GET OUTSIDE THIS SUMMER DURING THE GREAT AMERICAN BACKYARD CAMPOUT®, JUNE 27!

Join thousands of campers across the country for National Wildlife Federation’s fifth annual Great American Backyard Campout® on Saturday, June 27, 2009. Remember when you were a child and sleeping under the stars and sharing stories around the campfire were favorite pastimes? Celebrate these summertime traditions again in your backyard or favorite camping spot.

Visit the Great American Backyard Campout® online at www.backyardcampout.org to register your campsite and join the nationwide community of backyard campers. Share your experiences and get ideas from other campers in your area. Download fun activities, camping tips, recipes and more.

In today’s high-tech world, children and families are losing touch with nature and the outdoors.

The Great American Backyard Campout® encourages everyone to get outside and camp, to renew his or her connection with nature or experience it for the first time.

It also provides an opportunity for parents to re-connect with their kids following an endless schedule of programmed activities during the school year. So turn off your TVs, iPods, Playstations, computers, and cell phones and experience a night outside.

It’s because there’s room to breathe, room to grow, room to talk and connect. It’s because there’s no limit to what you can discover when you reconnect with nature. And the most amazing thing of all is that all that can happen inside a 4 foot by 6 foot tent.

Help your community and constituents make a meaningful connection with nature during the fifth annual 2009 Great American Backyard Campout (GABC), sponsored by National Wildlife Federation (NWF).

Today, children are increasingly disconnected from nature. With that, the GABC is a signature event that is part of a larger NWF campaign to get American families outdoors. The campaign will be formally launched in mid-2009 and by partnering with the GABC you can get in on the ground floor of this national outreach effort.

Camping out in the backyard or a local destination is an excellent introduction to this favorite pastime and the first step families can take to get outdoors and explore nature. They’ll spend their time watching for wildlife, listening for nocturnal creatures, gazing at the stars and telling stories around the campfire or lantern.

Participants will register their campsites – their own backyards or favorite campgrounds – online at www.backyardcampout.org. The site also includes suggested activities, recipes, wildlife guides and more.

Click on backyardcampout.org for complete information!
Artwork by David Clegg