For Release: Tuesday, December 18, 2007

DEC Launches New Magazine to Connect Children to Outdoors, Nature

Conservationist for Kids will be sent to 4th-graders in Public Schools

New York is launching a new nature magazine for kids, filled with photos, articles and tips on activities designed to encourage children to reconnect with the outdoors and the natural world, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis announced today at a news conference at an Albany elementary school.

Conservationist for Kids, published three times per year, will be written for students at or around fourth-grade level, an ideal time for children to build interest in the outdoors and experience it first-hand. The publication will be sent to fourth-grade public classrooms statewide. And, for the initial issue only, it will be sent to subscribers of Conservationist, DEC's acclaimed outdoors periodical. In addition, Conservationist has been redesigned, featuring a new cover and masthead, greater use of photos and more pages.

"Children who are connected to nature are more likely to preserve and protect it," said Governor Eliot Spitzer. "By educating New York's children about the wonders of the outdoors, Conservationist for Kids will help to create a new generation of committed environmental stewards."

"In a world full of iPods, Xboxes and 500-channel digital cable, our youngsters are spending more and more time indoors on the couch, disconnected from the natural world," Grannis said. "Conservationist for Kids gives children across New York a reason to venture outside, offering fun and informative activities that we hope will spark a connection and concern for nature that lasts a lifetime."

Conservationist for Kids is part of DEC's broad-based plan to connect more New Yorkers to nature. As part of that agenda, the Department is focusing on a number of fronts, including strengthening environmental education and outdoor experiences for all age groups, working to increase participation in hiking, camping, canoeing, fishing and hunting, improving access to green space, and improving visitor centers, education centers and camps across the state.

Conservationist for Kids will feature information and activities to encourage young readers to explore outdoors at school and at home. It will include a teacher supplement for using the magazine to enhance classroom learning. Examples of activities -- which have been correlated to the New York State math, science and technology learning standards for fourth graders - include:

How to feed birds.
How to identify animal tracks and scat.
How to make your own binoculars.
How to keep a field journal.

"Teachers are always looking for new materials to stimulate young readers. This new magazine, written to the learning standards in mind, will nurture developing readers while it taps into a love for the outdoors,'' said NYS Education Commissioner Richard Mills. "By placing Conservationist for Kids in all of our fourth-grade classrooms, Commissioner Grannis and the DEC support the Regents in their focus on improving student performance."

The magazine may also include stories of current environmental interests.

"Each issue will have something very important in common: fun activities designed to get our kids connected to the world outside," Grannis said. "This magazine puts New York on the leading edge of this kind of effort."

Only one other state, Idaho, has a children's outdoor magazine mailed to classrooms, though it is by subscription.

"Sailing with kids for 40 years, Clearwater has seen first hand the importance of connecting children to nature," said Jeff Rumph, executive director of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. "It is visible in the way kids light up with excitement and joy. It is visible in how it motivates their desire to learn. It is especially visible in the way nature motivates kids to care for their world."

"Magazines like Conservationist for Kids can play a key role in creating a connection and concern for nature in our children that will last a lifetime," said David Gibson, Executive Director of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. "If we are to recruit our successors in the protection of the Adirondacks, or of any place that we greatly value, then we have to encourage regular contact with something real in nature. That in turn builds character, awareness, appreciation and concern for special environments we wish to protect, as well as aspirations in both school and the workplace."

Meanwhile, Conservationist has been redesigned to sport a more modern look. Editorial content will not see significant changes, although the magazine will have more timely content. The number of pages per issue will go to 40 from 32. Among other things, the extra space will allow for a greater use of photos and a new guest writer column called Back Trails.

"One of the things our readers consistently tell us is how much they love the photos featured in the Conservationist,'' Grannis said. "In response to readers' comments, and in keeping with a modern aesthetic, these changes will make a good product even better."

Conservationist magazine's Web site (http://www.theconservationist.org/) has also been redesigned and enhanced. Magazine articles in their entirety are being posted as reference material for teachers, students, and outdoor enthusiasts. For several years, artistic pullouts or natural history "field guides" have been posted to the magazine's Web site, allowing teachers to download and print the materials free of charge. Beginning with the December issue, the magazine will be posted in its entirety.

The magazine has been DEC's official publication (and that of the Conservation Department, DEC's predecessor) since 1946. It has always included information about hunting and fishing, wildlife and land management, natural resource conservation and environmental quality, even as long ago as Volume 1, Number 1, published in August 1946. The magazine has 95,000 paid subscribers, making it one of the largest such state conservation publications in the nation. It has readers in all 50 states.

For more information on The Conservationist for Kids, go to http://www.cforkids.org/ or http://www.dec.ny.gov/.