The American Recreation Coalition is currently accepting site nominations for official sites to host Get Outdoors Day 2010 (GO Day) activities. On Saturday, June 12 GO Day official sites across the nation will introduce American families to healthy, outdoor fun.

In 2009, GO Day introduced thousands of families and children to outdoor activities such as biking, fishing, hiking, geocaching, rock wall climbing and more at over 60 official sites across the nation. Participating partners offered opportunities for American families to experience traditional and non-traditional types of outdoor activities, with a prime goal of reaching first-time visitors to public lands and reconnecting youth to the great outdoors.

To learn more about GO Day, visit www.nationalgetoutdoorsday.org.

To nominate a site for GO Day 2010, click here. If you would like to get your organization involved at a GO Day site near you, please contact Mindy Meade at ARC at [ e-mail ].

Many will once again resolve to get organized or lose ten pounds in the new year, but National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is recommending a resolution with profound impacts because it recaptures an essential part of childhood, outdoor play. By making the 2010 Be Out There Resolution to spend more time outside in 2010, Americans will be making a resolution that’s both good for their families and fun to keep. Everyone who makes the 2010 Be Out There Resolution will receive the Know, Go and Grow Be Out There Toolkit with important facts, fun tips and interactive tools to help them keep the resolution.

Outdoor time can be family time

Outdoor time significantly enhances children’s physical and mental well-being, but, sadly, today’s kids don’t get much. In the last two decades, childhood has moved indoors. While previous generations ran around in nature until called in for dinner, modern children spend only four to seven minutes outdoors per day. Research in the fields of public health, psychology, and medicine documents the toll an “indoor childhood” takes on kids. NWF launched the Be Out There movement (www.BeOutThere.org) to return to the nation’s children something they don’t even know they’ve lost, their connection to the natural world.

“To address childhood’s fundamental shift indoors, we are asking parents to make the 2010 Be Out There Resolution to Know, Go and Grow,” says National Wildlife Federation’s Vice President of Education, Kevin Coyle. “We want them to know and understand the importance of outdoor time; to go outside more with their kids and grow the Be Out There movement by spreading the word and inviting friends along.”

Children reap wide-ranging and numerous benefits when encouraged to interact with nature in an outdoor setting including better eyesight, enhanced physical fitness and less obesity, increased classroom preparedness and lower levels of stress and depression.

There’s a reason they call it the great outdoors™. NWF hopes parents will show their children what that reason is by making the 2010 Be Out There resolution at www.beoutthere.org/resolution. This is one Time Out kids will actually enjoy.

The U.S. Forest Service has proposed changes in the discounts on campsite charges for holders of Senior and Access Passes and Golden Age and Golden Access Passports, available to seniors (62 and over) and those with disabilities, after lengthy discussions with key recreation organizations and with concessioners and permittees operating Forest Service campgrounds. The proposed directives, which could be used to modify existing agreements and would guide future permits, would reduce public confusion and unpredictable business situations for companies that now manage a large majority of the overnight stays at Forest Service developed campgrounds.

Beginning in the 1960s, seniors and the disabled qualified for reduced charges for entry into federal recreation areas and overnight camping. At that time, almost all campgrounds were operated by federal agencies, and all receipts were treated as general receipts and deposited in the U.S. Treasury. However, most services provided by businesses operating on federal lands – including ski areas on national forests and concessioners in national parks – were not expected or required to provide discounted rates.

Major policy changes – including increased reliance on campground concessioners and recreation site fee retention, authorized by the Fee Demonstration program in 1996 and incorporated into FLREA – were not reflected in Forest Service national policy on discounts, leading to inconsistency in discount policies among national forests and public complaints.

There was also concern that the steep discounts for seniors complicated agency efforts to encourage visits by families with children, who don’t qualify for discounts and might sometimes find all available campsites reserved by those receiving 50% discounts.

The Forest Service proposal would establish a general policy of 10% discounts to holders of Senior and Access Passes and Golden Age and Golden Access Passports and comparable, FLREA-based passes at concessioner-operated campgrounds, but would also allow concessioners to offer higher discounts. Comments are due by February 1, 2010.

The American Recreation Coalition participated in the recent White House briefing on the public health benefits of a clean-energy economy co-convened by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The event brought together public health advocates and community leaders, experts from government agencies and White House officials for a discussion on the lasting public health benefits of a clean-energy economy. Among the guest speakers was long-time ARC friend and September Recreation Exchange speaker Gina McCarthy, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation and former Commissioner of Environmental Protection for Connecticut.

Ms. McCarthy said of her career path, “I’ve spent a career being the worst bureaucrat I can be, and I’ve been very good at that.”

She added, “Now, finally, I’m working for an Administration that tells me to be a bad bureaucrat!”

In regards to the need to work towards a clean-energy economy, Ms. McCarthy said now is the time for innovative action. “The challenge is not to think outside the box – that’s not hard,” she said.

“The challenge is to act outside the box.” And Ms. McCarthy believes a clean-energy economy is possible. She stated, “I reject the choice between breathing clean air and turning the lights on!”

The Administration is committed to building a clean-energy economy, which holds the promise of reducing harmful pollution while creating new jobs, reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil, and improving the nation’s competitive position in the global economy.

As Administration officials noted, a clean-energy economy not only would help cut the greenhouse-gas emissions that threaten the stability and prosperity of our world, but it also would transform how we harness and use energy – helping us reduce soot, smog, and toxic pollution in the air we breathe and the water we drink.

ARC expects these goals to be reflected in EPA’s interagency projects such as the ED OUT initiative, a pilot program which will connect students from Virginia’s Prince William County to the outdoors in June 2010.

The United States Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wisconsin State Business and Community Program Director Mark Brodziski spoke to a crowd of RV industry members this morning (Dec. 2) about the USDA’s Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program, for which RV businesses, including manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and campgrounds, are eligible.

Brodziski outlined eligibility requirements and terms and conditions of the loan program, which USDA says is designed “to save or create jobs in rural areas across America.” The USDA defines “rural communities” as areas that are outside the limits of any city with a population of 50,000 or more, though Brodziski pointed out that some rural areas may be close to an urban center. If a company’s headquarters location is not in a rural area, but the plant or business location that needs the funding is, the project should be eligible. Interested businesses can determine their geographic eligibility by visiting http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/or/bi.htm - click the link to “On-line rural area identifier."

Responding to questions from attendees about the number of banks participating in the program, Brodziski reported that a large array of both large and small banks are program participants, and added, “If your application fits the program, you will find a lender.” The federal guarantee (70% to 80%) and a ready secondary market for repurchase of the loans makes the loans attractive to banks and financial institutions. Brodziski encouraged attendees to contact their state USDA for a list of active, participating lenders. Go to www.rurdev.usda.gov/KY (insert your 2-letter state abbreviation) to find your state's office.

RVIA Vice President of Government Affairs Dianne Farrelll said, “Brodziski provided detailed information on a trusted government lending program that may be the answer for many industry members looking for financing.” Although the program does not permit direct revolving loan funding, it can be used in other ways to support dealers seeking relief in this economic environment. USDA state offices have more information.

Brodziski also briefly detailed the USDA’s Rural Energy for America (REAP) Program, which offers grants and guarantees loans to rural businesses that want to reduce their energy consumption. For more information on REAP, visit http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/busp/9006loan.htm.

For more information on Brodziski’s seminar and the USDA’s B&I Guaranteed Loan Program, contact Christine Siksa at RVIA at (703) 620-6003 ext. 363 or csiksa@rvia.org.