The health of America's youth is continuing to decline, spurred by obesity, diabetes, drug and alcohol abuse, and unwanted pregnancy, according to a recent report in The Journal of the American Medical Association. One might understand how this is possible in the large inner-city urban areas, but itís not just there, itís also in rural and small town areas, historically the geo-centers for better youth health. Blame it on the Internet, ipods, TV, junk food, the economy, or whatever, the solutions are far easier to determine than they are to implement.
A 2007 Recreation Forum by the American Recreation Coalition and National Forest Foundation, with the support of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, went right to the heart of the matter. “Today we witness increasing public concern over the diminished physical activity of Americans youth in particular and its impacts on our health and healthcare systems. It has opened our eyes to how a close relationship with the outdoors inspires creativity, better school performance and a commitment to conservation among youth.” Okay, so we’ve “opened our eyes” to problem, but where do we go for the solutions?
I may not be a “Dr. Phil,” but I think as anyone in a parented household knows, economics probably plays a major role in the youth problems we’re seeing today. With both parents (or a single-parent household) working full-time, parents are often too busy making ends meet to be the ideal “full-time parents.” Throw in the fact that the total time the entire family is together may be just an hour or so a day, and many youths are largely left to their own devices, both during and after school. If the youths are involved in extra curricular activities, that further shaves the time spent with their parents. While TV may paint a pretty picture, such as suburban soccer moms and football dads, the social and communication gap between parents and their children in recent years has increasingly grown. Too often the solution is to buy more electronics that keep youths inside or otherwise inactive.
Prior to computers, the Internet, visual electronic devices, and other indoor :immobile recreational” games, youths quickly became bored if forced to remain indoors for very long. They’d much rather be outdoors doing what youths of that generation did – which involved physical activities, be it playing tag, participating in a neighborhood ball game of some kind, riding their bikes, climbing on the monkey bars, swinging or just running and playing with a sibling or the family dog.
In rural and small towns, youths were introduced and mentored by family members to such traditional outdoor activities as fishing, hunting and trapping. Also many kids of that era earned his or her own money delivering newspapers, running errands, mowing lawns, shoveling snow, or in farm country, even running a trap-line. The Outdoor Industry Association, a trade group for outdoor industry suppliers, states that: "Hunting and fishing have to be introduced at an early age in order to become lifelong activities. Baby Boomers grew up participating with their families, but Gen X and Gen Y grew up with the computer and television instead."
A nationwide survey, conducted by Responsive Management of Harrisonburg, Virginia for the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, found that support for hunting and fishing has remained strong over the past decade with approximately every 3 out of 4 Americans approving of legal hunting and more than 9 out of 10 approving of recreational fishing. This is the first nationwide study which verifies that public support has increased over the past decade. But are they doing it?
Since 1991, the number of anglers in the U.S. has been on a gradual decline. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports angler numbers nationally have decreased approximately 15 percent, or about one percent annually. However, the drop in the Great Lakes region has been severe, with a 44 percent decline in anglers since 1991. Statistics from the DEC showed that through Nov. 5, 2007, just 751,482 hunting licenses had been sold, down from 901,313 the previous year. Big-game license sales showed a similar plummet, from 721,312 in 2006-07 to 611,207 through Nov. 5 of the license year.
New York's restrictive laws on youth hunting – the state's 16-year-old minimum age to hunt big game -- is the highest in the nation and has long been seen as a major hurdle to growing the sport in New York. Legislative efforts to reduce that age to 12 or 14 have failed in the past but will be renewed this year. There's also concern among the sporting community that the current administration doesn't have the growth of hunting and fishing high on its list of priorities, despite the huge amount of money they generate for the state.
New York state fishing license sales have hovered around one million for the past six years, with a low of 978,8484 in 2005-06 to a high last year of 1,008,697. However, sales through Nov. 5, 2007 stood at just under 500,000, but the real barometer for fishing license sales won't come until the April 1 opening of trout season. But even if those numbers fall short, there is a slight ray of hope on the horizon, and itís from a logical but unexpected source.
“Conservationist for Kids,” a new magazine to be published three times annually by the DEC, is written for students at or around fourth-grade level, an ideal time for children to develop an interest in the outdoors and experience it firsthand. The magazine is being sent to fourth-grade classes in public schools statewide, and “Conservationist” subscribers also received copies of the first edition.
The DEC says it 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.
The new magazine will feature information and activities to encourage young readers to explore the outdoors at school and at home. It will include a teacher supplement for using the magazine to enhance classroom learning. Only one other state, Idaho, has a children's outdoor magazine mailed to classrooms, and that is by subscription. For more information about “Conservationist for Kids,” go to http://www.cforkids.org/ or http://www.dec.ny.gov/.