Listening Sessions ‘AGO’ - 7,500 make recommendations to conservation agenda so far

by Steve Bert, Youth Intern

The inaugural event of a the newly formed Senate Outdoor Recreation Caucus was held yesterday, to raise awareness in the Senate about responsible use and conservation of land, and the ways outdoor recreation can help Americans improve their fitness and strengthen the economy.

Hosted by Caucus co-founders Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo. and Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, the overall scope and up-to-date progress of America’s Great Outdoors Initiative (AGO) was delved into by a panel of four speakers.  The panel included Amy Salzman, associate director for policy outreach, Council of Environmental Quality, Will Shafroth, deputy assistant secretary, Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior, Harris Sherman, under secretary for Natural Resources and Environment and Dan Kanninen, White House liaison, Environmental Protection Agency.

So far 11 official listening sessions and three community-generated AGO listening sessions, at which administrative officials participated, have taken place. Around 7,500 individuals, including around 1,500 youth have given recommendations to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors.

Of the recommendations that have been fielded thus far, some definite themes are emerging.  A few of the biggest hurdles Americans face to connecting with the outdoors come from where and how they live. “Eighty percent of Americans live in cities. Many of them are staying inside with electronic devices…children are spending about half the time I spent outdoors,” Salzman said.

Speaking to the metropolitan lifestyle that the majority of Americans live, Kanninen touched on the importance of urban parks. “The value of small pocket parks can be just as valuable as the coast in the Pacific Northwest.”  Kanninen used Vista Hermosa Park in Los Angeles as an example of a pocket park that makes a significant impact in people’s lives as individuals taking part in the Los Angeles listening session voiced their connection to Vista Hermosa. 

Americans also face a slew of obstacles concerning access to green space and each geographic region calls for a unique solution. A city like New York, for example, is best equipped to bolster its heavy and light rail to provide people access to public land, according to Shafroth. “People want access to land and to have a quality experience while they’re there,” he said.

Listening Sessions will be continuing around the country through September and locations are still being determined. For a list of AGO’s current listening session schedule click here. 

Photo Caption: Sen.Mark Udall, D-Colo. speaks on the economic and health benefits reaped when Americans spend time outdoors. According to Udall, outdoor recreation contributes over $10 billion annually to Colorado’s economy and $730 billion nationwide. 

Outdoor Nation! Sierra Club empowers youth to participate in national dialogue on the outdoors

This summer saw the implementation of the largest national youth summit on the state of youth in the outdoors in Central Park, NYC on June 19-20.  

Sierra Club’s Building Bridges to the Outdoors program partnered with the Natural Leaders Network to bring a delegation of 50 youth to the summit, 25 from NYC and 15 from across the nation. Overall, Outdoor Nation brought together about 500 youth delegates from all 50 states to participate in the first of its kind Outdoor Festival and Youth Summit.

Outdoor Nation started with an open festival in Central Park. Thousands of New Yorkers swung by the many booths lining Central Park to learn more about the outdoor industry and the benefits of getting outdoors. Sierra Club staffed a booth with information and activities put together by BBTO, Water Sentinels, Inner City Outings, Environmental Justice & Community Partnerships, the Sierra Student Coalition and the Puerto Rico Chapter. Children lined up to draw pictures of Leatherback Turtles, an endangered species that the Puerto Rican Chapter of Sierra Club is trying to protect through the designation of the Northeastern Ecological Corridor. The Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK), a newly established alliance of which Sierra Club is a founding member also engaged the public with a booth just down wind from Sierra Club’s table.

Following the festival, youth delegates participated in discussions and breakouts that resulted in a national youth-developed agenda on connecting with the outdoors. The Summit doubled as an America’s Great Outdoors youth listening session, allowing the youth delegates to outline their thoughts and strategies for the development of a 21st Century Conservation and Recreation Agenda. America’s Great Outdoors is a Presidential Initiative calling on the Administration to travel the country and engage the public in the process of developing this agenda. The Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Labor and the White House Council on Environmental Quality led the listening session.

“We are thrilled to partner with Outdoor Nation to create new opportunities to engage and empower youth in the effort to reconnect with the natural world,” says Tiffany Saleh, Sierra Club’s National Youth Outreach Representative. “The presence of our federal agencies at this event is just the icing on the cake. It really speaks to the high value the Obama Administration places on the priorities of our young leaders.”

In the evening, the Natural Leaders Network (NLN), an initiative of the Children & Nature Network, supported by The North Face and Sierra Club, held a reception in The North Face Showroom for our youth delegates and invited guests. During the reception, the NLN unveiled its newly-created toolkit, which gives Natural Leaders the know-how to establish networks of Natural Leaders, get outdoors and lead other young people on outings. “The toolkit shows that the doorway to nature is accessible to everybody, no matter where they live,” said Tara Arthur, one of NLN’s founding members.

During the reception, President of the North Face Steve Rendle, NLN National Coordinator Juan D. Martinez and BBTO’s National Youth Director Martin LeBlanc spoke about a range of topics. In a nutshell, there is a growing disconnect between youth and the outdoors, children are spending the equivalent of full-time work-week in front of television or computer screens, green space is becoming harder to access, yet there are tangible things that can be done to reconnect children with the outdoors.

Outdoor Nation spawned from a growing movement that has emerged to reconnect young people and the outdoors. The summit aimed to empower youth to redefine, reclaim and rediscover the outdoors.

“I knew that I wasn’t the only leader, but the summit really showed me that there were tons of leaders just like me with the same passion that I had. It made a spark in my life to accomplish bigger goals and achieve better things,” said ICO Leader Christian Alvarado, a BBTO youth delegate from Hartford, Connecticut.