Outdoor Nation!
June 19-20, 2010
New York City
Outdoor Afro had the wonderful experience this past weekend to be a part of Outdoor Nation, a youth summit designed to reconnect America’s youth to the great outdoors and inform organizations of what youth care about most. This was also the first official listening session as a part of Obama’s Great Outdoors Conference this past spring.
The event began with a mixer Friday night sponsored by Backpacker Magazine. Leadership from The North Face, VF Outdoors (TNF parent company), The Natural Leaders Network (Children and Nature Network), New York Restoration Project, Student Conservation Association, Bay Area Wilderness Training, New York Parks Recreation, 
Sierra Club, American Hiking Society, and many others gathered on the rooftop of the Arsenal Building in Central Park. Everyone seemed to enjoy the warm summer sunset, great libation, and engaging conversation that expanded networks, considered the barriers of outdoor engagement, and anticipated the hundreds of youth set to arrive the following day.
Saturday’s events began at noon in the park and the public turnout was amazing! Thanks to much local publicity, many hundreds of people, including several families with children, came and participated in rock climbing, kayaking, trampoline jumping, and hoola-hooping, as part of a treasure hunt to engage with the activity vendors and the various orgs. Each interaction earned stamps in the event’s passport booklet to win prizes. I had a blast working with Kyle McDonald, CEO and founder of Bay Area Wilderness Training at The North Face Planet Explore table to share with the public how to use the social network to connect with regional and local organizations’ events and activities.
Later that afternoon was the official start of the Youth Summit in an outdoor tented area of the park. Nearly 600 youth from all over the Unites States came to town representing several organizations to share what they cared about related to the outdoors. About 35% of those youth were youth of color, many visiting New York City for the first time. Outdoor Afro connected with Brother Yusuf and his stunning youth group from Albany's (NY) Green Tech High Charter School, Mickey Fearn, Deputy Director of the National Parks, and Bay Area friends Steve Hagler of the Stewardship Council, Zakiya Harris of Grind for the Green, Ernesto Pepito of the Crissy Field Center, and many others for an impromptu reunion.
After an introduction and welcome by event organizers and sponsors, such as North Face CEO Steve Rendle, the youth were divided into various organizational themes or “tracks” to help guide their brainstorming process. Themes such as Diversity, Health and Active Lifestyles, Media and Culture, Careers, Service, and Recreation/Education were matched with issue experts who helped guide conversations that revealed a depth of thought and sophistication these youth had when contemplating how they care to engage with the outdoors - or not. Importantly, ideas generated by these youth can help them to apply for the newly minted Explore Fund, a $2,500 grant to spark and sustain outdoor youth participation where these kids live. The evening concluded with a youth pizza mixer at the North Face offices hosted by the Sierra Club and Juan Martinez and the Natural Leaders Network contingent.
The following morning, White House officials from the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Labor and the National Parks facilitated the listening session to brainstorm answers to core questions; identify opportunities, and there were more in-depth track discussions to review and prioritize the top ideas of these sessions. Check out the Outdoor Nation website for more details about the conference outcomes.
It was a tremendous opportunity to hear youth voices, such as the African American young lady from environmentally impacted Bay View Hunters Point (San Francisco, CA) who lamented that she grew up thinking that asthma was normal because "every child in the community had it," she said. With so much disheartening news related to the Gulf and its recovery, it was affirming to witness a return to the conversation of outdoor engagement among youth as one important step to help ensure a future of environmental recovery, sustainability, and justice.
A very special thanks to The North Face for making it possible for Outdoor Afro to take part in such an important and ground-breaking event.
It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
I saw this picture and I simply thought: Evocative! The water, the warmth, the smell of fresh green things...happy summer Outdoor Afros. I hope you all get to make memories like this one!
Photo courtesy of Tyson Simmons, who is pictured here with his sister at Colorado Bend State Park.
Spotted on Sunday - Coast to Coast!
More and more Outdoor Afros are getting outside as the weather warms up!
Dianne Glave was spotted in Tennessee trying to beat the heat on a hike with a group at the Lucius Burch State Natural Area in Cordova and Germantown, Tennessee about 20 minutes outside Memphis.
On the other side of the country this weekend, Zeon K. was spotted trail running on Old San Pedro Mountain in Montara, CA above Grey Whale Cove!
Each week, post your SOS pictures on facebook, or email them to us to help more people of color be visible in the outdoors!
Urban Hiking with the Beckwourth Outdoors Club
Photos courtesy of Andrea Juarez
Many participants in the Outdoor Afro community are long-standing members of Beckwourth Outdoors, a Denver-based nonprofit organization that provides year-round outdoor activities for kids and adults and educates the public about the contributions made by people-of-color in the West. The organization was founded in 1993 as the James P. Beckwourth Mountain Club, and now they are commonly known as simply Beckwourth Outdoors.
Winston Walker just sent Outdoor Afro some fun photos from a recent rainy day urban ramble walk with fellow Beckwourth Outdoors members in the Lower Highland neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. This walk has been a tradition for the club since 1999.
Walker says, "the rain just added something special to our 4-mile walk to view eclectic architecture and beautiful residential and community gardens." The group poked their heads into the local shops and picked up snacks along the way, weaving in and out of art districts, business districts, former mining town areas, and historic districts that tell the story of early growth in the West.
We appreciate hearing stories of outings like this one as an example of outdoor enjoyment that doesn't require trekking miles away from where one might live -- that local, urban spaces are just as important to appreciate and explore as unchartered back country. Hike on Beckwourth!
For more information about this dynamic organization, visit their website!
Botanical Gardens: An Urban Refuge
Looking for something fun to do with friends for Memorial Day, we finally decided to visit the Tilden Park Botanical Garden in Berkeley, California.
A botanic garden is a terrific place to go for an easy refuge from nearby urban spaces, and a chance to visualize the diversity and importance of plants in a natural environment.
Spanning ten acres, the Tilden Park Botanical Garden was designed in the 1940's as a preservation area, and showcase of California plants including rare and endangered grasses, shrubs, trees, and flowers. The area features a year-round creek that runs through the gently sloping site into a cool rainforest preserve with several grassy enclaves for picnicking or quiet meditation. And for those who want to learn about the wide array of plants, many species are labeled by name and region.
According the garden’s website, it includes “nearly all of California's conifers and oaks as well as collections of California manzanitas wild lilacs, grasses, aquatic plants, and flowering bulbs that are among the most complete to be found anywhere.” A visit here is indeed a virtual tour of the Golden State.
But did you know that botanical gardens are found near or within urban centers all over the country?
Here is a website that lists the best botanical gardens across the United States.
What is your favorite Botanical Garden? What do you like to do there?
Bay Area Open Space Council Honors a Legacy of Conservation
Photos by Rob Brodman
I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the Bay Area Open Space Council Conference organized by Breaking the Color Barrier alumna and Executive Director Bettina Ring to celebrate and reflect on 20 years of conservation in the Bay Area and beyond. At the capacity filled event in the beautiful Presidio Club House was a dynamic mix of individuals and organizations who shared a range of data and stories: from the good news of how the San Francisco Bay Area has benefited from preserving its open spaces, to the sobering reality of childhood obesity and other health problems plaguing urban youth today because of a lack of connection to the spaces in their own neighborhood.
Thus, the conference represented a thoughtful look back at battles won and lost, but also a look forward to what is possible through fostering new collaborations that stretch beyond business as usual. Over the course of the day, we consistently heard the message of how engaging underserved and diverse communities is no longer an option, but intrinsic to the ecological survival of all, echoing what is commonly known about the benefits of plant and wildlife diversity. Therefore this conference underscored a necessary shift from simply preserving acres to preserving the people who live on them.
Elizabeth Goldstein, President of the California State Parks Foundation shared compelling California State Parks data that proves that people care about their local parks "no matter their financial circumstances, background, or where they live," she said. The across-the-board support of the upcoming ballot measure that begins to address a decade of repair and maintenance backlogs and threats of park closures proves this.
The health benefits of outdoor engagement were also highlighted by Daphne Miller, MD, who shared that in addition to the known physical health benefits, there are some in the medical community who believe that time spent in outdoor spaces is beneficial for those suffering from depression, starting with just five-minutes a day outside.
Also in the building were Outdoor Afro favorites Dr. Carolyn Finney of UC Berkeley, who moderated a dynamic panel of youngish adults, like Ernesto Pepito from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, regarding the cross generation challenges and potential for collaboration, and Hazel Wong of The Nature Conservancy, who shared how the ballot is a powerful conduit to land, wildlife, and water protection.
New friend Laurie Schoeman also passionately related her experiences on the front line of the financial, environmental, and demographic hardships facing Bay View Hunter's Point residents in San Francisco. Her silver lining is the recent opening of a green, community staffed EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park that came into fruition in spite of debilitating state funding obstacles.
Other conference highlights included a touching video retrospective of the Bay Area conservation movement, Golden Gate National Recreation Area Superintendent Brian O'Neill (1941-2009) and Conservation Legend Edward Wayburn, narrated by Doug McConnell of Bay Area Back Roads. A concluding poetry reading by Poet Laureate Robert Hass wowed the crowd with poems authored by children. Those poems proved to us all how powerfully youth connect to natural spaces when given a chance.
Overall, the conference was profoundly engaging, bringing together friends old and new. I was delighted to hear throughout the day an echo of the message heard in Washington DC last month: connection and engagement with natural spaces is for everyone -- and I am looking forward to seeing and taking part in next steps to make this vision a reality.
Jenna Burton is Red, Bike, and Green!
I met Jenna Burton last month at a bike ride in the San Francisco Bay Area that was just too much fun -- the Red, Bike, and Green ride she and her friends organize each month. The ride meandered through urban terrain as diverse as the people who live in it, and I can't recall laughing so much on a bike ride! Here is my interview with Jenna, who shares some of what she loves about cycling and the outdoors:
What is an early memory of riding your bike?
My dad taught me how to ride a bike. When I was a kid I was never allowed to go very far on my bike unless I was with my dad. He and I would ride everywhere. In hindsight, I realize how unusual that was for black folks in my hometown to hop on a bike and just ride all afternoon.
Describe your favorite bike.
I'm still learning about bikes but I really love the one that I have now. It's a Bianchi Eros. It's light weight and it is the perfect size for me. I experienced a lot on my bike - the most memorable being the AIDS ride from San Francisco to L.A. My bike was so good to me, I didn't catch a single flat!
How did the RBG ride come together? It's intentions?
RBG started with me reaching out to a bunch of friends and saying, "Hey, let's start a bike group!" The whole thing started by word of mouth. We would just invite people that we knew had bikes and would be down for something like this, told folks to bring friends, and hoped for a good turn out. Needless to say, we got off to a slow start. I think it's 
because none of us were exactly sure what we wanted this thing to look like - we just wanted to see black people on bikes. We saw bike riding as a unique approach to bringing people together and actively responding to the issues around health, environment and economic status within the black community. Now we see RBG as a way to build community and promote health.
Describe the type of people who ride with RGB?
What else do you like to do in the outdoors?
I like hiking. I've been living in California for about four and a half years and I've gained so much appreciation for nature and all of this beauty around me! Hiking allows me to take it all in and connect with my surroundings. It's really meditative.
To learn more about the Red, Bike, and Green Rides, visit their website or find them on facebook!
The Black Cyclone
In keeping with the theme of cycling, I was just "tagged" on Facebook by fellow cyclist and ED of Richmond Spokes, Brian Drayton in the following photos:
The photos are of Marshall “Major” Taylor, which were a pleasant surprise, as I had no idea that he even existed!
More about this man’s life can be found here and here. But basically, he was a turn of the century record breaker in cycling who also broke through the lines of discrimination.
But the most poignant reason to share these images, is that they are yet another reminder that African American engagement with outdoor activities is not at all new.
What is your family history involving bike riding?
Outdoor Afro Birders!
Outdoor Afro/Golden Gate Audubon Birdathon Trip
Saturday, May 8, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline
Yesterday a group of Outdoor Afro fans from the San Francisco Bay Area convened at Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline. The occasion was the Golden Gate Audubon Birdathon, but the trip ended up as a leisurely education on birds and their habitat led by veteran birder and GGA docent Judith Dunham. This was a relatively unknown part of East Oakland for some of the participants, many of whom have lived in the area for many years.
We started at the Arrowhead Marsh parking lot and walked along the path to the boardwalk, then returned and enjoyed lunch (that included some home made cornbread muffins) on the dock near the channel. Over lunch, Rue read from Camile Dungy's book, Black Nature, a favorite poem The Hummingbird, by Cyrus Cassells.
Next, we drove to Damon Slough and looked at birds in the bay and the seasonal pond. We saw a wonderful variety of birds. Some, like the herons and egrets, live here year-round. Others, like the Long-billed Dowitchers and Black-bellied Plovers, will soon migrate north to the places where they breed. As an extra bonus, we saw American Coots with young and Mallards with ducklings. Thanks to everyone for making this such a rewarding trip!
Never Too Late to Discover the Outdoors
I had an amazing childhood, but did not know about a lot of opportunities that were available to me.
I met Karen last week at a local college event, and discovered we had some wonderful things in common, such as motherhood, blogging, and a passion for the outdoors. Karen shares with us how she discovered outdoor recreation, and what it means to her family today.
What experiences did you have as a youth that influence how you interact with natural spaces today?
As a kid, other than going to a local park to play, or playing in my own yard, I did not do a lot when it came to outdoor recreation. And as a young adult, my idea of working out was going to the local gym. Which is not a bad thing, but it can be limiting.
How did your relationship with the outdoors change as you grew older and why?
When I met my husband, he exposed me to a whole new world of outdoor recreation. We went hiking, skiing, swimming, camping, and saw amazing waterfalls and scenery on various trails. Our kids love these activities, and are now amazing soccer players that can out run me any day. They also really enjoy rock climbing at a local gym for kids and adults.
What are some favorite things you enjoy doing with your family?
Once a year, my family goes to Tahoe for long snow trip weekend. We go with a couple of friends and family. It is always such a blast! Lots of snow, sledding, food and fun.
What is on your bucket list?
I would really love taking a Zero-Gravity flight, where you can float like an astronaut in space. That looks like a lot of fun!
Any final thoughts?
Yes! While growing up, I was not exposed to all the outdoor activities that are out there. I had an amazing childhood, but did not know about a lot of opportunities that were available to me. My kids have no idea how lucky 
they are to be able to do all the things they can do today. I never went on snow trips, stayed in cabins at Tahoe , went on hikes, or had a chance to experience rock climbing as a child. I think that people have to realize and be educated that it does not matter what race you are, or what culture you come from - any one can go out with family and friends and enjoy the out doors. It's not just for one race of people or culture, anyone can enjoy it! Go skying, sky diving, swim with dolphins, go hiking in the mountains and look at amazing waterfalls. It is something that we can all enjoy and is more attainable than most people think.
Karen lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two daughters, ages 9 and 11.