UDALL FOUNDATION BEGINS A PILOT

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL PARK

SERVICE TO EXPAND THE STEWART L.

UDALL PARKS IN FOCUS PROGRAM

In 2010, the Udall Foundation and the National Park Service will begin a pilot partnership to expand the Udall Foundation’s Stewart L. Udall Parks in Focus Program to include components of the National Trails System.

Since 1999, Parks in Focus has been creating the new generation of public stewards by connecting underserved youth to nature through the art of photography. With the help of trained Udall Scholarship alumni leaders, the Udall Foundation organizes week-long trips to introduce members of local Boys & Girls Clubs, many of whom have never before left their communities, to some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the country.

The Udall Foundation provides digital cameras to the young participants to use and keep and teaches the basics of photography, ecology, and conservation while exploring national parks, wildlife refuges, and other public lands.

Under the new pilot partnership, the Udall Foundation and the National Park Service will work together to increase the number of underserved youth reached by Parks in Focus, and also increase awareness of both the parks visited and the National Trails System that run through, around, and between them. This will be accomplished through collaborations with trail organizations, real time spent on the trails hearing from interpreters, and the publication and use of images taken by youth participants and of youth participants.

In 2010, the Udall Foundation and National Park Service will launch the partnership by focusing on three areas, with the hope of additional Parks in Focus trips in 2011. The areas are:

  • Arizona (Arizona Trail and/or Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail)
  • California (Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail and/or California National Historic Trail)
  • Michigan (North Country National Scenic Trail)

For additional information about Parks in Focus, please visit http://pif.udall.gov/ or http://pif.udall.gov/video.asp.