The answer to your question is “Yes!” Our Washington Families Outdoor Heritage Resolution was unanimously adopted by the State Senate last Friday morning. Several Kittitas County Homeys were in the Senate gallery as the resolution was introduced by Senator Judy Warnick and read, in whole, by the Senate Clerk. President of the Senate, Lt. Governor Brad Owens, introduced the supporters of the resolution and those of us in the gallery, and called for the vote.
After, we took a few pictures in the State Capital and around Senator Warnick’s desk in the Senate Chambers. We then retired to a nice breakfast, over which we celebrated three years of effort and plotted our next steps. There may yet be, in this session, a House Resolution sponsored by our Representatives Dent and Manweller. In the meantime, we have begun gathering supporters for legislation in the 2016 session to create a Washington Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights. It was a good morning.
Back in Paradise, the question became, “Now, what?” Given that we are pushing springtime, the obvious answer is to plan, and carry out, activities to get ourselves outside. In the midst of all that, we can look at how the rest of the country – and the world – handles these challenges. There is an ever-growing set of opportunities.
Richard Louv is a widely known child advocate and is the author of the best-selling “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.” You may recall the conversation with a fourth grader that spurred Louv’s mission to get kids connected to nature. When Louv asked the boy why he didn’t play outside after school, the kid said, “I like to play indoors better ‘cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are…” Somehow intertwined with the publication of his book, Louv established his Children & Nature Network (www.childrenandnature.org), a now worldwide effort to get kids and families connected to the earth in one or another way.
This Children & Nature Network is a big deal. Nearly four million kids worldwide are involved in network “connecting to nature” activities. The website has volumes of research relating kids’ nature connections to success as adult humans. It also has news feeds relating to outdoor families – one story announces that, beginning this fall, every fourth-grader in America will receive a one-year family pass to all national public lands and parks. If you want to better understand the need for families outdoors, or partake in something cool, check out the network’s web page.
For the better part of a decade, the US Forest Service has partnered with companies and groups around the country to support National Get Outdoors (GO) Day. Activities centered on GO Day happen across the country, and while they are focused around one day – this year it is Saturday, June 13 – the activities supported will set in motion a summer, or lifetime, of outdoor enjoyment. Check out www.nationalgetoutdoorsday.org for a sense of the traditional and nontraditional outdoor activities on tap for this summer.
The Forest Service has taken to heart the need to get kids, and their families, into natural and wild country. Go to www.fs.usda.gov/conservationeducation, and you will find dozens of suggestions and projects. You will find ideas for funding activities, and partners to support work with kids of all ages and their families. There is a great “kids outdoors” photo site, too.
Another of the Forest Service approaches involves its “Discover the Forest” program (www.DiscovertheForest.org). This program includes training opportunities, actual on the ground projects and partnerships with 20th Century Fox for promotional activities for kids.
A new statewide “umbrella” group, The Big Tent Outdoor Recreation Coalition, is pulling as many groups as possible together to strengthen the voices of those who use Washington’s outdoor playgrounds. Outdoor recreation is a $22 billion part of our state’s annual economy. Check out bigtentcoalition.info, and you will have another sense of the value and importance of playing outside.
There are almost unlimited ways to play outside, and a broad array of sites with useful information. As we move forward in our part of the world, we are creating websites for Washington’s outdoor kids and families, and we will, one day soon, have our outdoor kids’ bill of rights. In the meantime here’s to outdoor kids – and families – forever.
