  rangers teach camping skills to parents and kids
 
Market research says that children develop a habit for outdoor recreation throughout life when they've learned outdoor skills with a trusted adult.  The CAMP program -- Camping Adventure with My Parents -- was developed by an interdisciplinary team of NPS experts to support quality family time together in a nature setting and help parents get comfortable with basic camping skills they may not have had the chance to learn when they were young.  The positive experience encourages families to camp again and keep visiting national and state parks and other natural areas.  Look through our searchable database to find hundreds of other replicable programs for kids in parks.
Catalysts: Getting Involved

Learn more about Groundwork USA, and Groundwork initiatives in San Diego and Bridgeport, CT.
Get more details about National Park Service Youth Programs.
Youth corps learn, share, and collaborate through the Corps Network.
The Children and Nature Network offers fresh ideas and connections with others engaging youth in the outdoors. 
Let's Work Together

Could your project benefit from one to two years of assistance from a National Park Service specialist?
If you're working on restoring a river, building a community trail, or making an urban park flourish, we'd love to talk with you about ways we could work together.  Please call or email your regional representative today.  The next program application deadline is August 1, 2009.

NPS Conservation and Recreation Links

Challenge Cost Share Program | Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers | Federal Lands to Parks

Hydropower Relicensing Program | National Trails System |  Urban Park and Recreation Recovery

Land and Water Conservation Fund | Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program

The Update informs Department of the Interior staff, organizational partners, and friends about the program successes and activities of the National Park Service Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Programs. For more details, please contact the staff person involved with each project.

This e-newsletter may be copied or redirected. Our staff would be pleased to assist your editor in adapting each story for your publication; for more information, please call (202) 354-6918 or e-mail [email protected].
Images courtesy National Park Service.

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