Beyond snorkeling and SCUBA diving, most of us have limited ability to explore underwater.  Even given these skills, we are still limited by depth and the amount of time that we can stay under water at one time.  A select few have access to submersible vehicles and can extend this a bit more, but serious […]

  The U.S. Postal Service has begun previewing a series of postage stamps commemorating the 100th anniversary of the National Parks.  The 16 new stamps will be officially released on June 2.   The first-day-of-issue ceremony will take place at New York City’s Javits Center at 11 a.m. as part of World Stamp Show-NY 2016. Dedication ceremonies also will take place […]

The United States Mint began issuing a series of 56 quarters featuring the National Parks as part of their America the Beautiful Quarters Program. This year is the seventh year of the program and five new quarters will be issued. I mentioned in the Friday News last November that the U.S. mint had their designs for a series of […]

The National League of Cities has an initiative called Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN).  The initiative is intended to “ensure that all children have the opportunity to play, learn and grow in nature, from city parks to the great outdoors.”  Partners include  National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education & Families (IYEF), the Children & Nature […]

Virtually everyone that enjoys exploring the outdoors as an adult had one or more defining outdoor experience as a kid.  Families often provide that experience with camping trips, days at the beach, hikes in the mountains and so on.  Various organizations are also instrumental in providing these experiences.  Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire and others offer […]

One of the places where outdoor recreation, particularly hiking or bicycling on major trails, meshes nicely with rural economic development programs is at trail towns.  Some local government and private agencies promote communities as trail towns after the towns develop linkages to trail systems, provide services of interest to hikers and bicyclists and show that they are […]

Eli the Elk That’s Eli Elk (middle name ‘the’ with a small ‘t’).  His message is “Conserve today for access tomorrow.”  Eli is the brainchild of The Corps Network.  The Corps Network is a group of agencies and organizations that enroll young adults in development programs that provide them with job training, academic programming, leadership skills, and additional […]

2015 Winners The North Face recently announced the final winners of the 2015 Explore Fund $500,000 grants program funding 47 organizations throughout the U.S. The North Face Explore Fund chose projects that use outdoor exploration as the catalyst for positive, personal or societal change, provide experiences that nurture an appreciation of the outdoors or encourage participants […]

The Mission of 21CSC The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–23, it was eventually expanded to young men ages 17–28. Since the days of the CCC, […]

SCORP The title is a mouth full, but Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plans (SCORP) are a critical component in getting you the outdoor recreation opportunities you enjoy so much.  All of the states have a SCORP and update them every five years.  The driver behind the SCORP is funding for recreation projects through the Federal Land […]