Nature Nuts gets National Recognition

The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, and Northern Virginia Regional Park Foundation, are working together help get children outside and in nature. The physical and mental health benefits as well as the learning that children are able to do when they spend time in nature is well documents. Just as well documented is the fact that children are spending less time outdoors.

To address this issue the Nature Nuts program has been developed with a goal of facilitating a meaningful nature experience for half a million children over the next five years through the Northern Virginia Regional Park System.

This program just received national recognition in the form of a great article in Park and Recreation Magazine. This is the publication of the National Recreation and Park Association and features the Nature Nuts program on pages 23 and 24 of the newly released August 2011 issue.

Link to the article:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nrpa/201108/#/25/OnePage

Addressing what best selling author Richard Louv called the "Nature Deficit Disorder" is one of the great challenges for organizations involved in managing public lands and engaging the public in the appreciation of nature. Engaging children with nature is the subject of one of the session at the 40th annual Special Park Districts Forum that the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority is hosting next month for park officials from all over North America. We will be highlighting the challenges and opportunities of this effort during this session.

With a limited number of days that registration is open for the Special Park District Forum, register soon and join us on September 25-28 as we work on this and other issues.

The registration link is:  http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=929774