Richard Louv at The Wild Center

Pines Play Area Dedication

More than 1,800 people thronged The Wild Center on this special day. National best-selling author Richard Louv and more than 25 organizations offered ideas to families for getting outside. Family activities throughout the 31-acre campus ranged from fly fishing and nature scavenger hunts to stick fort building, tree hunting or just laying back and watching the clouds as they passed. The day also featured the official opening of The Wild Center’s Pines nature play area. The Pines is designed entirely with nature in mind. Kids are encouraged to explore the area on their own terms and in their own time. Louv is a journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.

The Adirondack Medical Center, the Adirondack Museum, Evergreen Fund at Adirondack Community Trust, International Paper, Stewart’s Shops and The Wild Center are sponsors of the event. North Country Public Radio is the media sponsor for the day. Their generous support made the events of this day possible. The day was organized by Children and Nature New York (CiNNY).

About CiNNY – CiNNY is dedicated to reconnecting children and nature in throughout New York State. CiNNY organizing partners include The Children and Nature Network, the Environmental Awareness Network for Diversity in Conservation, SUNY ESF’s Northern Forest Institute, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, The Wild Center, Come Out and Play Saratoga and The Lake Placid Sports Summit.

According to Last Child in the Woods two out of ten of America’s children are clinically obese - four times the percentage of childhood obesity reported in the late 1960s. Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation. They are missing the opportunity to experience ‘free play’ outside in an unstructured environment that allows for exploration and expansion of their horizons through the use of their imaginations. In Sweden, Australia, Canada and the United States, studies of children in schoolyards with both green areas and manufactured play areas found that children engaged in more creative forms of play in the green areas.

Nature not only benefits children and ensures their participation and stewardship of nature as they grow into adults, nature helps entire families. Louv proposes that “Nature is an antidote. Stress reduction, greater physical health, a deeper sense of spirit, more creativity, a sense of play, even a safer life – these are the rewards that await a family when it invites more nature into children’s lives”.

CiNNY is developing support for the creation and adoption of a NYS Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights that will help create a framework to make sure that children have real access to nature.