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Canoeing on Willamette River
In This Issue
Engaging Youth
Outdoor Nation
A Tip of the Hat...
Money!
Keep Connected
Get Involved
Events

Jobs
Let's Work Together
Links

Sidebar-1Money!
Travel scholarships for June's Outdoor Youth Summit in NYC - May 20 deadline.

Grants available -- May 21 deadline for historic preservation$14 million to be given.
Sidebar-2Keep Connected
Obama launches America's Great Outdoors (WashPost coverage, 4/17/10)
Read the President's conference remarks.

Sidebar-GetInvolvedGet Involved
Got a great example?  We are looking for case studies with youth participating in conservation and recreation planning.  Please share your story with us.
EventsEvents
May 18-20, Portland OR Bridging Conservation and Recreation, sustaining ecosystems while letting people enjoy the land.

June 5,
"Find Your Happy Place" at a National Trails Day event near you

June 10-12,
Mass. Northeast Trail Symposium [pdf]

Nov 14-17,
Tennessee American Trails National Symposium

Meet new partners + learn new tools (conference and training calendar)
JobsJobs
Youth employment outdoors!
- Search
USA Jobs for NPS opportunities
- Americorps
- Student Conservation Association
- Conservation Corps job listings
Conservation + Recreation: May 2010
FeatureArticleEngaging Youth
Even when the goal is to get people out to enjoy the real world of nature, it makes sense to start online*.  Reaching out through social media can engage young people in a conversation about their needs, interests, and motivation for getting outside and getting involved.  So, it's no surprise that youth-focused outdoor Kids in Zion   Parkorganizations emphasize their online presences through Twitter, Facebook fan pages, interactive websites, and blogs where youth provide the content.  Young people are excited about using these tools to share their thoughts and shape the dialogue about getting youth outdoors.

Now, the Department of the Interior is joining that dialogue.  Secretary Ken Salazar created the Office of Youth in the Great Outdoors to help coordinate the Department's efforts to employ, educate, and engage young people from all backgrounds in exploring, connecting with, and preserving America's natural and cultural heritage. "This is an exciting opportunity," said Julie Rodriguez, Director of the new office. "Young people have such an
Julie Rodriguez, DOI Youth Office Director
Julie Rodriguez
amazing energy and insight into many of the challenges and problems we face as a nation and in individual communities.  It's something that is too often overlooked or not utilized effectively."

This office brings the youth outreach efforts of each Interior bureau and agency under one umbrella.  And soon, social media tools like Facebook and Twitter and a dedicated website will enable the agencies and the public to get information and engage in conversation about youth programs and events.  Noting that such a conversation is a two-way street, Rodriguez says "We need to give young people a seat at the table and engage them in meaningful ways... not just as a target audience."

*According to the Kaiser Family Foundation study of media use in the lives of 8-18 year olds, the most popular computer activity for this age group is visiting social media sites like Facebook.  Four out of ten young people are spending almost an hour on one or more of these sites every day.
ArticleACreating an Outdoor Nation
Many of America's youth may have been absent from the national conversation about nature, conservation, and getting engaged in the outdoors.  But no longer. 
Outdoor Nation logo Through the efforts of the Outdoor Foundation and coalition members such as the National Park Service, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, REI, and North Face, Outdoor Nation is inviting young people to join the conversation.

The idea behind Outdoor Nation is to empower young people (14-30) to make the world what they want it to be in terms of outdoors and conservation and give them opportunities to engage in the outdoors.  Using Outdoor Nation's website, Facebook page, and Twitter account, the coalition is harnessing the power of social networks to find out why being outside matters to these youth. Because the agencies and organizations involved are part of these conversations, as well, young people who share their thoughts have the power to drive change and directly reach policy makers in a way they never could before.
 
In addition to the online presence, Outdoor Nation will kick-off "live" in Central Park, New York City, on June 19 and 20.  The Outdoor Nation Festival (Saturday) will enable youth to celebrate an active and healthy outdoor lifestyle, along with a career fair to raise awareness of jobs and career paths in outdoor organizations and agencies.
 
The Outdoor Youth Summit (Sunday) will be a meeting of 500 young leaders from all 50 states who will champion the outdoors, help develop a national youth outdoor agenda, share ideas, and make new connections. The goal is to motivate and mobilize youth to reclaim the outdoors for their generation; and to create ambassadors who will share the message with their peers and take the message back to their communities and start raising awareness there, too.
 
"My hope is that the summit sparks a youth-led movement that gets young people outdoors and active," says Christine Fanning, Executive Director of The Outdoor Foundation.  "In terms of evolution of Outdoor Nation, I hope that young people across the country reconnect with outdoors and that results in a healthier population and planet."
 
The partnerships that started this effort came together at the right moment.  Two paths converged: the Mobilize GenWise Summit brought together young people in their 20s and 30s to brainstorm about engaging and mobilizing this generation; and the Outdoor Foundation was recognizing that youth were missing from the conservation and nature movement.
 
"We've realized for a while that we need something like this," says Jamie Fields, Outdoor Recreation Planner with RTCA. "It's great that it's finally happening. We're finding new ways to connect to the earth and each other and keep healthy and fit. The bottom line: Go play outside, and bring a friend."
ArticleBA Tip of the Hat to... 
PNTS Trail Apprentices...the "Trail Apprentices." 
A
group of the next generation's leaders came together at last summer's conference on National Scenic and Historic Trails in Missoula.  The participating federal agencies and trail organizations found the financial resources to bring the apprentices into the trails community, but we tip our hat to the Apprentices for going on to invest their energy and keep the rest of us apprised of their continuing adventures.  The Partnership for the National Trails System runs updates and profiles in its Pathways magazine.  Trail Apprentices, we salute you!
LetsWorkLet's Work Together
Could your project benefit from collaboration with a National Park Service specialist?
 
If you're 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.
 
Call or email your regional representative today.
Like what you read?  Please copy or forward this newsletter.
Have a story idea?  We're happy to consider story ideas or news items for future publication.
Want to use a story for your own publication?  We would be pleased to help you. To submit an idea or request information about adapting a story, please contact Alan Turnbull: 202-354-6930 or [email protected]

Conservation + Recreation
is written to support and inform our organizational partners, friends of the program, potential partners, and Department of the Interior staff.  It's our chance to share activities and successes and those of our partners. For details on specific projects, please contact the staff person involved with each project.

Images courtesy National Park Service