On Long Island, sportsmen recognize the value of outdoor sports.
In Suffolk County, two notable programs have been promoting hunter safety and outdoor education for kids for close to 15 years. Since 1994, the Youth Conservation Program has taught kids safety through a sportsman education program geared toward junior hunters 12 to 15 years old. During the two-day program they gain a better understanding of conservation, and nature, as well as a hefty respect for safe gun handling and proficiency. The Youth Waterfowl Program, established in 1998, also promotes youth hunting while teaching wetlands and waterfowl conservation. Well over 500 kids have successfully completed these programs since their inception. I would be willing to bet that many of them are out there right now becoming some of the leaders in our society, and stewards of our natural resources, forging ahead on their way to having successful careers and families of their own, with a greater appreciation for what really goes on in the natural world around them.In Illinois, the Movement spreads...
• Explore a forest preserve nearby after work or during a lunch hour. Find a place you like and make it part of your day, visiting early and late in all seasons. Take a notebook and draw, paint or write.
• Take children hiking when they’re young in a backpack-style baby carrier that holds them at your eye level. When they’re big enough to walk on their own, let them. Take them to a place with a pond or a stream and let them throw stones, touch the water with sticks or do whatever they want that seems safe and non-destructive.
• Encourage older children to visit parks and preserves with their friends. If you have safety concerns, make sure they take a cell phone.
• Encourage your elementary school to participate in Mighty Acorns, a nature stewardship program for fourth- through sixth-graders.
Winter sports athletes lament the loss of snow, and talk about climate change...
"When I was a kid, I remember walking in tunnels of snow," says 25-year-old alpine skier Steven Nyman, who won his first World Cup downhill race in 2007. "It was like that Arcade Fire song where they talk about digging tunnels in the snow to get from house to house. Now it seems like it only happens every five to 10 years.
