Young participant in butterfly survey.

Leave no child inside

With a goal to reverse trends of children disconnecting from outdoor play and interest in natural resources, a National Forum on Children and Nature will be launched in February.

Chaired by governors and involving corporations and environmental groups, the forum will identify and implement 20 nationally significant demonstration projects in the areas of health, education, the built environment and media/culture. The Conservation Fund, a non-profit organization, is providing an initial $1 million for these projects. At least another $20 million will be raised from a variety of public, private and charitable organizations. New projects, or investments in existing projects, will be announced in early 2008.

The effort began last year when The Conservation Fund teamed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Richard Louv, the author of the best-selling book “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,” to talk about ways to reconnect children and nature.

Recognition of the issue has spawned other initiatives. Last year Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed legislation funding a study to measure how outdoor education affects academic achievement, career development and personal responsibility. Martin LeBlanc, the Sierra Club’s National Youth Education director, who helped support the legislation, is also working with Washington’s IslandWood School to make sure that every Seattle fifth-grader receives an outdoor education experience.

For more information, see http://www.cnaturenet.org/01_news.html.