MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Wonderful Outdoor World : Curbside Campouts

One in every three acres of land in the United States is in a national park, forest or refuge, but many city children don’t get to experience this natural bounty--it’s too far, too expensive or too unfamiliar to their families. Children who aren’t introduced to the natural world tend to have little involvement with it later in life.

Wonderful Outdoor World, a program created and funded through a partnership of local, state and federal government agencies and recreation-related businesses, introduces urban youths to overnight camping and outdoor recreation activities closer to home, and informs their parents about other low-cost outdoor destinations, including those reachable by public transportation.

Groups of boys and girls ages 9 to 12, supervised by Los Angeles city recreation and parks staff, gather for overnight campouts at local neighborhood parks, where they learn to observe and participate in the natural world. Campers pitch a tent, read a map, find a constellation and cook on a campstove. At the end of the camp, parents are invited to attend a “graduation” ceremony and recreational resource fair. Campers get to keep a sleeping bag, flashlight and emergency preparedness kit.

Wonderful Outdoor World is starting up at 10 ten L.A. parks this summer and is scheduled to expand to five other cities next year.

Outdoor Recreation at Risk

Percentage of Americans in 1986 who said outdoor recreation was not important to them when growing up: 16%

Percentage in 1994 who said outdoor recreation was not important to them when growing up: 32%

Source: Recreation Roundtable/Roper Starch Worldwide survey

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“My sister and I have been to Montecito Park before, but it was our first time camping overnight. It was so much fun. We made maps and used them to go on a treasure hunt. I saw a snake and a possum with babies they brought from the zoo and we studied stars in the sky with an astronomer from the observatory. My favorites were fishing--I learned how to put bait on a hook--and cooking s’mores. I didn’t know what a s’more was before. Maybe we will camp again. I hope so.” --Monica Beas, 11, Los Angeles

Wonderful Outdoor World S’mores

(as described by camper Monica Beas)

Get marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers and then build a fire.

Put a marshmallow on a stick and roast it in the fire. (You should wait for it to get very brown like toast.)

Be careful when you slide the marshmallow off the stick onto a graham cracker.

Make a sandwich by putting a piece of chocolate and another graham cracker on top of the marshmallow.

Eat it, but if you can wait a second, the chocolate melts a little, and it tastes even better.

Camp Basics

Who: up to 32 boys and girls chosen by Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks staff at host site

When: from April through October, to resume next year in March

Where: ten parks in the city of Los Angeles

How much: each youth pays 5$; food, cookware, tents, sleeping bags and other supplies and costs are underwritten by sponsoring businesses

Sponsors:

California State Parks

Cal State Long Beach

Chevy/GEO

City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks The Coleman Company

Ralph’s Grocery Co.

Recreation Roundtable, panel of chief executives from 25 recreation companies

U.S. Bureau of Land Management U.S. Forest Services

Walt Disney Company

Well Cargo (cq)

TO GET INVOLVED

Call (213) 485-5555.