WASHINGTON – You've heard of taking a walk in a park, it will now be easier to take a walk to a park because of nearly one million dollars in trail grants announced today by the National Park Service.

The 2012 Connect Trails to Parks Awards will provide a total of $934,000 to 14 projects where national historic and scenic trails intersect with national parks and other federal facilities. The projects will restore or improve existing trails and trailhead connections, provide better wayside and interpretive services, encourage innovative educational services, support bridge and trailhead designs, and provide planning services for important trail gateways.

"We really want people to get up, get out, and enjoy the outdoors,"? said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. "It is vital for physical and mental well-being. These trail projects will provide additional places to recreate and improve access to existing parks and other green spaces."?

Many of the projects reflect National Park Service priorities such as expanding outreach, connecting to youth, enhancing urban recreation, promoting healthy lifestyles, and upgrading interpretive materials as outlined in the agency's A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement.

In addition to operating 397 parks across the United States and its territories, the National Park Service plays a vital role in overseeing the 52,000-mile National Trails System. The trails system dates from 1968 legislation that created the Appalachian and Pacific Crest national scenic trails. Today, the National Trails System includes 11 national scenic trails (NSTs), 19 national historic trails (NHTs), and more than 1,150 national recreation trails (NRTs).

The Connect Trails to Parks program is designed to increase awareness, appreciation, and use of the nation's federally-designated system of trails. The years from 2008 to 2018 have been declared "A Decade for the National Trails" ramping up to the trails system's 50th anniversary in 2018. Many of these projects will help specific trails and their related federal facilities to achieve goals associated with this commemorative decade. At the same time, the National Park Service, as an agency, is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary in August, 2016.

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RVIA is advising industry members of a webinar to be conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Trade Information Center that will focus on strategies to increase exports for the recreational transportation sector.

The session will take place Nov. 2, 2011 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern. A nominal fee of $15 will be charged to cover slides, live audio and a question-and-answer session being delivered via computer. Participation is limited, so those interested should register early by clicking here. More information is also available by contacting Linda Abbruzzese at the Trade Information Center at (800) 872-8723 or linda.abbruzzese@trade.gov.

The webinar will examine the National Export Initiative (NEI) and the recreational transportation sector, which includes RVs, boats, motorcycles, bicycles, snowmobiles, ATVs and golf carts, and how companies can tap into the global marketplace.

Webinar participants will learn about Recreational Transportation as a priority National Export Initiative Sector; export assistance and services available from the U.S. Commercial Service; export opportunities in China and Brazil, two of the NEI priority markets; export finance programs available through the U.S. Small Business Administration; and servicing and financing available from partners at the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

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The National Scenic Byways Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month was an outstanding show of support for Scenic Byways. Hundreds of byways advocates shared tips on marketing, strategies for using social networking and much more. The networking was fun and productive. The America’s Byways Resource Center team deserves high praise for its orchestration of the event, and for building in “Big Ideas,” including a great presentation on branding by Minnesota Twins execs and the 2011 byways awards, given in cooperation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

Support for the Scenic Byways program has come up in other places as well. The New York Times featured a story on eastern byways that coincided with the meeting of the byways champions. The article is based largely on an interview with ARC President Derrick Crandall, including these comments:

“The interstates are great for getting from sea to shining sea, but there’s nothing in between,” said Derrick Crandall, president of the nonprofit American Recreation Coalition. Of the byways, Mr. Crandall said, “They’re like necklaces, or a charm bracelet, adorned with great places to stop.”

To see the August 5 New York Times article on byways, please click here.

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WASHINGTON – National Park Service Director Jonathan BB. Jarvis marked the agency's birthday with the release of A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement.

"On our 95th anniversary, we take the first step – make that the first leap – to prepare ourselvesves for our second century of stewardship,"? Jarvis told employees during a national town hall meeting. "The critical work we have been doing since 1916 is as important as it ever was and must continue. A Call to Action is a rededication – to our tradditional stewardship role but with an expanded and strategic focus that addresses our relevance in a changing world."?

A Call to Action lays out 36 action items that National Park Service employees, partners and friends will do to integrate National Park Service community programs with 395 national parks and the agency's mission to preserve the country's cultural, historic and natural resources for the enjoyment of this and future generations.

A Call to Action does not call for any new federal funding. Jarvis said, "There will not be much – if any – new money in our future, so we have concentrated on whaat can get done within current budgets and in some cases, with the assistance of our incredible partners."?

Jarvis said A Call to Action also points out how different today's world is compared with August of 1916 when President Wilson signed the law that created the National Park Service and pulled 38 mostly natural landscape parks and monuments together under unified federal management.

Jarvis said, "There are many things that seem to divide us as a nation: socio-economic status, political leanings, religion, ethnicity, or income, but the idea behind the National Park Service can unite Americans in a sense of wonder and pride in our country.

"One of our most important responsibilities is to use the power and place of the National Park Service to ensure that everyone knows what it means to be an American. To accomplish this, we must invite our 307 million fellow citizens to get to know these places that they own, and discover the services the National Park Service performs in communities. That will help them experience their America and join us in stewardship."?

Here are some of the highlights A Call to Action lays out for the National Park Service to connect people to parks and to continue to preserve America's special places:

• Step by Step: create a pathway to youth employment in the National Park Service to connect new generations to parks.
• Eat well and Prosper: contribute to better health and healing with connections between people, parks and the medical community.
• Go Digital: reach new audiences and engage in conversations with all Americans.
• Ticket to Ride: provide transportation support for 100,000 students to visit national parks each year.
• Scholarly Pursuits: promote science education through Science Scholars program.
• Next Generation Stewards: create a new generation of citizen scientists and future stewards with fun and educational biodiversity discovery activities in at least 100 parks.
• Back Home on the Range: restore wild bison populations in the central and western United States.
• Starry, starry Night: Create America's first Dark Sky Cooperative on the Colorado Plateau to protect natural darkness as a precious resource.
• What's old is New: show, with modern historic preservation techniques and technologies, how historic structures can be sustainable and part of the economic vitality of rural and urban communities.
• Posterity Partners: fund a $1 billion second century endowment with the National Park Foundation and other National Park Service partners.

A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement is available at www.nps.gov/calltoaction

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It appears that Congressional leadership is preparing to consider a number of trade agreements including the renewal of the Globalized System of Preferences (GSP), which provides duty-free treatment for U.S. imports including products used by the RV industry such as luan.

RVIA has been advocating for the renewal of GSP since its expiration. It appears those efforts may be paying off as the Senate is poised to consider reauthorization of GSP along with a number of other trade agreements this month. RVIA will continue to push for retroactive GSP renewal until it is achieved.

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) recently indicated that GSP renewal will be part of a package of trade bills that will emerge from ongoing talks among House and Senate leadership. The trade package under negotiation would include GSP, all three pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) and the Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA), which helps U.S workers who've lost their jobs because of foreign trade, Brady said.

The (GSP) program expired on December 31, 2010. For more than three decades, GSP has provided duty-free treatment to selected goods imported from more than 130 developing countries. Approximately three-quarters of U.S. imports using GSP are raw materials, parts and components, or machinery and equipment used by U.S. companies to manufacture goods in the United States for domestic consumption or for export. In this fashion, GSP boosts the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and lowers the cost of consumer goods for American families.

This is certainly true as it applies to the RV industry, which is heavily reliant on imported luan.

A key element to renewal of the program will be the retroactive application of it back to its expiration on December 31. This would require Customs to reimburse importers and their customers for the duties levied on applicable products purchased from the start of this year to the renewal date.

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Washington, D.C. - The celebration of 2011 National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day) – led by the American Recreation Coalition (ARC) and the USDA Forest Service – is over, but its accomplishments continue. GO Day received significant electronic and print media coverage leading up to - and since - June 11. Tens of thousands of children across the country enjoyed various outdoor activities at GO Day events. Their fun was made possible by hundreds of national and local partners that staffed activity centers and provided other support at approximately 150 sites. The First Lady's Let's Move Outside campaign blogsite, the Let’s Move blog, carried a synopsis of the day with photos: “The U.S. Forest Service and community partners have been encouraging children and their families across the country to spend time reconnecting with nature, trying new recreation activities and just having some good fun.”

Among the major media “scores” by GO Day were all three major TV stations in Denver. ABC News picked up the story in at least two regions, interviewing GO Day coordinators in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. WAMU 88.5 – an affiliate of National Public Radio – also picked up the story, interviewing ARC President Derrick Crandall about local efforts in Washington, D.C.

June 11, 2011 marked the fourth year that participants from federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and the recreation industry teamed up to encourage healthy, active outdoor fun at sites across the nation. These diverse partners offered opportunities for American families to experience traditional and non-traditional types of outdoor activities. Prime goals of the national celebration included reaching currently underserved populations and first-time visitors to public lands, and reconnecting our youth to the great outdoors. Details on the activities at various GO Day sites are available at: www.nationalgetoutdoorsday.org/locations/.

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Washington, D.C.-- More than thirty key and diverse national organizations and more than fifty local byways program advocates wrote Congressional leaders to describe the successes of the National Scenic Byways Program and to call for continuation of the program under any new federal surface transportation program. The writers ranged from AAA to the National Association of Counties.

The National Scenic Byways Program (NSBP) was created in 1991 and now includes 150 designated routes in 46 states. The byways advocates, writing as Friends of America's Byways, told the Congress, "These routes offer visitors outstanding, world-class opportunities for scenic, recreational, cultural and historic experiences. Not only are the lives of the American people – and visitors to this country – enriched immensely by these experiences, but thousands of communities have been given a new source of pride and economic vitality. These routes also link America's public lands to communities which serve as gateways to parks, forests, refuges and other federally managed lands, and tell stories about our land's geology, history and wildlife."

According to Friends coordinator Derrick Crandall, byways boost local economies through increased visitation, are catalysts for plans which shape development in key corridors, offer great traveling experiences and inspire increased community pride.

Although byways have almost no critics, the Friends note that expected cutbacks in federal transportation assistance to states put even popular and successful programs in jeopardy. According to Crandall, "The combined influence of transportation, recreation, conservation, historic preservation and tourism interests overcame resistance to a byways program in 1991. Those national interests have now reunited, and we also have a rich support team of local byways champions – local elected officials, local convention and visitor bureaus, local government agencies and byways friends groups. I think this chorus will be heard."

Copies of the letters to Senate and House transportation leaders are here and here.

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Washington, D.C. - Planning is well under way for another eventful Great Outdoors Week, the American Recreation Coalition’s (ARC) annual celebration of outdoor recreation and its important contributions to the well-being of the American people and their communities. The Week, which begins with the observance of National Get Outdoors (GO) Day on Saturday, June 11, 2011, will include special events showcasing key recreation programs and recognizing the outstanding efforts being undertaken across the country to improve outdoor recreation experiences. Great Outdoors Week is one of the focal points of Great Outdoors Month, proclaimed nationwide by the President and by state governors in every state throughout the United States.

The GO-Day launch of Great Outdoors Week will be marked at more than 100 sites where the public – especially young people – will be invited to enjoy different recreation activities and learn about additional, easily accessible recreation opportunities. The U.S. Forest Service will celebrate GO-Day as Fee Free Day, waiving fees on millions of acres of National Forests. And dozens of marina operators celebrating National Marina Day on June 11 th will welcome thousands of visitors to these family-friendly gateways to wonderful boating experiences.

Programs featured during Great Outdoors Week will include the Obama

Administration’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to link the American people to their magnificent public lands, the Let’s Move Outside campaign launched by First Lady Michelle Obama to combat childhood obesity, the ED OUT partnership program to encourage outdoor learning and fun, and the Recreational Trails Program, which serves as the foundation for state trail programs all across the country.

Great Outdoors Week will also include several different award ceremonies recognizing individual and collective achievements within the recreation community. The Coalition for Recreational Trails will salute outstanding trail programs and projects funded by the federal Recreational Trails Program. ARC will present its Legends Awards to exceptional individuals from seven federal agencies whose personal efforts have led to substantial improvements in outdoor recreation resources and management. ARC’s Beacon Awards will recognize the innovative use of technology in visitor services and recreation management on public lands. And, finally, the Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award – the recreation community’s most prestigious award – will recognize the leadership, vision and accomplishments of one extraordinary individual whose personal commitment to the value and importance of recreation has contributed significantly to the welfare of the American people.

“Great Outdoors Week gives us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the people, places and programs that bring healthy outdoor fun to millions of Americans every day of the year,” said ARC President Derrick Crandall. “They really put the ‘Great’ into the Great Outdoors.”

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WASHINGTON -- Lucy the Margate Elephant in New Jersey. The Watts Tower in Los Angeles. Burks' Distillery near Loretto, Kentucky. Sunwatch Indian Village in Dayton, Ohio. Each have earned the designation "national historic landmark" (NHL) and each -- along with 2,470 other NHLs -- are vying to be the star of your entry in the National Park Service's 12th annual NHL photo contest.

"Not all national historic landmarks are battlefields, high-style architecture, or associated with the Founding Fathers," said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. "But all are places with extraordinary significance to our American story. Through the photo contest we invite people to explore these amazing places and to share their favorites."

The contest, 100 Days of NHLs, begins April 22; all entries -- one per landmark, up to 10 total -- must be submitted by July 31. Winning entries will be featured in the National Historic Landmark 2012 Event Planner. See additional contest rules at http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/2011photocontest/.

To find a NHL near you, search the database at http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/default.cfm or look at a list at http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/designations/listsofNHLs.htm.

National historic landmarks are designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. The National Park Service manages the program, working with citizens throughout the nation interested in nominating new landmarks and providing assistance to existing landmarks.

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Washington, D.C.-- American Recreation Coalition (ARC) President Derrick Crandall will participate in next week’s Healthy Parks Healthy People U.S. 2011 session, April 5-6, in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Convened by National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis, the session will bring together 100 or so other innovators, experts, and visionaries from the national parks, and the recreation and health communities. The aim is to forge new partnerships and strengthen the nexus between public lands and public health.

For several years, ARC has been a leading proponent of promoting the connections between better health and time spent in the great outdoors and has supported investing health care dollars in outdoor recreation sites including parks. And that effort is being recognized at the highest levels in Washington and beyond. According to the letter from Director Jarvis, “There is a growing body of evidence that open spaces and natural places play a very real role in health.”

The event is being co-hosted with the Institute at the Golden Gate, which issued Park Prescriptions, profiling key programs linking health and the great outdoors, just last year.

“ARC is very pleased with the strides the NPS has taken -- and this is another step forward in raising the profile on health and the great outdoors,” Derrick Crandall said.

Director Jarvis said he plans to address many of the ideas and issues the ARC has been advocating for some time, including:

• How national, state and local parks can combine forces with business innovators, healthcare leaders, scientists, and advocacy organizations to promote wellness and reduce health care costs;
• How we can influence a cultural shift to value parks for health;
• What community leaders and managers can learn from experts and visionaries in order to make this a sustainable idea that affects behavior at its core; and
• How human health is dependent on the health of all species and the planet we share, and in what ways parks and open spaces can strengthen these connections.

The Opening Session (Tuesday, April 5th, 9:00-9:45 am PST) and Closing Session (Wednesday, April 6th, 11:45 am -12:15 pm PST), both featuring remarks by Director Jon Jarvis, will be available via webcast live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hphpUS

The American Recreation Coalition provides a unified voice for recreation interests to ensure their full and active participation in government policy-making on issues such as public land management, energy, and liability; stimulation of partnerships between federal agencies and companies to provide quality recreation opportunities; leadership in developing sources of supplemental income and other resources for public land and water management agencies; coordinating Recreation Exchanges, Partners Outdoors conferences, Great Outdoors Month in June, and National Get Outdoors Day, June 11, 2011.

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