by David C. Barnett
Federal officials kicked off a new initiative in Cleveland, Monday, to reconnect urban kids with nature. The local program is one of fifty across the country where young people are being groomed to be future stewards of the land.
Young workers in green tee-shirts, surrounded by a sea of black-eyed susans, pushed shovels into the dirt along the Cuyahoga river to plant some trees. It's part of the US Department of the Interior's "Fifty City Initiative" that aims to develop and preserve natural areas across the country with the help of some corprate funding and muscle power from YMCA volunteers. These workers will will help trench trails, move stone, and plant even more trees. National Park Service director Jonathan Jarvis was in town to announce the program which is partnering locally with the Cleveland Metroparks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Jarvis suggests Northeast Ohio was an obvious choice for the program.
"The goal," he says, "is to find cities that already have active YMCAs, that have active urban park systems --- like the Metroparks here --- and a lot of community engagement --- so all of those were factors in the selection."
Jarvis adds, the initiative is part of an overall federal push to engage young people with the natural world, including Michelle Obama's anti-obesity program "Let's Move Outdoors", and the "Every Kid in a Park" initiative which will give fourth-graders and their families a free pass to the national park system. Jarvis hopes the program will inspire a new generation --- especially urban youth --- to connect with the outdoors.
