Tuesday, February 06, 2007

The Great Outdoors

Santa Fe, New Mexico

New Mexico is a state steeped in cultural traditions. The Land of Enchanment offers some of the most stunning natural wonders in the United Staes from White Sands in the south to Valle Vidal in the north. Building Bridges to the Outdoors led by our New Mexico repersentative Michael Casaus, a Silver City native is leading a diverse coalition of educators, environmental groups, hunters, anglers and ranchers to build public support for giving every New Mexico child an outdoor experience. Here is a link to a recent article that outlines the Leave No Child Inside movement in New Mexico.
http://sfreporter.com/articles/publish/cover-013107-without-walls.php

The Sierra Club is supporting a bill in the New Mexico Legislature that will help get children to State Park Outdoor Classrooms
http://legis.state.nm.us:8080/lcsbillsearch/session.jsp?year=2007R&type=B&chamber=H&number=369

Their is other news going on with the Building Bridges to the Outdoors Project

• We are leading a coalition of groups in the State of Washington where we have introduced the Leave No Child Inside Act http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5265
• On the federal level we are working with groups to add a outdoor education as a component of the reauthorization of the Leave No Child Behind Act

President Bush also jumped into the fray this week with this announcement, I only hope that they follow through

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070201-3.html

Lost of exciting news as 2007 appears to be a yaer we we can make great strides in getting more children outside.