Outdoor Recreation in America

In this issue:

• Great Outdoors Month Nears
• National Park Service Centennial Preparations
• FLREA
• Exciting Opportunity for Forest Service Recreation Program
• Trail Partners Work Hard to Overcome MAP-21 Challenges

This news release is available as a .pdf here.

Washington, D.C. – The American Recreation Coalition (ARC) submitted comments criticizing all the management alternatives presented in Yosemite National Park’s Merced Wild and Scenic River Draft Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement. In a letter sent to Superintendent Don Neubacher on April 30, 2013, ARC President Derrick Crandall stated, “We strongly object to reductions in visitor experience opportunities in Yosemite, an outcome under each of the offered alternatives in the proposed plan. We believe that the NPS has failed to meet the requirement of the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to offer any alternative that would add to the opportunities for quality visitor experiences in the park.”

In this issue:

• America’s New U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell
• Great Outdoors Month 2013
• National and Local Groups Champion Recreational Trails Program
• Federal Fees Update
• Bipartisan Policy Center Holds Bridgebuilder Session on Funding National Parks
• USFS Selects New Recreation Chief

June is a special time to celebrate America’s Great Outdoors. National leaders for years have issued proclamations recognizing this month as Great Outdoors Month, a time when America celebrates its natural treasures. This recognition highlights the benefits of active fun outdoors in our magnificent shared resources of forests, parks, refuges, and other public lands and waters. Proclamations generate widespread media attention, encouraging millions of American families to move outside, and prompting public discussion of important issues linked to outdoor recreation, including volunteerism, health, and outdoor ethics.

This news release is available as a .pdf here.

Washington, D.C. – An annual gathering of leading recreation innovators from the public and private sectors concluded three days of brainstorming and sharing with a report on findings, actions and recommendations to the members of the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR). Partners Outdoors 2013 was held at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Discussions were especially intense as the group sought ways to add quality and quantity to recreation opportunities on federally managed lands and waters even as the agencies and organizations involved were engaged in planning contingencies for sequestration and years of federal agency budget uncertainty.

In this issue:

• Sally Jewell Named as Interior Secretary Choice
• NPS Gears Up For Cuts
• Bridgebuilder Event on Park Funding
• Efforts to Enhance Cell and Wifi Service in Parks Underway
• ARC Moving Office to 1200 G Street, NW
• Partners Outdoors Update
• Great Outdoors Month Activities

In this issue:

• December Recreation Exchange Looks at the Politics of Recreation
• Healthcare Webinar
• Partners Outdoors 2013
• Penny for the Outdoors
• Forest Service Recreation Initiative

This news release is available as a .pdf here.

Washington, D.C. – National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day) 2013 will be celebrated on Saturday, June 8. This will be the sixth year of a partnership effort by hundreds of government agencies, recreation and healthcare businesses and nonprofit organizations to introduce America’s youth to the healthy fun of America’s Great Outdoors. Events will be held at 200+ sites in urban centers, state and local parks and other places and the USDA Forest Service will waive many recreation fees on GO Day in national forests covering 192 million acres of the nation.

This news release is available as a .pdf here.

Washington, D.C. – More than 100 recreation community leaders from across the nation and representing public and private organizations key to enjoyment of public lands and waters will participate in Partners Outdoors 2013 on February 19-21. Meeting at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, participants will focus on three important topics: 1) innovative and supplementary funding for recreation sites and operations on federal lands and waters; 2) opportunities to attract international visitors to America's Great Outdoors and assist both the economy and understanding of American values; and 3) using the recent transportation legislation known as MAP-21 and more to support access to and travel through America's Great Outdoors.

In this issue:

• Blue-Ribbon Group of National Park Leaders Gathers at Grand Canyon
• 2012 Recreation Exchanges Address Top Issues
• FLREA - One Year Out
• ARC Executive Committee Revitalizes Recreation Roundtable
• Reminder - Partners Outdoors 2013