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Forest Service
Eastern Region
626 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Web: www.fs.usda.gov/R9 Media Contact: Teri Heyer
Voice: (651) 649-­‐5239
Cell: (651) 592-­‐3152
theyer@fs.fed.us
Release No.: 14R912
FOREST SERVICE INVITES PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN
NATIONAL GET OUTDOORS DAY
MINNEAPOLIS, June 12, 2014 – Eastern Regional Forester Kathleen Atkinson invites
children and families to experience the many benefits of nature by participating in the 7th
annual National Get Outdoors Day, Saturday, June 14. The event, known as ‘Go Day’,
inspires national and local organizations to come together to promote the social, economic
and environmental benefits of outdoor recreation.
“Working with our partners, we are able to provide a variety of opportunities for kids and
adults to learn, enjoy and explore on our national forests and grasslands,” she said.
On June 14, 12:00-4:00 p.m., at Powederhorn Park, 3400 15th
Ave S., Minneapolis, Forest
Service Urban Connections and Superior National Forest staff will share recreational and
camping opportunities. There will be the chance to try canoeing, paddle boarding, archery,
fishing, wall climbing, biking, make a s’more and learn how to camp “leaving no trace.”
Smokey will also share his “Only you can Prevent Wildfires” message.
Nationwide, more than 100 Forest Service locations will provide free recreational and
educational activities. Some events are specifically designed to better engage urban and
multicultural youth in nature-based activities and attract first-time visitors to public lands.
“These public lands provide more than 158,000 miles of recreational trails, wild and scenic
rivers, lakes and streams, thousands of campgrounds and day-use sites and educational
opportunities at Forest Service visitor centers. These lands also add more than $13 billion in
benefits to local economies,” Atkinson said.
Sponsors have added an exciting addition to National Get Outdoors day – a photo mosaic
contest. Submit your pictures and join thousands of other people from across the country in
celebrating our great outdoors. From your submissions, ten people will be randomly selected
News Release

2. to win an America the Beautiful or ‘Interagency’ pass, which covers entrance and standard
amenity fees at more than 2,000 federal recreation areas.
June is 2014 Great Outdoors Month, and Atkinson invites all Americans to explore traditional
and non-traditional types of recreational activities all month long with the Forest Service and
its many partner organizations.
The U.S. Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a mission of sustaining
the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of
present and future generations. The Forest Service’s Eastern Region includes twenty states in the
Midwest and East, stretching from Maine, to Maryland, to Missouri, to Minnesota. There are 17
national forests and one national tallgrass prairie in the Eastern Region. For more information, visit
www.fs.usda.gov/R9.
The U.S. Forest Service manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and
private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world. Public lands
the Forest Service manages contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through
visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply, a
value estimated at $7.2 billion per year. The agency has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship
of about 80 percent of the 850 million forested acres within the U.S., of which 100 million acres are
urban forests where most Americans live. For more information, visit www.fs.usda.gov/.
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discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.,
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