Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get Dirty

In my last blog, I sounded the warning bell about our youth and the decline we are seeing in getting them outdoors. Too busy, and not interested were the two major answers why youngsters don’t go hike, camp or bike riding.

Well, I’ve got an idea for you about how you might motivate them, yourselves and even give back a little to Mother Nature: Get out and volunteer this weekend, get a little dirty and sweaty.

This Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 is National Public Lands Day, a time when many of us will grab a shovel, trash bag and gloves and give back to our parks, beaches and trails. It has become the nation’s largest one-day volunteer program for our public lands.

This year, more than 130,000 volunteers are expected to step out and help repair, cleanup and otherwise pitch in to make our public lands a little cleaner, brighter and fixed up. The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) is the organization behind National Public Lands Day, and the group is expecting to improve on 2008’s statistics.

Last year across the country roughly 120,000 volunteers planted an estimated 1.6 million trees, fixed hundreds of miles of hiking trails and removed trash at nearly 1,900 sites. Volunteer efforts totaled an estimated $13 million worth of time and in-kind contributions. This year, the number of sites is expected to grow to more than 2,000 with expected contributions over $14 million.

As an example of what folks did last year, here’s a photo of volunteers helping to clean up the Goodman Fire Area in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado. It’s a Bureau of Land Management site. The photo is courtesy of the National Environmental Education Foundation, and I appreciate them letting me share it with you.

Some sites may be near you. For example, there are 93 sites in California planning National Public Lands Day activities, 24 Sites in Arizona, 38 Sites in Colorado, 43 Sites in Texas, and 19 Sites in Missouri—Well, you get the idea.

Go to www.publiclandsday.org/involved/sites.htm to locate a site in your state where you can join in the clean up effort and have a little fun along the way. Each state has a list of sites, the volunteer projects planned, and the work they need done. You’ll also find contact names and telephone numbers.

Drop me an email and let me know how you spent National Public Lands Day; I’d like to hear from you.

What am I doing? I’m grabbing a shovel and planning to move a little dirt.

And if you want to discover places in the West to visit, explore, do camping, hiking or sightseeing, visit OldWestNewWest.com Travel & History Magazine at www.oldwestnewwest.com for some ideas.

Are We Cheating Our Children?

Are we letting our children down? Are we so focused on getting them on track to the “right” school, to scholastically achieve ahead of their peers in math, science, music, dance, baseball, tennis or golf lessons, to so fill their daily hours with schedules of things to do, that they literally have no time for anything else, such as getting outdoors?

If you look at the statistics in The Outdoor Foundation’s 2009 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report, released Sept. 16 by the not-for-profit organization, the conclusion I reach is—yes.

Of this year’s key findings, one of the continuing trends is a decline in participation in outdoor recreation among youth ages 6-17. For 2008, according to the report, involvement in outdoor activity by young people in that age category dropped six percent – resulting in a combined 16.7 percent drop over the last three years.

According to the organization’s press release, “Today’s kids are struggling to find time to get active outdoors and are foregoing outdoor pursuits in favor of other competing priorities. Among outdoor participants ages 6-17, lack of time is the primary reason they don’t get outdoors more often.”

The report’s summary is even more blunt.

“Taxed by the requirements of their often highly structured, overscheduled lives, today’s kids are struggling to find the time to get active outdoors and are foregoing outdoor pursuits in favor of other competing priorities. Among outdoor participants ages 6 to 17, a lack of time is the primary reason they don’t get outdoors more often. This lack of time is closely followed by a lack of interest and too much schoolwork.”

There’s more bad news, and I think especially for parents, in the report.

“For kids ages 6 to 17 who don’t participate in outdoor activities, the chief barrier is a lack of interest — an ambivalence to the outdoors that is likely the result of a lack of outdoor experience and a surplus of competing priorities.”

When asked who influences you the most to participate in outdoors activities, parents obviously were number one in the age categories 6-12, and 13-17. Ranking behind parents were brothers, sisters or other relatives for the 6- to 12-year-olds, but behind friends for the 13- to 17-year-olds.

Community programs (such as the Boy Scouts, YMCA, or a neighborhood program) ranked only fifth for ages 6-12, and low for ages 13-17.

Parents, you have a heavy responsibility to our future generations.

So what’s the big deal? You might ask. So what if your children are too busy to get outdoors, to go hiking, camping, mountain biking, fishing, or trail running?

I would answer that such a parental attitude is stealing from a child’s future, from memories of being outdoors, of having fun with family and friends around a campfire, of eating s’mores, seeing a hawk or eagle soar high above, of hearing an owl call out at night.

Taking your child to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, or Yosemite national parks is a priceless experience, and an adventure that obviously needs budgeting and planning, I grant you, but what about just taking a day at your nearest state or county park? Leave the cellular phone, Blackberry or iPhone behind. Pack a lunch, take water, grab a camera, make memories.

I look back and wish I had done more with my children, who are all now adults. But looking at The Outdoor Foundation’s 2009 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report, I won’t let that stop me. I think I’ll give my kids a call and see if they want to take a walk in the woods, or maybe go fishing. It’s not too late for making memories.

Maybe you should do the same.

Check out The 2009 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report for yourself; it’s available as a PDF at: www.outdoorfoundation.org/research

And if you want to discover places in the West to visit, explore, do camping, hiking or sightseeing, visit OldWestNewWest.com Travel & History Magazine at www.oldwestnewwest.com for some ideas.

Like Being a Kid Again

As a boy, I grew up on Western movies. I spent a lot of Saturday afternoons at the local theater watching Joel McCrea, John Wayne and Gary Cooper finish off the bad guys. I had a lot of fun eating popcorn, drinking a Coke and rooting for the hero.

Lots of good memories, and I’m still a big fan of Westerns.
That’s one of the reasons why I like the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. The Autry has a fabulous collection of Western movies and music material, everything from movie props and posters to a wonderful radio section covering the history of Western serials.

There’s even part of a Hollywood Western back lot, and a mechanical stunt horse that you can mount, complete with a blue screen background. Press a button, video comes up and all of a sudden you’re smack dab in a chase scene.

The Hollywood section of the Autry is called the Imagination Gallery, and it includes the Western Legacy Theater where the museum shows rotating films about the American West and the making of Western films.  Here's a photo of a part of the gallery, courtesy of the Autry and photographer Abel Gutierrez. 

This Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009, for example, the museum is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bonanza, one of TV’s longest-running Westerns. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the museum is showing a continual stream of Bonanza episodes in the Western Legacy Theater.

Earlier this month the Autry hosted the unveiling of the new Gary Cooper commemorative stamp from the U.S. Postal Service. More than 200 fans and friends of Cooper were on hand for the ceremony, and film critic and historian Leonard Maltin served as Master of Ceremonies. A special film tribute to Cooper, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies, featured moments from his many films.

Cooper’s daughter, Maria Cooper Janis, was there for the unveiling and has loaned her father’s Academy Award Oscar for High Noon (1952) to the Autry and it will be on display in the gallery through the end of the year.

Other Hollywood Western items you’ll find at the Autry include more than 1,200 movies catalogued, lobby cards, items from silent Westerns, film serials, foreign Western movies, and Western television programs, costumes and costume design, including Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors, and costume designers Edith Head, and Margaret Miele. There's also the children's merchandise section that includes the recreation of what a child's room may have looked like at the time Westerns were all the rage. From the wall decorations to the bedspread and outfits, there was a cowboy or cowgirl item to match.  Hey, I just remembered: somewhere in a box, I still have my 'Hoppy' lamp.

And of course, the museum is named after its founder and Hollywood legend Gene Autry. Many of Gene’s personal items are on display.

I really enjoy the Imagination Gallery at the Autry museum. Don’t tell anyone, but for me it’s almost like being a kid again.

For any Western fan, the Autry is just a great place to go and touch some of Hollywood’s Western make believe, some of its stars and some of its history. Located in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park, the Autry National Center is easy to get to.

The Autry’s Web site is www.autrynationalcenter.org . Next time you’re in Los Angeles, plan a visit and go have some fun.

And if you want to discover places in the West to visit, explore, do camping, hiking or sightseeing, visit OldWestNewWest.com Travel & History Magazine at www.oldwestnewwest.com  for some ideas.

A Vacation Souvenir for Just a Quarter

OK, I’ll admit it: I have a bias towards the West.

So when I found out that the first five designs for the U.S. Mint’s new America the Beautiful Quarters were all going to be properties in the West, well, I just had to let you know about it.

According to the Mint, beginning in 2010 and in each year through 2021 you will see five new national site designs depicted on the reverse of the America the Beautiful Quarters, issued in the order in which the property was first established as a national site.

For 2010 the five sites are Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas; Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; Yosemite National Park, California; Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, and Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon.

Apparently, the Mint’s 50 State Quarters program was successful enough that Congress and the Mint decided a series of quarters honoring America the Beautiful would be a good idea. After all, it doesn’t cost the Mint a quarter to manufacture a quarter, and collector sales make a profit. (We know the federal government needs the money!)

Eventually, all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia will have a national park or other federally-preserved area represented on the reverse (tails side) side of a quarter.

While I’m all for promoting America the Beautiful, and saluting national parks, forests and Fish & Wildlife properties, parents of young children might see the program as a cost-effective (make that cheap) way of getting kids their souvenirs on future vacations.

Let’s say next year you and the family are visiting one of the sites in the West. You pull up to the entrance center, pay your entrance fee and ask the ranger if some of your change can be given in new quarters with the image of the park on the back.

With the new quarters in hand, you then turn around to your bright-eyed children securely strapped in their car seats and say, “Hey kids! Look at the neat souvenir I’m handing you!” Then when you go into the gift store, and junior wants you to buy something, you can smile and say, “but you already have a souvenir!” Think of the money you’ll save.

OK, I’m not that mean, really. No really.

I do think the America the Beautiful Quarters program is a good promotion, and may help to raise the public’s interest in visiting our public lands. Management at the parks and other federal properties, however, should make sure they have plenty of quarters on hand to pass out as change. It’s good public relations.

By the way, here’s the order in which the first five national properties were established:

Hot Springs National Park / April 20, 1832
Yellowstone National Park / March 1, 1872
Yosemite National Park / Oct. 1, 1890
Grand Canyon National Park / Feb. 20, 1893
Mt. Hood National Forest / Sept. 28, 1893

I’ve got one more question: The National Park Service is represented, so is the U.S. Forest Service and Fish & Game. But no Bureau of Land Management. How come?

For more information about the American the Beautiful Quarters program visit the U.S. Mint’s Web site at http://www.usmint.gov/

And if you want to discover places in the West to visit, explore, do camping, hiking or sightseeing, visit OldWestNewWest.com Travel & History Magazine at http://www.oldwestnewwest.com/ for some ideas.

Let’s Be Careful Out There

National and state parks welcome millions of visitors each year, and they usually take home many good memories of hiking, camping, swimming, boating or just sitting around a campfire talking with friends.

Expectations run high. Maybe we’ll see a moose, a deer or even a bear. In national parks such as Yellowstone and Glacier, traffic jams – or bear jams, as they’re also known – can make for frustrations. Why’s that car stopping? Is there an accident? Nope, just a bear by the side of the road.

It’s easy to drop your guard, especially when visiting one of the major national parks, maybe because there’s so much infrastructure: asphalt roads, trails, gift stores, cafes, lodges, buses, trams, and plenty of traffic signs. Kind of like home. Where’s the danger? Getting hit by a car?

So maybe it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security, especially in the big parks. But by end of summer, park statistics and news stories can paint a sorrowful picture.

Here’s a quick sampling of post-Labor Day Weekend 2009 headlines from the National Park Service for you to consider:

BIGHORN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA / Boy In Intensive Care After Suffering Rattlesnake Bite.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK / Hiker Dies In Fall From Fern Lake Trail.

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK / Rangers Rescue Stranded Boaters From Snake River.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK / Search For Missing Man Continues.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK / Injured Climber Medevaced From Longs Peak.

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA / Two Brothers Drown In Lake Mohave Cove.

LAKE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL RECREATION AREA / Man Paralyzed From The Neck Down In Diving Accident.

OK, summer’s almost over, but fall and winter offer great opportunities for visiting our national and state parks. Go visit a park in the off season. Have fun, camp, fish, ride your bike, or go climbing. But just remember, you’re not visiting Disneyland. When rangers try to share some ideas about being careful, or caution about a trail that is closed, take time to listen. They’re there to help you.

Take home good memories, lots of photos and a few souvenirs, not a busted arm, or worse.

And if you want to discover places in the West to visit, explore, do camping, hiking or sightseeing, visit OldWestNewWest.com Travel & History Magazine at http://www.oldwestnewwest.com/ for some ideas.

A State of Mind

Legendary Hollywood director John Ford saw it and made movies about it. Authors John Steinbeck and Elmer Kelton felt it and wrote books about it. Artists Charles Russell and Frederic Remington studied it and painted it. Lewis and Clark explored it and journaled its secrets. Environmentalist John Muir walked in it and helped preserve it. Singer John Denver wandered its land and sang about it.

The American West.

Mountains so high and rivers so wide you almost couldn’t cross them. Deserts so barren and forests so thick you almost couldn’t find your way. Plains so deep with tall grass and hills so heavy with brush you got lost.

And the people.

Indians and Spaniards. Russians and Canadians. Brits and Yankees. Germans, Dutch and Asians.

And the reasons why they went West.

Discovery and Exploration. Beaver furs and buffalo hides. Gold and silver, cattle and oil. And land, lots of free land. Farms, ranches, and cabins. A place to call home, raise a family, settle down. The adventurous cattleman and the entrepreneurial general store owner or blacksmith. A place to build wealth, a test of your abilities to succeed.

Oregon—or California—or Bust, and many busted, buried in graves dug only a few inches deep and now long forgotten after the others had pushed on. They’re gone, too. A few markers remain by the side of the road for tourists to see. Park the car, step outside and take a couple of pictures. Get back in and drive on.

Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. And history.

The Old West, and today’s New West. It’s a blend of times gone by and stories, fact and legend. The old dreams and hopes get picked up by each new generation.

Families still go West, still look for a life, for a chance to build and make a home, to teach their children core values, talk about what it means to give your word, make a promise, and keep that promise. To understand what it means to be true to yourself, to your family, your community and your Creator. To trust, to welcome, to accept others for what they are. To treasure, to protect, and value the individual way of life.

Yes, the West remains alive, and it’s a very personal thing; you might even say, a state of mind.

Have you found your West?

Have you explored its parks and rivers, historic towns, or gone to see a rodeo, visited a museum, picnicked or camped? Have you shown your children its wonders? Have you read a book about the West, searched someone’s biography, or perhaps read some of your grandfather’s or grandmother’s letters?

Have you and yours stopped in a quiet place in the West—maybe along the Snake River or the Missouri or the Mississippi—and listened to the wind, felt the water or touched the soil? Have you taken time to think about your life, where you’re going and what you want to do?

About what does it mean to be a Westerner? Have you figured that out?

What’s your West? Have you found it? Have you?

Write me. Drop me a note. I want to know. Tell me about your West.

And if you want to discover places in the West to visit, explore, do camping, hiking or sightseeing, visit OldWestNewWest.com Travel & History Magazine at http://www.oldwestnewwest.com/ for some ideas.