Outdoor FUTURE’s Post

Four years ago our family moved to Northern Michigan to heal from loss and start a new chapter. This move was never part of our long-term plan. I hadn't even been to Northern Michigan until ten years ago. But somehow, this beautiful path unfolded leading us to a place I hope we will get to call home forever. I have come to deeply appreciate how proximity to water, beautiful trails, four season activities, and precious public lands can directly serve one's physical and mental health needs. Looking out onto Lake Michigan during some of the hardest moments of my life allowed me to breathe, recover. And, I have come to feel unbelievably protective of these important resources. I had the pleasure of presenting alongside of a dear friend and special leader, Josh Traeger, at yesterday's Heart of the Lakes MI Outdoor Summit. This inspiring event, one beautifully orchestrated by Jonathan Jarosz and team, brought together a diverse group of organizations and leaders doing tremendous work to expand accessibility, stewardship, conscientiousness, and economic development in Michigan. Inspired by the conversations of yesterday, I have an ask, actually two. First, watch this video that so beautifully kicked off our Summit yesterday, reminding everyone in the room of WHY this work matters, what we all have a responsibility to enlighten future generations on, breakdown barriers to, and protect. And then consider giving back. It doesn't have to be much - or even money. But think about the precious resources you enjoy, the leaders driving change in your communities, and research organizations like Detroit Outdoors, Sierra Club, Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation (TART) Trails, Inc., The Nature Conservancy - then find a way to give time, resources, or other needs to the future successes of organizations doing the work day in and day out to enable us to share tomorrow with future generations.

Today is World Wildlife Conservation Day. At the Institute for Integrative Conservation we support wildlife around the globe by partnering with conservation organizations that take a people-focused approach to solutions. We look for opportunities that are both good for people and for the planet. Yes, humans often cause the challenges we address but they are also at the core of the solutions that will help us live in harmony with other forms of life on our shared planet. Why care? Why protect and support wildlife? Human society is utterly dependent on a thriving, living world. This is where our food, clean air, safe drinking water, much of our fuel and building materials, textiles, and pharmaceuticals come from. The natural world around us accounts for more than half of all economic activity. Plus, nature is just plain beautiful and brings so many people joy and respite. But we are losing wildlife at an alarming rate--faster than in recorded history and perhaps as fast as the mass extinction events in the geologic record. We are all conservationists and we can all act to help people live in better harmony with nature and wildlife. In this week of giving, you can help by supporting our work and the work of our global partners: https://lnkd.in/dzZNZn5z #biodiversity #wildlife #wildlifeconservationday #environmentaljustice #conservation #integrativeconservation

It was inspiring to witness Love Is King BIPOC leaders come together for a discussion with Senator Ron Wyden last Thursday. This meeting included a podcast filming focused on the protection of the Owyhee Canyon lands. The campaign aims to urge President Biden to establish a national monument, based on a widely supported proposal developed by Senator Wyden and co-sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley. Since 2019, Senator Wyden has collaborated with local ranchers, conservation organizations, tribal nations, sporting groups, and recreationists to create legislative proposals for protecting the Owyhee Canyon lands. The Malheur Community Empowerment of the Owyhee Act seeks to safeguard over 1.1 million acres of these lands as wilderness while promoting improved land management and addressing priorities for the Burns Paiute tribe and local ranchers. Despite receiving bipartisan support in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, its future in Congress remains uncertain. If Congress does not take action, President Biden can protect these lands by designating them as a national monument. The grassroots movement associated with Love Is King focuses on understanding how to make the Owyhee Canyon lands a national monument. It aims to foster awareness about these areas' significance for recreationists and educate communities about their value. Engaging with Senator Ron Wyden is crucial because it highlights BIPOC leaders representing their communities across various sectors while emphasizing diversity's importance—particularly concerning indigenous peoples. Diverse voices are essential in discussions about environmental justice since representation is often lacking in predominantly white spaces. Love Is King seeks to challenge this dynamic by collaborating with white allies from decision-making platforms, creating advocacy bridges that include BIPOC leaders who have stakes in public lands, freshwater resources, indigenous communities, and wildlife. By bringing together diverse ideas and voices alongside white allies who also have interests in these areas, we can build stronger alliances for advocacy aimed at preserving public lands and supporting wildlife as well as indigenous communities—vital components of our recreational spaces that serve as lifelines for many families. These connections provide healing through nature that everyone should access. Overall, engaging with Senator Ron Wyden regarding the importance of protecting the Owyhee Canyon lands was an enriching experience filled with promise for future collaboration.

Being from New Jersey, I get a lot of grief. One time on vacation in the Bahamas, we met a nice couple waiting in line for the hotel shuttle. "Where are you from, I asked?"  "Texas," the man responded. "And you?" "New Jersey," I said. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" was his response. Of course, if most people knew how incredible this state actually is, they'd change their tune. And top of the list for me is our state's natural beauty. If you love the outdoors like I do, New Jersey is an amazing place to live, boasting beautiful and diverse landscapes, from mountains to shoreline to forests in-between.   And that's why it was an honor and a privilege for us to partner with the New Jersey Conservation Foundation to redesign their website. Since 1960, the foundation has preserved over 140,000 acres of land - lands that they own and manage for public use, and through which they conserve the wildlife found therein. Our goal for the project was not only to highlight the amazing impact of NJCF's work, but to help get people outdoors. To that end, we created a "Find Nature" search engine that allows users to find a preserve near them, and appreciate the natural beauty that this great state has to offer.  (Check out the case study here): https://lnkd.in/erEDgFdP So, if you're from New Jersey and someone gives you a hard time, of course, pull the Springsteen card, but then tell them, "our trails are probably better than yours."   Oh, and by the way, if anybody knows how I should have responded to my friend the Texan, let me know below.

What happens when we bring communities together to help nature flourish? 💚 Published today, The Wildlife Trusts' report reveals the striking results of the Nextdoor Nature project, which was made possible thanks to £5 million funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 👐 For us, this funding allowed us to recruit two Wilder Communities Officers, Patrick and Helen, who worked alongside communities in the Priorswood and Holway areas of Taunton and the Westfield and Milford park area of Yeovil. Their work focused on being present in communities, listening to ideas, and helping to bring those ideas to life in a practical way. Ponds were dug and repaired, pollinator beds planted, bug hotels built, and bats monitored — the dedication of so many brilliant people working together for nature left Patrick and Helen feeling privileged to be part of their story. Although the Nextdoor Nature project has come to an end, its legacy lives on. In fact, Nextdoor Nature ran as one of the many projects that makes up Team Wilder, which feeds directly in to one of our vision for a Wilder Somerset 2030. What's Team Wilder? Well, in order for nature to recover, we need many more people on nature’s side. The science shows that if just 1 person in every 4 visibly takes action, this can be enough to change the minds and behaviour of the majority. 🌱 Find out more about Team Wilder, and how you can take action for nature: https://lnkd.in/eXb2qmRN 📊 Discover the impact of Nextdoor Nature: https://lnkd.in/ebhqUNxE #NationalLottery #NextdoorNature #Community #Wellbeing #Nature #Wildlife

I am a person whose life continues to be shaped by forests. I grew up in the 6 million acre Adirondack Park of Northern New York and intentionally still live here today. It is a mosaic of wilderness and working lands, endless trout ponds, high peaks, and habitat. 130,000 residents in 105 towns. Growing up, there were special memories of helping my grandparents cut their winter's firewood on our 46-acre wood lot. It was all hands on deck. My grandfather felled, my grandmother limbed and bucked, and us kids piled tops. When the wood was cut, there were spring and summer weekends when we would hike deep into the bigwoods of the Adirondacks Forest Preserve, looking for small, wild, beautiful brook trout. Forever Wild. I am shaped by all of this. I work in forest conservation because I love forests, and there is no other calling that is more important to me. What I'd like people to know is that sometimes the best way to protect a forest is to set it aside, and sometimes the best way to protect a forest is by managing it as a working forest, and that we can have both, and that we need both. How I'd like people to feel is hopeful. Hopeful about common values. Hopeful about partnerships. What I'd like people to do is to consider how we can move beyond binary, one-dimensional conversations and embrace complexity and ambiguity and listening. Here's celebrating our forests! #InternationalDayofForests

Walking SA attended the Conservation SA 'Civil Society Lunch with the Premier'- a lunchtime discussion with the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, about the needs of civil society to provide for healthy democracies. As a member of the conservation council, Walking SA were invited to participate in the discussion. Key takeaways are: * The need to strengthen civil society to find common ground and not enable divisive interests to prosper at the expense of the common good. * The role of nature, heritage and culture as fertile ground to bring people together and to ensure a sustainable and equitable future. * The need to reprioritise government spending to invest in the very things otherwise taken for granted - think re-distribution of wealth, preservation of natural resources and wild places, and environmental and cultural stewardship. Walking SA is proud to be part of critical discussions shaping the future of South Australia such as these. Find more about our advocacy: https://lnkd.in/gsZSucdk

It's a great time of year to get ahead of the plants you no longer want to take up space in your garden! Check out this quick read for tips for some of the most common nuisances.

This year, Give Local York funds to Friends of Codorus State Park will be used to continue our work to improve the park for the benefit of its visitors, wildlife, and ecosystem. We plan to: 1. Renovate the Landis Barn Environmental Educational Center to expand the hours that it can be used. 2. Remove hazardous trees that are next to the Center, which present a safety hazard. 3. Purchase an educational trailer for presenting environmental programs within the park and throughout the surrounding community. 4. Construct turtle platforms for placement in Lake Marburg. 5. Remove Invasive plant species, which are taking over areas of native plant species, throughout the park

On the eve of Earth Day, it is important to remember the early advocates of environmental stewardship. Most of us who grew up in central California are familiar with Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks. These three national parks, located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, are world-famous for their natural beauty and unsurpassed vistas. People from all over the world trek thousands of miles to see the awe-inspiring beauty in our backyard. But what some people forget is that we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude for the existence of these parks to a Scottish-born naturalist who immigrated to America and became the foremost advocate for the preservation of the natural beauty of the United States.   John Muir was born on this date, April 21, 1838, in Dunbar, Scotland.  Raised in a devoutly religious family, Muir was a bit of a rebel, and retreated to enclaves of the natural world in Scotland to escape the formality and rigidity of the church. Muir’s family emigrated from Scotland in 1849, and settled in Wisconsin, where Muir began his life in America. He eventually migrated to the West Coast and became enamored with the natural beauty of the west. He wrote essays and articles about the importance of preserving the unparalleled beauty of Yosemite, and the power of his written words helped sway the U.S. Congress to set aside land for the future enjoyment of all Americans.    I love today’s quote from John Muir. I have tried to adopt this perspective for my own life. This quote speaks of empowerment, of the importance of attitude and perspective in realizing happiness and fulfillment.      #bornonthisday #bornonthisdate #johnmuir #yosemite #environmentalstewardship #naturalworld #science #attitude #perspective