PARKS IN FOCUS

Udall Foundation Strengthens its Relationship with the U.S. Department of the Interior

"I salute the Udall Foundation for creating the Parks in Focus program and working with local Boys & Girls Clubs and individual national parks to give youngsters who might never have the chance to get out into the great outdoors the opportunity to explore a national park."

-- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, April 20, 2009

Deprived of the natural setting that shaped the thinking and aspirations of previous generations, fewer and fewer children learn and play in nature. The Udall Foundation's Parks in Focus program changes that dynamic by giving Udall scholarship alumni the opportunity to pass their knowledge to children who may have never seen a national park or enjoyed the public lands system. The Parks in Focus program works with Boys & Girls Clubs across the country to connect underserved youth with the outdoors through the lens of a camera.

In 2009, the Udall Foundation has strengthened its relationship with the U.S. Department of the Interior through an expansion of its Parks in Focus program. By intensifying the working relationship between the two federal agencies, the Parks in Focus program is increasing its national outreach.

Grand Canyon National Park and the Udall Foundation recently formalized their partnership when they signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2009. The two organizations have collaborated since 1999 on Parks in Focus. With their new partnership, the two organizations hope to increase collaboration and expand the educational program opportunities at Grand Canyon National Park to reach more youth from Arizona.

Under their new partnership, Grand Canyon National Park and the Udall Foundation applied for and were awarded a grant through the 2009 America's Best Idea Program. The grant will allow them to jump-start the planned expansion of the Parks in Focus program. The America’s Best Idea Program was made possible in part by a grant from the National Park Foundation through the generous support of the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. As a part of the collaboration, in June, two groups of 12 seventh graders from the Boys & Girls Club of Tucson will go on five-day Parks in Focus trips through northern Arizona. Their trips will take them to Wupatki National Monument; Sunset Crater National Monument; Marshall Lake in the Coconino National Forest; Slide Rock State Park; Red Rock State Park; an urban park in Flagstaff, Arizona; and Grand Canyon National Park. For many of the young participants, it will be their first trip outside of Tucson. The participants will be accompanied by representatives from the Boys & Girls Clubs and trip leaders Robert Filbin (Trip One) and Meg Matthews (Trip Two), who are alumni of the Udall Foundation’s scholarship program and experienced Parks in Focus leaders.

Thanks to new funding through the America's Best Idea grant, 10 youth from the June Arizona trips will return to the Grand Canyon for one week in August to camp in the backcountry to learn about the natural and cultural resources of the park. They will learn the skill of photography from renowned photographer Gary Ladd and the ins and outs of nature from park rangers. Photos taken and selected by the young participants will be included in an exhibit created by the National Park Service and the Udall Foundation and displayed at Park Headquarters within Grand Canyon National Park.

With the assistance of KUAT Arizona Public Media (KUAT), the kids will also put together a short video using their photographs to document their summer experience. The video will be shown at a premiere event hosted by KUAT on August 29, 2009, in Tucson for the new Ken Burns documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, with which the America's Best Idea Program is closely tied. The documentary will premier on public television this fall and is a coproduction of PBS/WETA and Florentine Films.

In addition, the Department of the Interior Museum recently opened an exhibit of the photographs taken on the Parks in Focus trips in 2007 and 2008. Secretary Ken Salazar and Congressman Raúl Grijalva were in attendance at the opening reception for the exhibit on April 20, 2009, to commemorate National Park Week. The exhibit will remain on display at the Museum through mid-December 2009. The Interior Museum is located at 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240. For additional information about the exhibit, please call (202) 208-4743.

Also, on May 21, 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Udall Foundation cohosted a mini Parks in Focus program with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington to teach the participants about local nature through the fun of digital photography. The event was held at Constitution Gardens in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a similar priority for reaching out to America's youth and connecting them to nature. The Service's Let's Go Outside program aims to create meaningful outdoor experiences for children and their families across the country in an effort to improve both their health and their stewardship of natural resources. The Service recently launched a "Creating Memories in Nature" initiative using digital technology, specifically digital cameras, as a tool to encourage families to get outside and appreciate their environment.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Terry Bracy, chair of the Udall Foundation Board of Trustees, at the Opening Reception for the Parks in Focus exhibit at the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum.