Here is a list of our favorite family outdoor recreation links for the week. Enjoy!
Photo of the Week: Crater Lake National Park by Paraflyer
National Parks Attendance Drop
In last weeks roundup, this blog discussed the drop in National Park Attendance. Exploring this topic further, US News and World Report published an interview with Richard Louv titled "Why Kids Need a Big Dose of Nature".
Kids in the Outdoors
Connectwithkids.com published a video titled "missing out on outdoor play". It's not very long, but if you enjoyed the Louv interview, you might find this interesting as well.
NPS Website Upgrade:
Modern Hiker reported that the National Parks Service has started updating maps on park websites from the old Adobe PDF format to a flash interface. I always wonder how cool the NPS website could be if they upgraded their technology. Imagine the content a user supported web 2.0 NPS site would generate.... but I digress.
Citizen Science:
The Birdfreak team has been publishing all kinds of information about Citizen Science. What is citizen science? Citizen Science is a term used for a project or ongoing program of scientific work that involves volunteers who perform research related tasks such as observation, measurement, or computation. Learn more by clicking the links below:
Citizen Science - Tri Colored Blackbirds
Citizen Science - Project Feeder Watch
Citizen Science - Magpie Monitors
Members of the Birdfreak team are alumni and current students of Northern Illinois University. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected by the heartbreaking events.