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The process of accepting public comment pertinent to outdoor recreation on public lands has, in effect, been turned over to the motorized segment of the recreation industry --- with predictable results.
Pasted below is the American Recreation Coalition's preliminary report following Monday's national recreation listening session. Their final report detailing their findings for the 6 session series, will be presented on May 22 during a special event featuring remarks by author Richard Louv
To my friends in the conservation community I wish to stress one point. The ARC has co-opted the Richard Louv (brand) "Last Child in the Woods" message and they are using it to advance their own, long-standing, commercialization, privatization, motorization agenda.
To the extent that we in this community support that branded PR-message, we are assisting the ARC in its quest to dominate the Great Outdoors and shape the very meaning of the words "outdoor recreation".
Scott
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National Forum Focuses New Attention on Outdoor Recreation
05/01/2007
Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2007) - Nearly 200 public and private-sector
recreation leaders gathered in Washington, D.C. yesterday for a
National Recreation Forum focused on the opportunities and challenges
facing outdoor recreation in the 21st century. The National Forum,
which was convened by the American Recreation Coalition and the
National Forest Foundation, was the culmination of a series of Regional
Recreation Forums held throughout the country during March. The
day-long national gathering began with four concurrent sessions hosted
by nine national organizations and the USDA Forest Service, followed by
a plenary session in the afternoon. The sessions’ enthusiastic
participants shared ideas and success stories, learned about exciting
new programs, and identified opportunities for partnerships to improve
recreation resources across the country.
The Forum’s morning sessions covered the following key topics:
recreational access to public lands; the role played by partnerships
and volunteerism in enhancing recreational opportunities; travel,
tourism and recreation on public lands; and linkages between youth
service organizations and public lands. The afternoon’s plenary session
featured welcoming remarks by federal land management agency leaders,
reports from the five regional forums and the morning’s four topical
sessions, comments from several special young people, and presentations
from leading national recreation organizations.
The key officials who addressed the Forum included: Joel Holtrop,
Deputy Chief of the National Forest System; James Hughes, Acting
Director of the Bureau of Land Management; Geoff Haskett, Assistant
Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Steve Stockton, Deputy
Director of Civil Works for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Steve
Whitesell, Centennial Coordinator for the National Park Service. Each
agency leader emphasized the importance of recreation, the value of
public lands as recreation resources, and the critical role of partners
in sustaining America’s support for these special lands and waters.
“Recreation is a way to connect children and all Americans to their
public lands,” noted the Forest Service’s Joel Holtrop, “and our
partners and friends help to sustain America’s support for protecting
these resources.”
Participants from each regional forum traveled to Washington to deliver
their reports at this national gathering. Overall, more than 1,000
people attended the regional forums, which, the reporters noted, were
marked by high levels of energy and contagious enthusiasm about working
together to build and improve recreation programs. Complete reports on
the regional forums will be available online at www.funoutdoors.com.
Those reporting on the morning’s topical sessions, which were attended
by more than 150 participants, noted extraordinary new opportunities
for collaboration and included dozens of recommendations for future
actions, partnerships, and programs to improve and diversify outdoor
recreation experiences.
Finding ways to connect children and nature through recreation has been
a continuing theme at all the forums. To highlight the heightened
national interest in connecting youth with the outdoors, Josh Morrison,
15-year-old founder of “Geeks in the Woods,” and a youth panel of
Andrew Michael Neill from Campfire USA and Jamar W. Coleman of the
Montgomery County Conservation Corps discussed how they had become
interested in outdoor experiences and how to engage young people in
outdoor recreation and resource conservation. Describing his generation
as “indoors children,” Josh said, “What do we want to do outside?
Absolutely nothing...unless you can show us the ‘YO’ factor...unless
you can explain how we are linked to the outdoors and the
planet...unless you can relate it directly to our life. If you can make
it personal and global we will listen.”
The National Forum also provided an important opportunity for more than
25 dynamic private-sector recreation community leaders to spotlight
successful programs and recommend actions to ensure high quality
recreation experiences on the nation’s public lands and waters for
Americans of all ages, backgrounds and interests. Common themes raised
during the presentations included: the role of outdoor recreation in
strengthening family ties; the contribution of recreation on public
land to improving Americans’ health; the use of technology to enhance
recreation experiences; the importance of overcoming challenges to
recreation access; and the role of private-sector partners and
volunteers in both marketing and providing visitor services.
A final report on all the Recreation Forums will be delivered to the
recreation community on May 22, 2007 during a special event featuring
remarks by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, and the
announcement of the first recipients of the Forest Service’s new “More
Kids in the Woods” grant program.
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