Click here to listen to the recent KQED program on youth and Adventure Education.
Transportation: Challenges & Opportunities: Connecting Young People to the Great Outdoors
Numerous organizations throughout California are working to connect young people to the great outdoors. This study documents how the transportation logistics of outdoor programs can be one of the biggest barriers when it comes to connecting youth to the outdoors. In order to assist these organizations, PG&E provided a grant to the the Great Valley Center to commission a report to help define the current transportation challenges confronted by outdoor youth program and organizations, and explore and compare the current available transportation opportunities. The Stewardship Council played an active role in helping to frame this study and providing insights into the transportation issues confronting youth serving organizations.
Get Outside and Leave Your Car at Home
The Bay Area Open Space Council has just launced an amazing new resource for planning trips to Bay Area recreation spots via public transportation www.transitandtrails.org.
This wonderful resource for the Bay Area community allows you to search for trailheads, campgrounds and featured trips and then get live interactive transit directions to those locations via 511.org or Google Transit! There are hundreds of the best trailheads, and all of the 9 campgrounds in the 9 county Bay Area along with about 20 featured trips. The East Bay Regional Parks, Save Mount Diablo, and GreenInfo Network were among many member groups that provided data for this site.
Development of the website is ongoing, and soon it will facilitate community input and social networking. Users will be able to update the map, add photos, discuss their favorite trails and use the site to invite friends to outdoor adventures. Addition of a carbon calculator, that will allow users to measure the positive impact they are having by reducing their carbon footprint is also planned. There are plans to add information on handicap accessible areas, and other recreation destinations such as birding areas, great trails, runs, swimming spots, etc.
Please read Metropolitan Transportation Commission and 511’s articles about Transit and Trails on their home pages:
Transit 511 (under Regional Announcements)
Please visit their new website