The Natural Leaders Network has joined forces with Sierra Club’s Serve Outdoors initiative to remember and honor September 11th through outdoor service. For the generation that came of age after 9/11, 2001, service has become an important part of life. For many, service means standing up for our neighborhoods, our communities, our country and our natural world. Through service, diverse young Americans are taking the lead in building a foundation for a healthy and equitable future.

For so many of us, the outdoors is a place of solace and refuge. This is also true for armed services members returning from overseas, firefighters taking a much needed break from work, and families facing tough economic realities. Together, the Natural Leaders Network and the Sierra Club, with the support of the Children & Nature Network, will observe the National Day of Service by engaging in and working to highlight, enhance, protect, and restore these vital outdoor spaces.

The Natural Leaders Network is honored to be part of this important day. We hope you will join us by visiting Serve Outdoors and hosting or participating in a service project in your community.

Yours,
The Natural Leaders Network

Just scanned the White House photostream on Flickr, and these lovely photos caught my eye. So nice to see how the adult Obamas model outdoor engagement for their own children. Check back for more “Outdoor Obama” sightings!

President Barack Obama and daughter Sasha steer the "Bay Point Lady" during a tour of St. Andrews Bay off Panama City Beach, Fla

A hike on Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park in Maine

Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times

Check out this intruging New York Times article brought to my attention by an Outdoor Afro community member about The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that helped black people find where and how to move about the United States for travel and leisure in the Jim Crow era. Living in these Obama tinted times, it can seem like a distant concept that in the lifetimes of our parents and grandparents, where black people might go to eat, spend a night, or merely venture to recreate was often dictated by the color of their skin.

But outdoor engagement for many African Americans was still happening in spite of these barriers, especially in places like the south. Leafing through the pages of my own family photos, my folks and other relatives are pictured outdoors and engaged in all sorts of recreational activities over the years, but the scene was most often a picnic on private land; backyards, or other neighborhood settings — not at a National Park. For example, American Beach in Florida has historically been about celebrating family. Today, some of the community’s original families still gather here for vacations.

Related to camping history in the US, Terence Young in his 2009 article: ‘a contradiction in democratic government’: W. J. TRENT, JR., AND THE STRUGGLE TO DESEGREGATE NATIONAL PARK CAMPGROUNDS, shares some additional historical context:

“Camping began in the nineteenth century as an elite form of pilgrimage to the wild, but the arrival of inexpensive automobiles in the early twentieth century greatly expanded camping’s social diversity. The change was not universally embraced, especially when African Americans were involved, and the issue came to a head during the 1930s after two racially segregated national parks were opened in southern states. As complaints flowed in, William J. Trent, Jr., became adviser for Negro affairs to Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes. He had no special interest in the outdoors or national parks, but Trent championed increased African American access to the parks and an end to discrimination in them. NPS leadership resisted Trent’s efforts until Secretary Ickes ordered them to create one nonsegregated demonstration area in Shenandoah National Park in 1939. The policy was extended to other areas in 1941 and the next year, with World War II shifting into high gear, campground and other forms of segregation were ended throughout the park system.”

Anthony John Coletti - Family Reunion at American Beach

Current barriers to the outdoors can no longer be attributed to segregation laws, but sometimes a fear of the unknown experience coupled with concerns about not being welcomed. Public and private organizations related to the outdoors have the challenge of not only connecting a new generation to wild spaces, but also addressing some of the historical residue that may account for some of the current estrangement.

Today we each have an important opportunity to make a difference related to who engages with our natural and public spaces. There is a monumental effort happening at a national level and across many organizations to reconnect all Americans to the outdoors not seen since Roosevelt. Since my trip to Washington DC for the America’s Great Outdoors Conference last spring, senior White House Officials have traveled all over the country hosting listening sessions to collect inspired ideas from people of all walks of life to map out ways to connect more Americans to the outdoors. The data collected will be presented to President Obama in a report due in November of this year. And even if you cannot make one of the upcoming listening sessions in a town near you, please make sure to add your ideas to the official AGO website.

Outdoor Afro Project: Ask your parents or grandparents how they engaged with natural spaces while growing up, especially if they lived during the pre-Civil Rights era. Post your findings here in the comments. You may also mail in photos to be featured in a follow-up blog post.

Read: Frank and Audrey Peterman’s book, Legacy on the Land, about the history of the National Parks and people of color.

Remember these days?

Photo by Jessica Fernandez of her children and friends in their backyard

As Outdoor Afro has grown, I have been delighted by the swell of women represented in both the digital and “real” community who love all aspects of the outdoors. It’s been so refreshing to see women, especially brown women, as “doers” when it comes to outdoor recreation, since traditionally the images of bike riders, climbers, birders, kayakers, and other outdoor adventurers visible in the popular culture have been men — and not the brown ones! But being the classic Libran I am, I crave balance, and recently felt inspired to cultivate some more male energy on OA.

So after meeting up with Brother Yusuf Burgess my second time on a recent diversity panel on the east coast, it felt perfectly natural to ask him to represent the groundbreaking work he does as a more visible part of Outdoor Afro.

Most in the field of Environmental Education are already quite familiar with the work of Brother Yusuf over many years. He a real innovator of culturally relevant programing in Albany, New York that reaches young people of color, especially males, that has become a national model and gets young lives back on track.

He writes, “as a father of five sons, ranging in ages from 40 to 10 years old, I have been able to measure, and even do some personal comparisons and contrasts about the impact that being outdoors can have on youth and especially our young men. My role as a husband, Environmental Educator, former Gang Prevention Coordinator and current Family Intervention Specialist at an all boys high school enables me to share the various ways we can collectively begin using the power of nature to transform urban youth.”

So start checking for Brother Yusuf here on Outdoor Afro, who will begin submitting regular articles that discuss his personal experiences and vision with you all — please join me in welcoming Brother Yusuf!

Nestled in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Swindler Cove Park represents the crown jewel among New York Restoration Project’s (NYRP) public park projects, encompassing five beautiful acres along the Harlem River.

“Check out the Swindler Cove camp graduates! Behind them is a children’s garden, which was planted and cared for by 4th graders during the school year, but tended and harvested through the summer by these summer campers. Food from the garden was used in all of the camp meals prepared over six weeks!”

–Akiima Price, Chief of Education Programs, New York Restoration Project

I grew up going to the Lake County fair held each year in that county’s largest city, Lakeport, California, but when back in Oakland, I attended the Alameda County Fair in the outlying sleepy suburb of Pleasanton. These fairs I attended during dusty summers have meant many different things to me over the years. When I was little, the fair meant going on flashy-honky rides with accompanying rock music, or trying to win an impossible game of plastic rings thrown over coke bottlenecks for ridiculously sized stuffed animals. It also meant sticky treats found nowhere else in the world like candy apples, funnel cakes, and crunchy sweet corn dogs.

Overall, fairs have always exuded a sense of outdoor wonderment and magic, with two vastly different lives; one at night and the other in the daytime.

In the daytime, fairs deliver its serious business as an exhibition site of the county’s finest. That covers everything like coddled 4-H livestock, homemade preserves, photography, chili cook-offs, table setting displays (yes, table setting) and much, much more. This show of local competition and talent can typically be found inside of the massive exhibition hall, where judges place items like prize winning snicker-doodles inside a glass case on a paper doily.

Basically, the aim of the exhibition is to showcase the best ideas, recipes, creativity, and problem solvers of the county. Think of it as a massive science fair where everyone from senior citizens to kindergarteners have a shot at demonstrating their knowledge across many categories, and winning a prize for it. To make it fair, the competition is leveled so only similarly aged individuals compete with one another within the different areas.

Night time at the fair brings out a different crowd. Flirty youth arrive en masse; the rides and games seem more bright and loud. Obviously, I enjoyed this time most when I was a teenager, when I was eager to part ways with my parents at the entrance gate and try out social independence under the fun-house mystery of the nighttime sky.

For some years in my 20’s I abandoned the fair, absorbed in more serious pursuits like starting a family. But once my first child was a toddler, to the fair I returned.

With a vengeance.

Not only did I return to the fair as a daytime visitor, I was also determined to enter my family famous cornbread-from-scratch recipe in the competition. And I was serious as a heart attack about this. I carefully filled out the Fair Competition form online then woke up on entry day at 5am to bake a fresh pan to deliver 40 miles away, while it was still warm. Of course, my friends (and some family) thought this was silly.

But I earned some bragging rights when the fair opened a few days later, and I saw my very own cornbread squares sitting in a glass case, on a paper doily – - with a winning ribbon!

My cornbread was judged on the basis of taste, texture, and get this: cell wall uniformity. In other words, it mattered that the gazillion holes inside the bread where all roughly about the same size. Wow.

So I won 2nd place in the Quick Breads Non-Yeast category. 1st place went to a Carrot “Bread” that to this day I think was miscategorized since it had frosting and was entirely too sexy to be practical. But I digress. Winning that ribbon was totally worth the effort that embodied all the fair experiences of my youth, with the satisfaction of sharing my personal best with my community.

I think I’ll go for the Table-Setting competition next time.

Do you still go to the fair? What are some of your fair memories?

Alameda County Fair

Lake County Fair – Coming up!

Click to view your State Fair dates!

By Chelsea Griffie, Outdoor Afro Contributor

This year’s Women of Color trip by the Balanced Rock Foundation was July 21st to 25th. Our group ventured to Ostrander Lake also in Yosemite (see below). The premise of these trips is to increase the representation of women of color in the back country, while also providing a safe and supportive environment to learn new skills and connect with the outdoors.

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This year, there were a total of five participants, with two instructors, and an intern, which meant that participants were able to receive a lot of individualized attention.

Some Trip Highlights:

• It was a fantastic group of ladies. No one was competitive, or had anything to prove. Everyone seemed genuinely happy. I was psyched to hang out with everyone who was there.

• Even when one participant had to move very slowly, the rest of the group was very supportive and willing to move at whatever pace she needed.

• My co-Instructor, who was an avid fly fisherwoman, brought her rod and reel. While she did not personally catch anything, she coached a participant to land a trout! That night, we had steamy, succulent trout freshly caught in Ostrander Lake!

• We had some poetic moments — literally…here are some trip haikus:

Pennyroyal Tea
Queens of the Bay Area
Women of Color

Better than 2-ply
Corn lily fields forever
Really leave no trace

Really, it was a magical group, and I can’t wait until the next trip!

Chelsea Griffie is the the only known African American woman to have climbed El Capitan and Half Dome in Yosemite. She was featured in Dudley Edmonson’s book, Black and Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places. When not climbing and leading trips, she lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Here is the interview link many of you have been asking about that aired yesterday about Nature Deficit Disorder. It was rewarding to talk about how more people can get connected to the outdoors, and share some of the ways my own family engages in outdoor activities. I actually appear twice: once in the beginning and another time after the first break, so don’t touch that dial!

What are your thoughts about Nature Deficit Disorder? Watch the show and please leave a comment here with your impressions!

For more information about the Children in Nature movement and how you can get involved check out their website!

Also plug in to the Children and Nature Collaborative’s website for additional information!

This week was event-filled for Outdoor Afro where we connected with friends, family, and the community to have fun, and expand the message of outdoor engagement.

The week began with some high-flying times with family and close friends for the Berkeley Kite Festival on what felt like the windiest day of the year. Even if you did not have a kite of your own, there were many beautiful and dynamic kites to see. Some highlights included the kite candy drop; pony rides provided by African American cowboys (more on this later), and bike parking provided by Richmond Spokes, since auto traffic was rough. Note to self for next year: do not bring cheap kites because they will get smacked down in the first 10-minutes of your arrival and you will be laughed at by strangers (trust me on this one). View more pictures

On Tuesday evening, Outdoor Afro joined up with Memorial Tabernacle Church in North Oakland, California for National Night Out to share resources, books, and local programs

for the church and community members to connect with the outdoors in new ways. As much as I enjoy the digital conversation, I recognize not everyone can be reached online, so it’s always enlightening to speak with people directly about their experiences and barriers to the outdoors. I was especially heartened to hear about how Memorial Tabernacle was already leading hikes to Muir Woods, one the most dazzling National Forest sites in the area. View more pictures

Finally, I was interviewed by ABC local affiliate for its Sunday morning show, “Behind the Headlines” that examined the topic of Nature Deficit Disorder, a term coined by Richard Louv, who wrote the ground-breaking book, Last Child in the Woods. It was great to be on the show with friends from Bay Area Wilderness Training, and San Francisco’s Chrissy Field Center. For my first time doing a television interview on this topic, I think it went pretty well and I had a blast! I can’t wait to share the video embed and link with the community as soon as it becomes available.

This upcoming week I am looking forward to the Children and Nature Network’s  Grassroots Gathering in Princeton, New Jersey to be on a panel discussing diversity, and social media strategies to connect more people to the outdoors with some of my closest friends and pioneers of this movement from across the country.

No matter where you are, I hope you are finding ways to enjoy your summer. It’s still not too late to get out and make some warm weather memories for you and your loved ones. Check out the Outdoor Afro community site to get some ideas and find people in your area to connect with. There were also many fun ideas discussed on the Outdoor Afro Facebook page and I’ll publish some of these suggestions later this week to inspire you to get outdoors!

What did your community do for National Night Out?

What other Faith Based Organizations do you know that are connecting people to the outdoors?