Great Outdoors Month
Feeling sluggish... If you haven't already gotten yourself out in your yard / garden this spring... or maybe that's not your thing... Why not get outdoors and take a walk. We have wonderful trails, beaches, country roads... get out and breathe the fresh air into your lungs! Let God touch you very soul... we live in our own little paradise here on Beaver Island! Get the children and grandchildren out there with you.
Get out the fishing gear... go kayaking... golfing or whatever it is that you like to do!
From: http://www.funoutdoors.com/
Great Outdoors Month 2012 Proclamations
June is a special time to celebrate Americaâ??s Great Outdoors. Presidential recognition of Great Outdoors Week was begun in 1998 by then-President Clinton and has continued ever since. Since 2004, Presidential proclamation of Great Outdoors Month has come annually, celebrating a variety of important events and actions that occur during the month. Great Outdoors Month highlights the benefits of active fun outdoors and our magnificent shared resources of forests, parks, refuges, and other public lands and waters. Media attention to the proclamation triggers actions by millions of households and prompts public discussion of important issues linked to outdoor recreation, including volunteerism, health, and outdoor ethics.
"An Evening of Remembrance" Raises $2 Million For Flight 93 National Memorial
Newsletters Posted on Thu, 05/17/2012 - 08:35.
Hosted By President Clinton, President and Mrs. Bush and Speaker John Boehner, National Park Foundation's "An Evening of Remembrance" Raises $2 Million For Flight 93 National Memorial
Washington, D.C. â?? Tuesday night, nearly 400 guests joined the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America's national parks, and co-hosts President Bill Clinton, President and Mrs. George W. Bush and Speaker of the House John Boehner at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. for "An Evening of Remembrance" honoring the 40 passengers and crew of United Flight 93 who fought back against their hijackers on September 11, 2001, ultimately crashing their plane and preventing a second aerial attack on Washington D.C.
April 2012 ARC Newsletter
Newsletters Posted on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 11:59.
April 2012 Newsletter
This newsletter is available in PDF format here.
In this issue:
â?¢ Byways Advocates Hold â??Next Chapterâ? Discussions
â?¢ Rachel Jacobson at April Recreation Exchange
â?¢ SAFETEA-LU Extended, Again
â?¢ Great Outdoors Week and Great Outdoors Month 2012 Will Showcase Economic, Health Benefits
â?¢ White House Convenes Group on Games to Boost Outdoor Activities
â?¢ International Pow Wow Features Parks and the Great Outdoors
â?¢ Recreation Community Prepares Response to USDA Challenge
â?¢ Change to Volunteer Pass Requirements
Electronic Games and the Outdoors
Check out the below links (green and underlined) to learn more about how each of these companies and programs is using technology to engage youth and adults in the Great Outdoors.
Hopelab Ruckus Nation
The Ruckus Nation idea competition tapped into the power of the global community â?? including kids â?? to generate new ideas for products to get kids moving. The competition was the first initiative in HopeLabâ??s work to develop fun, effective products that increase physical activity in young people to help address the devastating effects of sedentary behavior and obesity.
Hopelab Zamzee
Zamzee is an online rewards program for young teens powered by their physical activity. To earn rewards, teens wear the Zamzee meter, a three-axis accelerometer specially calibrated to record short bursts of movement as well as vigorous activity. Physical activity recorded by the Zamzee meter powers a teenâ??s online account at Zamzee.com.
Shinobi Labs Adventure Walks
Treasure hunting meets every day walking! The world is full of fun, bizarre, and hidden objects - and even ordinary objects that we mostly ignore. Mobile Adventure Walks allows players to explore and find visible treasures - anytime, anywhere!
Geocaching Kids
Get an introduction to the sport and find out how it works.
REI Geocaching
If you love the outdoors, it is only natural to teach your children about its wonders. Geocaching offers you a great way to do just that. It's a high-tech treasure hunt that can help engage your kids in the natural world.
Scribd Outdoor Electronic Games
GeoGames are electronic games implemented in a distributed peer-to-peer architecture using a scalable ad hoc geocast protocol to implement inter-player messaging. This design provides a low overhead message that is natural for this style of gaming. It allows us to design games for vigorous outdoor play any-where, including rural venues lacking network infrastructure and crowded venues such as campuses, stadiums, and down-town streets. This paper describes the GeoGames Architecture (GGA), examples of implemented GeoGames, and evaluates GGAâ??s strengths and limitations.
My Parx App
The My Parx app provides park visitors with the free access to quality information on parks, from local municipal parks through to state and national parks.
http://www.funoutdoors.com/node/view/2023
National Get Outdoors Day Launches: Seeking 100 Sites and Diverse Partnerships
News Releases Posted on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 17:59.
Washington, D.C. (February 28, 2008) Participants from dozens of federal agencies and non-profit organizations and the recreation industry gathered in Washington to launch National Get Outdoors Day, a new annual event to encourage healthy, active outdoor fun. On June 14, 2008, and each June thereafter, these partners will offer sites for American families to experience traditional and non-traditional types of outdoor activities. Prime goals of the day are reaching first-time visitors to public lands and reconnecting our youth to the great outdoors.
Earlier this month, the USDA Forest Service (FS) and the American Recreation Coalition (ARC) jointly outlined plans for National Get Outdoors Day at the Outdoor Recreation Village at this yearâ??s Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona. ARC President Derrick Crandall opened the National Get Outdoors Day Coalition meeting with a video about the Village, which drew an estimated 100,000 visitors. He noted that the Outdoor Recreation Village served as a testing ground for the National Get Outdoors Day concept. â??We have a Super Bowl quality team in place. We may not know all the plays yet, but we have excellent talent. We can win back the hearts and minds of American kids to the Great Outdoors,â? said Crandall.
National Get Outdoors Day is an outgrowth of the Get Outdoors USA! campaign, which encourages Americans, especially our youth, to seek out healthy, active outdoor lives and embrace our parks, forests, refuges and other public lands and waters. Working with the FS, Get Outdoors USA! hosted six recreation forums and learned that public lands were missing the right triggers to capture the attention of todayâ??s youth. ARC and the FS have each pledged $100,000 to the initial National Get Outdoors Day effort.
Jacqueline Emanuel of the FS emphasized her organizationâ??s goal to reach the under-served public and first -time outdoor recreationists through new and diverse partners. FS Director of Recreation, Heritage and Volunteers Jim Bedwell echoed Ms. Emanuelâ??s comments, â??We are all in this together. It is important that National Get Outdoors Day is not just the Forest Service, but all of the federal agencies.â?
Participants were invited to join the National Coordinating Committee and to take part in one or more of the initial action task forces: Site Identification; Partner Recruitment; Communications; and Event Support.
SITE IDENTIFICATION
Members will identify and secure the commitment of 100 diverse sites for National Get Outdoors Day. They will keep the National Coordinating Committee informed of the status of each site and act as the liaison between the sites and the National Coordinating Committee.
PARTNER RECRUITMENT
Partnership members will foster and develop relationships with traditional and non-traditional partners who share the National Get Outdoors Day mission, provide resources to support the events, and benefit from affiliation with National Get Outdoors Day.
COMMUNICATIONS
The communications team will promote and publicize National Get Outdoors Day through a range of media outlets. They will identify and utilize national media partners, spokespersons, and social networks to heighten the awareness of National Get Outdoors Day and its mission.
EVENT SUPPORT
This task force will support and assist local sites by developing an operations manual with resources to host a successful National Get Outdoors Day event. Members will connect national sponsors and local sites to ensure ample materials and signage for the events.
Site identification, partner recruitment and communication efforts are already underway for National Get Outdoors Day. Mountain High Resort in the Angeles National Forest, Big Bear Discovery Center in the San Bernardino National Forest, Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Boy Scouts Camp Snyder in Haymarket, Virginia, and Callville Bay Marina in Lake Mead National Recreation Area are already proposed official National Get Outdoors Day sites. Partner agreements with The Coleman Company and other outdoor recreation industry companies are being finalized. Promising discussions with A-list Hollywood celebrities, NFL stars and national media partners are yielding high interest in this special event.
The National Get Outdoors Day Coalition concluded their meeting in agreement to work together to develop and produce an outstanding national event that will recapture Americaâ??s enthusiasm for the great outdoors. Kevin Coyle, Vice President of the National Wildlife Federation, implored the coalition to energize the conservationists of tomorrow. â??We are losing the battle. But we have plenty to offer. The demand side is where the attention needs to be. American childhood has moved indoors. We need to get them back outdoors.â?
To join the National Get Outdoors Day Coordinating Committee or to find out more about National Get Outdoors Day, contact: Caroline Mica, cmica@funoutdoors.com , 202-682-9530 To find out more about Get Outdoors USA!, go to:www.getoutdoorsusa.org
THE MONTH OF JUNE IS...
Moderator: Gillespie