National Wildlife Week Begins Tomorrow

Tomorrow marks the start of National Wildlife Week, an annual event sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) with a goal of teaching young people about the extraordinary animals that live around us. This celebration of all the diverse life that we share our planet with will run from March 18-24.

The theme of this year’s National Wildlife Week is “Branching Out,” which puts a particular emphasis on the importance of trees to animals. Trees serve as protection, form habitats and provide food and other resources for animals and yet we don’t always recognize just how significant a role they play for the creatures that live in and around them. With that in mind, the NWF has provided educators with some suggested lesson plans and other activities for helping to convey this important message to their students.

2013 also happens to be the 75th anniversary of National Wildlife Week and the NWF wanted to do something big to commemorate the occasion. So, in keeping with the theme, the organization is also hoping to plant 75,000 trees across the U.S. With that goal in mind, they’ve given us the tools to host a tree-planting event of our own or donate some cash to the cause. For every $10 that is given, the NWF will plant another tree near schools, parks or on other public lands across the country.

The National Wildlife Federation is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting wildlife and their habitats. By educating young people about the importance of this cause, they hope to create the next generation of conservationists that will help steward America’s national resources throughout the 21st century and beyond. National Wildlife Week is one of their most important tools in helping to achieve that goal.

With spring just around the corner and much of the country on break this week, now is the perfect time to head outside and plant a tree.

Tonight Is The Great American Backyard Campout

The National Wildlife Federation has declared today, June 23, as the Great American Backyard Campout. To celebrate the event, which is designed to help reconnect young people with the outdoors, the organization is encouraging friends and families to spend the night sleeping out under the stars.

Thanks to the introduction of the Internet, video games, television and other technological distractions, fewer and fewer kids are actually going outside to play these days. The NWF says that only about 25 percent of American children now spend any significant time outdoors on a daily basis. Just two decades ago that number was actually 75 percent. The organization feels that by getting children to go outside we not only improve their health, but also help them build a solid respect for nature and wildlife.

This event also serves as a fundraiser for the NWF, which encourages campers to register their campout and ask friends and family to sponsor their backyard adventure. By doing so, they can earn official GABC T-shirts and be eligible to win a trip to New York or Los Angeles to be on a National Wildlife Federation television show. The organization promises that 80 cents out of every dollar earned goes directly to support their cause, which is to protect and preserve America’s diverse wildlife populations.

Tonight, thousands of people across the U.S. will take part in the Great American Backyard Campout. They’ll huddle around a campfire and tell tall tales while singing camping songs and making delicious s’mores. And when they’re ready to call it an evening, they’ll slip inside their tents, crawl in a comfy sleeping bag and drift off to sleep with the sounds of nature all about them. Perhaps in doing so, they will also begin to instill a bit of love for the outdoors in themselves and their children too.

Find out more about the Great American Backyard Campout by clicking here.