I had such a thrill yesterday connecting with land loving friends in Berkeley, CA at the Bay Area Open Space Council’s Rainy Season Gathering to discuss how we might better connect people to land in a relevant way.
The following is re-posted from the Bay Area Open Space Council Blog – start from the bottom and work your way up! It’s the next best thing to being there!
It’s raining in the Bay Area!  The Rainy Season Gathering brought the rain to Berkeley.  It’s official.  (for those of you reading this from …

Get out Saturday to enjoy and support your local public lands.

National Parks are free to enter!

Click to find a location near you!
 

 What is National Public Lands Day?
National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer event for public lands in the United States. In 2011, NPLD will be held on September 24, 2011. Register a site for NPLD or volunteer.
NPLD began in 1994 with three sites and 700 volunteers. It proved to be a huge success and NPLD became a yearly tradition, typically held on the last Saturday in September.  Since the …

By Douglas “Birdman” Gray
I’ve seen some great birds lately. Some distinctive ones. Some rare ones. Some colorful ones. Some with very lovely songs. But the bird that impressed me most over the last month is, for the most part, none of those things.
This month’s featured bird is the impressive (for me anyway) Warbling Vireo.
Let’s face it; it’s been a long hot summer. In Indiana, all sorts of heat-related records have been set. But one thing I noticed, even while birding at heat indices well above 100 degrees, Warbling Vireos could …

Contributed by Brother Yusuf Burgess

This event is part of Children and Nature Network’s   Serve Outside September Campaign. The Green Tech High BOYS OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP TEAM (BOLT) will participate in the clean-up and landscape improvement of one of Albany, New York’s African American historic landmarks. The Stephen and Harriet Myers House (official name: Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence) is a historic home located in Albany County, New York. It was built in 1847 and is a 2 1/2-story brick townhouse in the Greek Revival style. It is three bays wide, …

“How big will the piranhas be?”
Submitted by Outdoor Afro Brandon Pope, CIG, Education Specialist at the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center. His blog exemplifies the need for relevant outdoor leadership to help youth feel more comfort and at ease to explore nature for the first time. Click to enlarge the wonderful pictures below:
Our agency recently hosted a three days/two nights float trip on the Current River in Southeast Missouri for 33 boys from Kansas City. None of them had ever tried any type of outdoor recreational activities outside of sports. So camping, canoeing, …

Recently, I had the pleasure of spending time on Maryland’s Eastern shore with colleagues, Akiima Price, Chief of Education Programs at the New York Restoration Project, David Greaves, the Black Employment Program Officer for the EPA, and Nick Clemons, a National Park Ranger at Assateague Island National Seashore. Hosted and organized by the Maryland Coastal Bays Program and Assateague State Park, Get Out! Get Green! Get Paid! was an important opportunity to connect with nearly 200 youth, ages 14-25, to help them consider a sustainable career and lifestyle within nature.

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program …

Here is a wonderful short video produced by my friend and trusted colleague, Dudley Edmonsdon. He eloquently captures this tribute to nature in words and pictures. Set to jazz and narrated by naturalist friends Audrey Peterman, Shelton Johnson, and Hank Williams Jr., (all featured in his groundbreaking book, Black and Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places) he reminds us of the generous gifts and peace nature provides.
Nature from Dudley Edmondson on Vimeo.

Nature from Dudley Edmondson on Vimeo.

What do you notice in nature?

By Danielle N. Lee Outdoor Afro Contributor and author of Urban Science Adventures! ©
Denene Millner and her family set up a tent
It’s summertime and the living is easy, especially if you’re a kid.  Schools out and fun is all that is on their hyperactive minds.  We adults still have jobs to attend, bills to pay and bellies to feed, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t be on the same page, at least for a single night. So, what’s the best way to enjoy the summer with your kiddos that’s fun, affordable, and …

Saturday, June 11th
10 am to 2 pm
Meet at Rob Hill Campground
Did you know that the Presidio is a birding hotspot in the Bay Area? After a short “binocular bootcamp and birding basics” youth ages 8 to 15 and their families will join experienced birders in teams on different routes throughout the Presidio. After an easy 2 hour walk counting observed bird life, groups will return to Rob Hill Campground to tally their numbers during lunch. The day be topped off with presentations of the day’s numbers by…kids!
Lunch will not be provided, so we recommend …

Your Local REI Invites You to Volunteer this Summer for
National Trails Day on June 4th!
Thanks to the efforts of the American Hiking Society, National Trails Day is celebrating 19 years of hosting volunteer events across the country. This nationwide event is a great opportunity for families

to enjoy the outdoors together. As a national sponsor of National Trails Day, REI invites you to get outside, have fun, and feel good about volunteering on Saturday, June 4th.

REI employee Chuck Courts giving a trail some TLC
 

The …