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Conservation + Recreation:
Healing, Hiking & Hip-Hop
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In the News
Hike the NET, Don't Surf It. Hip-hop goes hiking in the newest video from the Youth Ambassador Program (YAP) promoting the New England National Scenic Trail (NET)! Explore the NET with rappers ages 15-21 who use hip-hop to teach their peers about national parks, sustainability, and other issues via music videos, live performance, and social media outreach.
| The Youth Ambassador Program explores the New England Trail |
The YAP is a collaboration between the National Park Service and 3rd EyE Unlimited, a nonprofit in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The YAP video "Get Outside and Move" was featured on First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move website, which promotes physical activity and healthy eating for kids.
Take a Hike and Call Me in the Morning. Japanese scientists are measuring brain activity to quantitatively learn how spending time in green spaces affects our health, reports Outside magazine. They're finding that walking "Forest Therapy trails" reduces heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones, and hemoglobin levels, leading people to perform better on cognitive tests and report feeling happier.
Hospitality. In Chicago and Miami, landscape architect Mikyoung Kim is putting healing gardens on top of hospitals to help create restorative environments for patients and their families.
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Findings and Publications
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Upcoming Events
Rx for Outdoor Activity Training Webinar (Monday, February 25, 2013, 2:30-4:00 p.m. EST). In this training, webinar participants will learn about the link between childhood obesity and sedentary lifestyle, be able to articulate the scientific basis for the physical and mental health benefits of nature, and learn how to connect children and families to nature sites for outdoor activity. Learn more and register.
International Trails Symposium 2013. The International Trails Symposium is coming up in April in Arizona. The symposium is for people and organizations who want to be on the leading edge of trail design, management, and marketing. Check out the symposium homepage for opportunities to be a sponsor, present, nominate a trail for an award, and for information about logistics and lodging.
River Rally 2013. Head to St. Louis, Missouri this May to network with river and watershed advocates, learn from more than 80 educational speakers, and participate in field tours. Visit the River Rally website for more information.
2013 National Outdoor Recreation Conference. The theme of the conference, "A Bridge to Prosperity," will highlight best practices and case studies on how the outdoor recreation profession (planning, management, research and policy) is a bridge, connector, and catalyst for prosperity through tourism, jobs, health and wellness, education, environmental stewardship, and sustainable communities. The conference takes place this May in Traverse City, Michigan. For more information and to register, visit their website.
News and Events. Does your organization have news or an upcoming event we can help you share? If so, tell us about it on our Facebook page and we'll add it to our list of recent news and events.
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Tools
Better Transportation Options = Healthier Lives. Want to illustrate the connections between transportation options and health? Check out the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's new infographics.
Community Mapping. Interested in how a community is documenting the use of its trail and trail resources? Visit the AnzaTrail's collaborative web-based mapping tool.
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Grants and Job Opportunities
Captain Planet Foundation Grants (Due 2.28.13). Grants are made to promote and support high-quality educational programs that enable children and youth to understand and appreciate our world and improve the environment in their schools and communities. Learn more and apply.
EPA Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Grants (Due 3.1.13). The EPA's Smart Growth Implementation program allows the Office of Sustainable Communities to work with communities on issues such as stormwater management, code revision, transit-oriented development, affordable housing, infill development, corridor planning, green building, and climate change. Learn more and request assistance.
WellPoint Foundation Funding - Healthy Generations (Due 4.19.13). The WellPoint Foundation invests in domestic initiatives that help improve the lives of people and the health of local communities. The Foundation promotes healthy behaviors, health-risk prevention, and healthy environments. For more information, visit their website.
Hart Family Fund for Small Towns (Due 5.1.13). Grants from the Hart Family Fund for Small Towns are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by providing seed money for preservation projects in small towns. Only proposals from towns with populations of 5,000 or less are considered under this fund. Apply here.
Bikes Belong Community Partnership Grants (Due 5.24.13). The Bikes Belong Coalition welcomes grant applications from organizations and agencies within the United States that are committed to putting more people on bicycles more often. Fundable projects include paved bike paths, lanes, and rail-trails as well as mountain bike trails, bike parks, BMX facilities, and large-scale bicycle advocacy initiatives. Learn more and apply.
Rapid Response Grants (Ongoing). Grants help state and local organizations take advantage of unexpected opportunities to win, increase, or preserve funding for biking and walking. Click here to learn more and apply.
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Trail of the Month
The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail is our Trail of the Month! This 1,210-mile trail extends from Nogales, Arizona at the Mexican border through the deserts and coastal areas of California all the way to San Francisco, and commemorates an important expedition led by Spanish Captain Juan Bautista de Anza in 1775-76.
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Anza Trail Ambassadors pose on their float at the Santa Cruz County Parade in Nogales, Arizona and reach out to their community about the trail.
Photo by Yara Sanchez.
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The Santa Fe Ranch Foundation in Nogales, Arizona teamed up with the National Park to launch a youth ambassador program. The program teaches local high school students about the expedition, which enables them to share their knowledge with younger students and the public at projects and events in southern Arizona and San Francisco.
The Anza Trail also launched a collaborative web-based mapping tool that allows partners to document the trail and its resources to improve the management and visibility of the trail.
Learn more about the National Trails System.
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A Tip of the Hat to...
Tom Bicak
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Photo courtesy of Tom Bicak
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Director of Parks, Recreation and Waterways
Canyon County, Idaho
Let's just say that no grass grows under Tom Bicak's feet. He is one of the most productive, can-do people we've worked with...and we were lucky to nab this still photo of him outside his Lake Lowell office in southwestern Idaho.
We first started working with Tom in 2008, when the National Park Service helped Canyon and Ada Counties put together the Boise River Trails Coalition to develop a long-term vision for a 63-mile system of trails connecting Treasure Valley communities along or near the Boise River.
A year after the Boise River Trails Plan was signed by eight mayors and two county commissions, the coalition was inspired to produce a booklet promoting the health benefits of walking by showcasing 10 local trails. Tom and Canyon County championed the effort, successfully winning a $12,000 matching grant from the National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Program. St. Luke's Hospital donated additional funds and added a strong "Get Out and Walk" message. Central and Southwest Health Districts, along with Idaho Department of Transportation, also joined the effort. The Boise Weekly published 30,000 copies of "10 Great Walks in the Treasure Valley" as an insert in one of their summer editions, and electronic versions are now available on partner websites.
In 2010, with Tom's leadership, the National Park Service provided planning assistance to the Idaho-Oregon Snake River Water Trail Coalition to develop the framework for a 205-mile water trail between Three Island Crossing State Park, Idaho, and Farewell Bend State Park, Oregon. Today the coalition includes more than 50 partners, including federal and state agencies, county and city governments, non-profit organizations, private businesses, and citizens. Additional access sites and over $3 million worth of new construction are currently underway along the trail, with more and more riverside communities working to promote the benefits of the water trail.
Tom's latest success story is the Canyon Crossroads Transportation Museum, a world-class facility currently being built on the banks of the Snake River at Celebration Park. The new museum will serve as a hub for permanent and traveling exhibits, daily interpretive programs, scholastic field trips, university course work, a student dormitory, special presentations, seminars and conferences. Known as the state's Archaeological Park, Celebration Park already hosts thousands of school kids for hands-on learning about early Idaho life and plays a key role in Boise State University's Desert Studies Institute. The transportation museum will deepen and add to these experiences, while at the same time serving to tell the story of the Snake River as an invaluable source for the region's cultural and natural resources, recreation and economic development.
Hats off to Tom and Canyon County for these big-time successes!
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Let's Work Together
National Park Service Conservation and Outdoor Recreation programs embrace the principles of civic engagement, collaboration, and cooperative conservation. Through partnerships, we extend and expand the contributions of the National Park Service throughout the nation. Through close and ongoing partnerships with sister federal and state agencies, regional and local offices and agencies, organizations, and individuals, we connect all Americans to their parks, trails, rivers, and other special places. Learn more about how the National Park Service can help your community.
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This is a free monthly publication to share activities and successes of National Park Service Conservation and Outdoor Recreation programs and partners.
Images courtesy of the National Park Service except as noted.
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