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.