Belle Isle State Park
Cheryl Lockett-Oliver, 30-something wife, mom and Richmond, Virginia resident of 20 years shares with Outdoor Afro some shots of her and her school age sons hanging out recently on Belle Isle, a small island and Virginia State Park in the James River once used in the past as a prison for union soldiers during the Civil War. Now it’s a popular destination because of the breathtaking views of the adjacent city and skyline.
Cheryl says, “There are several bike trails around the island so you always see people out there biking, running, walking or skipping rocks like we did. I have seen people out there kayaking and I think they even do some rock climbing there.”
Typically, Cheryl enjoys running and biking with the family. She says, "We try to get outside as much as possible, and expand our horizons. We want to go camping, but have not gotten there yet!"
For more information about Belle Isle State Park, visit their website
Outdoor Nation Special Report
Remember the Outdoor Nation Youth Summit of over 500 youth from all over the US last June in New York City's Central Park I attended? Well, the event organizers, the Outdoor Foundation, just released the data collected from the participants, and the findings are fascinating, resulting in a report that offers five top recommendations to President Obama to inform his America's Great Outdoors Initiative including:
1. Engage, Employ and Empower Youth by working with Outdoor Nation and its community of Outsiders.
2. Engage Youth in the Outdoors during the School Day by collaborating with the Department of Education and local school leadership to engage school children in outdoor learning opportunities and active time outdoors at school.
3. Increase the Number of Safe and Accessible Green Spaces, particularly in low-income communities with significant health disparities, by eliminating park, playground and natural space desserts where they exist.
4. Support Close-to-Home Outdoor Recreation by providing resources to parents and caregivers that help address the barriers to allowing unstructured outdoor play.
5. Strengthen Outreach to New Audiences at all relevant agencies by integrating 21st Century communications tools such as mapping devices, iPhone applications, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other tools that will increase the visibility of our parks and natural spaces.
"This Special Report for President Obama represents some of the best ideas and recommendations for protecting America's great outdoors," said Christine Fanning, executive director for The Outdoor Foundation. "For the first time, empowered young leaders from across the country are speaking with one voice about outdoor programs and policies -- and being heard. We look forward to working with the Administration to implement these forward-looking concepts."
Click here to download the full report.
Do you think anything is missing from the report? What might you add to it?
For more information about the Outdoor Foundation visit: www.outdoorfoundation.org
My Square Mile
Contributed by Michael David Cobb Bowen, the political & cultural blogger 'Cobb'. He brings up the timely topic of youth getting outdoors, through a personal reflection of play as a child in Southern California.
Spence asks a critical question about our trust in society. How far could you roam as a kid? I was surprised to discover that although I felt like I had a virtual infinity by the time I went to high school, before I was 14 years old it was basically one square mile.
This little grid from Google maps is where I grew up. LA 90016. We had pretty much everything we wanted in that square. Football, basketball, swimming, box tag, skateboarding, fruit tree raids, capture the flag, chicken, ditch, hide and go get it, drag out and dozens of other ghetto games that kept our attention. By the time I was 14, I took the bus to Venice Beach (9 miles) or to Hollywood Roller Rink (7 miles).
But during that childhood, we took a whole lot of trips up to the Angeles National Forest and we took a lot of neighborhood kids too. So there was an interesting sense of mobility in that.
In fact, as I think of it, a great deal of my own mobility and comfort with that came from camping. I can't think of any other black kids or families that spent much time in the Army surplus stores for trips up the Angeles Crest. But it seemed like we were up in them hills every weekend ever summer and at least once every snow. We would bring back snow to the 'hood and have snowball fights right in our front yard. Then we would go to summer camp with the Crenshaw Y at Big Bear and with the Episcopal Church down in San Diego County near the town of Julian.
My kids get a mix of travel and activity. But we just don't turn them loose in the streets. I will always lament the loss of improvisation today's kids have because of their lack of unsupervised pickup game protocols. But they have other things we couldn't imagine, like online friends in game networks. It's a different world, but not necessarily worse.
Brother Yusuf’s Corner – September
Green Tech High Charter School Students in Albany, New York Get Youth Outdoors and Prepared for “Green Youth Leadership”
Brother Yusuf Burgess, Outdoor Afro Contributor
Black Forest Lodge - Cornwall, NY
This summer the Green Tech High Charter School’s BOYS OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP TEAM (B.O.L.T.) was successful at getting 18 participants certified in Outdoor Leadership by the Sierra Club. This Outing Leadership Workshop was held at the Black Forest Lodge, in New York’s Catskill Mountains. This place is worth visiting just for the locale and the lodge itself. It’s close to Bear Mountain and West Point, NY. Both amazing locations in themselves. The lodge had a huge outdoor deck, good spacious rooms accommodating up to 8 per room and compostable toilets! The lodge sleeps 60 and is a "green" home for everything from research symposia to yoga retreats.
The Sierra Outing Leadership Workshop is the nationally-managed program charged with developing new and seasoned leaders from Local (Group & Chapter Outings), Inner City Outings (ICO), and National Outings (the trips listed in Sierra magazine). Brand new recruits with no program affiliation were welcomed as well. This workshop fulfills the Sierra Club's OLT 101 and OLT 201 requirements.
The Green Tech High students, teachers and volunteers learned how to plan safe and successful multi-day outings, enhance their competence and confidence in leading groups, and enhance their competence and confidence in achieving good group behavior and further their awareness and involvement in the conservation work of the
Sierra Club. Other topics included Conservation through Outings, Trip Planning, Outings Nuts and Bolts, First Aid Kits, Leave No Trace and an Emergency Response Scenario. This workshop was designed to focus more on the interpersonal skills associated with outdoor leadership. These "softer" skills are vital to being a successful leader. These skills include learning how to manage your group, how to create a positive group dynamic, and how to practice a safety-based planning and delivery of an outing.
As the Family Intervention Specialist at Green tech High and one of the lead coordinators of the school’s “Going Green” initiative, we were a group of 45+ Sierrans from all over the tri-state with two purposes in mind for this weekend- to learn all we can about how to lead a successful hike and hopefully to take a hike or two ourselves, being that we were surrounded by unspoilt nature.
All of the young students from Green Tech High and the teachers and volunteers had a fun time outdoors and a great experience in the workshops with the Sierra Club trainers. We ended Saturday by learning about David Brower - Sierra Club’s first executive director. The movie we saw on how David Brower and others reinforced all the great work Sierra Club has hisoritcally been involved in, including the nationalization of the 10 parks and seashore including Redwoods, Pt. Reyes and Cascades.
Our next step is to structure an Eco-Outings Club at Green Tech High and invite our incoming 9th graders, the 8th graders from the Middle Schools and their parents to “Get Outdoors And Learn”
In conclusion, we encourage all to check out any local outdoor activities in your area. There are plenty of organizations and clubs, there’s always of course sierraclub.org. Lets invite others to the restorative power of the outdoors and move forward on a mission to “Leave No Child Inside”.
Bird of the Month – September
Douglas "Birdman" Grey, Outdoor Afro Contributor
If you haven't noticed...birds tend to fascinate me. This month's feathered friend is like no other. It must be the engineering side of me that marvels at the feats of this month's tiny avian creation.
We in the engineering world often use the term "operational parameters" when describing a machine or system's capabilities. It is the operational parameters of this month's bird, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which fascinate and marvel me. Here are just a few of these interesting parameters to which I refer:
- They're able to fly forwards, backwards, sideways, up, down, and stop and hover in one spot (and for short distances they can even fly upside-down).
- They can fly up to 60 miles per hour.
- They can flap their wings 60-80 times per second in normal flight...but can beat them 200 times per second during courtship dives.
- At rest, their heart beats around 250 times per minute, but during flight their heart beats about 1300 times per minute.
- They migrate for thousands of miles...but the most fascinating thing about their migration is that many make a huge jump across the Gulf of Mexico. A trip of about 500-600 miles, which they are able to do non-stop. (All from a bird that weighs only 0.1 ounce.)
- They almost consume their entire weight in nectar, sap, sugar water, and insects every day. When in its active state, a hummingbird will starve to death if it doesn't eat every few hours.
- Hummingbirds are not only the world's smallest bird, but the smallest known animal with a backbone.
- Hummingbird eggs are so small, that a penny could cover 3 of them completely.
- Hummingbirds can see and hear better than we humans, but they cannot smell.
- Hummingbirds only live here in the Western Hemisphere. (About 340 different species)
OK...I'll stop...I could easily continue, but you get the point. Hummingbirds are "very" interesting indeed.
One of my most memorable bird watching sights this year involved a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. While out birding one day, I had the opportunity to observe a "hummer" delicately and precisely dine on insects that it would pluck out of a spider’s nest. What would seem to be an almost impossible task by any other creature, this hummingbird conquered without any difficulty whatsoever. When the builder of the web came out in protest, it was quickly plucked out just as easily as the trapped insects. Watching this bird eat these insects and spider made me realize that these birds eat a lot more protein than I had previously thought; something I was able to research and verify.
Not only am I impressed with the hummingbird because of its abilities, but in my opinion, hummingbirds are some of the world's most beautiful birds. I'm sure the Spaniards who first laid eyes on them thought so too...because when these early explorers saw them for the first time they called them "Joyas Voladoras" or "Flying Jewels". A very fitting name indeed!
If you get the chance, check out the making of a wonderful film on hummingbirds.
If you have time to watch the entire PBS nature video "Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air" check it out!
Douglas “Birdman” Gray has been birding almost all of his life. He grew up on a family farm near Clarksville, Tennessee, where they grew crops ranging from apricots to wheat, and most things in between. They also raised chickens, guineas, pigs, horses, and a cow named.......Apples. Doug’s grandfather identified the birds they would see daily on the farm.
Doug now resides in Indianapolis and works in Parenteral Engineering with Eli Lilly and Company. Most of his current birding takes place in Indiana, with a concentration on Central Indiana, where he leads bird walks for "Backyard Birds". Doug can be reached at 317-255-7333.
Join the Natural Leaders in a Day of Service
The Natural Leaders Network has joined forces with Sierra Club’s Serve Outdoors initiative to remember and honor September 11th through outdoor service. For the generation that came of age after 9/11, 2001, service has become an important part of life. For many, service means standing up for our neighborhoods, our communities, our country and our natural world. Through service, diverse young Americans are taking the lead in building a foundation for a healthy and equitable future.
For so many of us, the outdoors is a place of solace and refuge. This is also true for armed services members returning from overseas, firefighters taking a much needed break from work, and families facing tough economic realities. Together, the Natural Leaders Network and the Sierra Club, with the support of the Children & Nature Network, will observe the National Day of Service by engaging in and working to highlight, enhance, protect, and restore these vital outdoor spaces.
The Natural Leaders Network is honored to be part of this important day. We hope you will join us by visiting Serve Outdoors and hosting or participating in a service project in your community.
Yours,
The Natural Leaders Network
Outdoor Obamas
Just scanned the White House photostream on Flickr, and these lovely photos caught my eye. So nice to see how the adult Obamas model outdoor engagement for their own children. Check back for more "Outdoor Obama" sightings!
The Negro Motorist Green Book
But outdoor engagement for many African Americans was still happening in spite of these barriers, especially in places like the south. Leafing through the pages of my own family photos, my folks and other relatives are pictured outdoors and engaged in all sorts of recreational activities over the years, but the scene was most often a picnic on private land; backyards, or other neighborhood settings -- not at a National Park. For example, American Beach in Florida has historically been about celebrating family. Today, some of the community's original families still gather here for vacations.
"Camping began in the nineteenth century as an elite form of pilgrimage to the wild, but the arrival of inexpensive automobiles in the early twentieth century greatly expanded camping's social diversity. The change was not universally embraced, especially when African Americans were involved, and the issue came to a head during the 1930s after two racially segregated national parks were opened in southern states. As complaints flowed in, William J. Trent, Jr., became adviser for Negro affairs to Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes. He had no special interest in the outdoors or national parks, but Trent championed increased African American access to the parks and an end to discrimination in them. NPS leadership resisted Trent's efforts until Secretary Ickes ordered them to create one nonsegregated demonstration area in Shenandoah National Park in 1939. The policy was extended to other areas in 1941 and the next year, with World War II shifting into high gear, campground and other forms of segregation were ended throughout the park system."
Today we each have an important opportunity to make a difference related to who engages with our natural and public spaces. There is a monumental effort happening at a national level and across many organizations to reconnect all Americans to the outdoors not seen since Roosevelt. Since my trip to Washington DC for the America's Great Outdoors Conference last spring, senior White House Officials have traveled all over the country hosting listening sessions to collect inspired ideas from people of all walks of life to map out ways to connect more Americans to the outdoors. The data collected will be presented to President Obama in a report due in November of this year. And even if you cannot make one of the upcoming listening sessions in a town near you, please make sure to add your ideas to the official AGO website.
Outdoor Afro Project: Ask your parents or grandparents how they engaged with natural spaces while growing up, especially if they lived during the pre-Civil Rights era. Post your findings here in the comments. You may also mail in photos to be featured in a follow-up blog post.
Read: Frank and Audrey Peterman's book, Legacy on the Land, about the history of the National Parks and people of color.
All Things Fair — In Missouri!
By Danielle Lee, Urban Science Adventures
I've spent the last week at the 108th Annual Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri. It was a lovely week. I was there doing science outreach, participating in the 4 Days of Hands-on Science Fun which included a Street Science Fair, Show Me Robotics Showcase & Competition, and Aerospace Fun Day. Plus, there were the agricultural exhibits and showcases. I loved it all. it really reminded me of my agricultural roots.
When I was younger, I would go to the Mid-South Fair and Libertyland housed on the Fairgrounds in Memphis, Tennessee. I loved it: the rides, the games, the food. Being a city kid, I thought that's what the fair was all about. It wasn't until college - majoring in Animal Science that I came to know that wasn't what the Fair was about at all. Fairs are about the agriculture and home economics achievements of everyday folk - the people who grind and work to make their daily lives out of hard work and simple materials. It was eye-opening to learn not only about the science of raising livestock, growing crops, and the economics of practical living, using all resources adequately and respectfully, as well as the creativity and artsmanship of both agriculture and home economic endeavors. I had a new appreciation of fairs that continues today.
So, as I spent time at the Missouri State Fair, I was more excited about the animal exhibits than the rides at the mid-way. But don't get me wrong. I still had all of my fair favorites: corn dogs, funnel cake, lemonade,turkey leg, roasted corn, plus fried green tomatoes. Nom, nom, nom..,
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Simple Pleasures
Remember these days?
Photo by Jessica Fernandez of her children and friends in their backyard