Outdoor Recreation in America

National park supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. last week. The National Park Partners Strategic Planning Session, held on November 2, 2011, sought to support the National Park Service and its preparation for the agency's Centennial in 2016. The three co-hosting organizations - the National Parks Conservation Association, National Park Foundation and National Park Hospitality Association - represented components of the puzzle that will make for a healthy parks system in 2016. The caliber of the participants, energy of the discussions and enthusiasm of NPS Director Jon Jarvis and other senior NPS officials during the meeting pointed to a remarkable level of sharing and learning at the meeting – and an important success overall.

A major topic of conversation at the planning session was the NPS' recently released A Call to Action and its 36 action points. A Call to Action details a plan to prepare the agency for its upcoming Centennial by increasing park visitation and otherwise strengthening the organization before 2016. The report is divided into four buckets: (1) Connecting People to Parks; (2) Advancing the NPS Education Mission; (3) Preserving America's Special Places; and (4) Enhancing Professional and Organizational Excellence. Breakout discussions during the planning session focused around each of the four buckets. You can access A Call to Action here.

Participants in the planning session developed clear goals for the upcoming America’s Summit on National Parks, to be held in January 2012. And the meetings’ participants provided some clear directions for the January summit, including:
1) the development of a unified statement of principles for the parks community to rally around, and an active plan to recruit signers and take the signed "pledge" to key venues, including the Congress and the political party platform hearings;
2) continued investigation of a campaign to convince all Americans that parks are for them;
3) use of the January summit, in a key political year, to relate our parks initiative to both major political parties, and to hone parks’ appeal to both parties;
4) a new idea - focusing on 2016 events, and developing and making available a logo or mark that help us with Centennial events and programs;
5) a call to make certain that the January summit is not a "one-off" - to think about a series of unified gatherings; and
6) use of the summit to move beyond talk about the need to diversify park visitors to action in achieving this goal.

To see a schedule of the day’s events, please click here. A list of participants is available here.

Washington, D.C. - The National Park Service (NPS) unveiled A Call to Action today identifying four key themes and 36 actions to ready the agency for its 100th anniversary in 2016. The plan commits the agency to connecting people to parks, strengthening local economies and encouraging organizational innovation within the NPS. The release came on Founder’s Day – August 25 – on the 95th anniversary of the creation of the agency.

The four key themes of A Call to Action are: (1) “Connecting People to Parks”; (2) “Advancing the Education Mission”; (3) “Preserving America’s Special Places”; and (4) “Enhancing Professional and Organizational Excellence.” NPS Director Jon Jarvis outlined the plan and a new emphasis on communications internally and with the agency’s key partners at a national town hall held in the historic Ford’s Theater in downtown Washington, D.C. The town hall was broadcast nationwide to NPS employees and partners. Joining Director Jarvis on stage were the President of the National Park Foundation, Neil Mulholland, and three agency employees: Corita Waters, Outdoor Recreation Planner with the Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance Program; Lizette Richardson, Chief of Maintenance, Lake Mead National Recreation Area; and Dave Moore, Assistant Regional Director for the Northeast Region.

July 20, 2011 (Washington, D.C.) - The Honorable Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), was the special guest at the Great Outdoors Month Recreation Exchange on June 16, 2011 hosted by the American Recreation Coalition in Washington, D.C. Exchanges featuring guests who are influencing recreation public policy in America have been held since 1979.

Ms. Sutley serves as the principal environmental policy adviser to the President of the United States. CEQ coordinates Federal environmental efforts and works closely with agencies and other White House offices in the development of environmental policies and initiatives. CEQ works to balance environmental, economic, and social objectives in pursuit of "productive harmony" between humans and the human environment. Chair Sutley was one of the four Cabinet-rank leaders tapped by President Barack Obama to lead his America's Great Outdoors (AGO) initiative and, in fact, CEQ played a central coordinating role in the planning and conducting of extensive public involvement and the preparation of the report to the President in February 2011. Chair Sutley was named a co-recipient of the 2011 Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award for her leadership efforts on behalf of the AGO.

Top federal agency representatives and recreation community leaders gathered in the South Interior Building auditorium to hear Chair Sutley's remarks on the AGO initiative and for the presentation of ARC's 2011 Legends Awards. Chair Sutley began the discussion by touching on her recent trip to Newark, New Jersey, where she helped open an area urban park. She recounted her experience at the park, remarking that it was a surprise to “feel peace and serenity in a park in [such] a rough area.” The opportunity to enjoy nature must be made available to Americans – eighty percent of whom now live in cities and suburbs. Chair Sutley pointed out that, accordingly, urban parks must be made a priority. If we do not “protect, restore and link these special places” – like the park in Newark – we risk raising a generation of Americans who have no connection to nature, she said.

Washington, D.C. – The American Recreation Coalition (ARC) and USDA Forest Service-led 2011 National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day) is over, but its accomplishments continue. GO Day received significant electronic and print media coverage leading up to – and since – June 11. Tens of thousands of children across the country enjoyed various outdoor activities last Saturday at GO Day events. Their fun was made possible by hundreds of national and local partners that staffed activity centers and provided other support at approximately 150 sites. The First Lady’s Let’s Move Outside campaign’s blogsite, the Let’s Move blog, carried a synopsis of the day with photos: “The U.S. Forest Service and community partners have been encouraging children and their families across the country to spend time reconnecting with nature, trying new recreation activities and just having some good fun.”

Among the major media “scores” by GO Day were all three major TV stations in Denver. ABC News picked up the story in at least two regions, interviewing GO Day coordinators in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. WAMU 88.5 – an affiliate of National Public Radio – also picked up the story, interviewing ARC President Derrick Crandall about local efforts in Washington, D.C.

June 11, 2011 marked the fourth year that participants from federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and the recreation industry teamed up to encourage healthy, active outdoor fun at sites across the nation. These diverse partners offered opportunities for American families to experience traditional and non-traditional types of outdoor activities. Prime goals of the national celebration included reaching currently underserved populations and first-time visitors to public lands, and reconnecting our youth to the great outdoors. Details on the activities at various GO Day sites are available at: http://www.nationalgetoutdoorsday.org/locations/.

Washington, D.C. – The American Recreation Coalition (ARC) presented its 2011 Legends Awards to seven federal managers in recognition of their outstanding work to improve outdoor recreation experiences and opportunities for the American people. The awards were presented on June 16, 2011, during Great Outdoors Week – ARC’s celebration of the value and importance of outdoor recreation. Initiated by ARC in 1991, the Legends Award program calls on federal land management agencies to nominate an individual whose extraordinary personal efforts have made a real difference in enhancing outdoor recreation programs and resources. The 2011 Legends Award recipients represent the Bureau of Land Management, Federal Highway Administration, National Park Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Reclamation, agencies together hosting more than a billion recreation visits annually.

Winners of the 2011 Legends Awards are: Tracy N. Fancher, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; William Kuntz, Bureau of Land Management; Rita Hennessy, National Park Service; Mark Hoines, Federal Highway Administration; Lynne Beeson, U.S. Forest Service; Jennifer Jewett, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Peggi Brooks, Bureau of Reclamation.

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson have been chosen to receive the 2011 Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award, the recreation community's most prestigious award. The award is presented to individuals whose personal efforts have contributed substantially to enhancing outdoor experiences across America.

The selection of shared recipients for the award, created in 1989, is unprecedented and reflects widespread enthusiasm within the recreation community for the unity and focus the four Cabinet-rank officials of the Obama Administration have provided to national recreation policy through the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. “These four national leaders have worked to stimulate broad and open public debate, to collect best practices, to explore new ideas, including the linkage between health and the Great Outdoors, and to relate America’s Great Outdoors to 21st century lifestyles and issues,” said Derrick Crandall, President of the American Recreation Coalition. “The report to the President that they prepared has already brought about changes and creates the framework for continuing the tradition of global conservation leadership this nation has provided and enriching the precious legacy all Americans share in our parks, forests, refuges and other public lands and waters.”

Washington, D.C. – The American Recreation Coalition (ARC) has selected six federal programs and efforts as recipients of the 2011 Beacon Awards, which recognize outstanding efforts by federal agencies and partners in harnessing the power of technology to improve public recreation experiences and federal recreation program management. Beacon Awards were first presented by the American Recreation Coalition in 2005. Nominations are made by federal agencies and are judged against the award criteria – which are:
1) Innovative use of technology for visitor services or recreation management;
2) Use of partnerships with for-profit and nonprofit organizations;
3) Efforts to share news of creative solutions within the agency; and
4) Community support for the work of this initiative.

June 1, 2011 (Washington, D.C.) - Mike Ensch, Chief of Operations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), was the special guest speaker at the Recreation Exchange on May 19, 2011 hosted by the American Recreation Coalition in Washington, D.C. Exchanges featuring guests who are influencing recreation public policy in America have been held since 1979.

Mr. Ensch has been Chief of Operations for the Corps’ Directorate of Civil Works since November 2007. He oversees key national programs including Operations and Maintenance of Navigation (locks, dams, channels, and harbors), Hydropower (facilities with a combined electrical-production capacity that is the largest in the U.S.), Environmental Stewardship (natural resources and recreation), and Regulatory (wetland protection, including Section 404 and Section 10 permits). Mr. Ensch also serves as the Regional Integration Team Leader for the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division of the Corps.

Mr. Ensch began the discussion by touching on the flood situation along the Mississippi River. Had it not been for the Corps-managed levee system, he said, the Mississippi River would be 80 miles wide at Vicksburg, Mississippi, as it was in pre-levee 1927. While Corps maintenance and management of our nation’s infrastructure is crucial – as evidenced by the events of May – recreation is also a priority of the organization. Mr. Ensch utilized the Recreation Exchange to describe the Corps' new recreation strategy, which will facilitate Corps efforts to continue its role as the nation’s largest public provider of places and opportunities for active recreation and healthy lifestyles. A primary goal of the strategy is engaging current and new partners to ensure quality and safe outdoor recreation opportunities.

May 20, 2011 (Washington, D.C.) - More than thirty key and diverse national organizations and more than fifty local byways program advocates wrote Congressional leaders to describe the successes of the National Scenic Byways Program and to call for continuation of the program under any new federal surface transportation program. The writers ranged from AAA to the National Association of Counties.

May 6, 2011 (Washington, D.C.) - The nation’s leading trail organizations expressed appreciation and delight regarding a new letter to key Congressional leaders, who are crafting a new national surface transportation bill, calling for reauthorization of the Recreational Trails Program (RTP). The letter was drafted by U.S. Representatives Tom Petri (R-WI) and Mike Michaud (D-ME) and signed by 74 Members of Congress.