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Here's something right up Women Outdoors' alley, or trail as the case may be - National Public Lands Day.  Begun in 1994, National Public Lands Day is "the nation's largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands Americans enjoy" according to their web site.

Part of the Women Outdoors vision statement is to promote environmental stewardship by creating and participating in earth stewardship programs.  National Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 26, 2009, offers us the opportunity to do just that.

As outdoors women, we enjoy public lands every time we hike in a state or national park, canoe or kayak down a river, bike on Rails-to-Trails path, cross country ski in a national forest, or participate in any other number of outdoor activities.

Last year, more than 120,000 people in every state helped care for shared lands on National Public Lands Day.  Volunteers showed up at national parks, state and local parks, lakes, rivers, beaches, wetlands, wildlife refuges, forests, you name it, to build trails and bridges, plant native species, remove trash and invasive plants, and provide stewardship for the outdoor spaces we so cherish. 

Visit National Public Lands Day to find a site near you or to register a site that your group or Women Outdoors region will coordinate.

See you in the outdoors (and probably on public land).

Marion Stoddart, one of the founding mothers of Women Outdoors, has long inspired many members of our organization with her environmental activism, enthusiasm for adventure travel, and amazing life story.  Now the world can discover Marion Stoddart through the documentary film, The Work of 1000, honoring the life and work of this Massachusetts environmental pioneer.

Produced by Susan Edwards and scheduled for release this winter, The Work of 1000 will chronicle Marion's indefatigable campaign to clean up the Nashua River in north central Massachusetts in the 1960s.  At that time, the pollution-choked Nashua River, one of the top 10 most polluted rivers in the country, flowed in eerie colors and with a biting stench from the chemicals dumped by dye manufacturers near Fitchburg.  

Marion spearheaded the campaign to clean up the Nashua River and enlisted many allies at the local, state and national level in her cause.  She would simply not take no for an answer in her fight to clean up the river.  Her tenacious advocacy led to the complete restoration of the waterway into a healthy and vibrant river that today is a mecca for swimmers, kayakers and fishermen.

Decades after her advocacy work, Marion founded a travel adventure business, Outdoor Vacations for Women Over 40, and has led groups of women from diverse backgrounds on trips across the country and around the world to hike, kayak, cross-country ski, and partake in  a host of other outdoor activities. 

Marion gave the keynote speech at the 25th Annual Women Outdoors Gathering in 2004.

To learn more about Marion Stoddart and The Work of 1000, visit www.workof1000.com. 

We are thrilled to find out that the Sargent Center for Outdoor Education will be open in 2010.  As many Women Outdoors members know, the Sargent Center was slated for closure on August 31, 2009.  At this year's Gathering, a number of women volunteered to serve on a search committee to find another venue for the 2010 Gathering. 

The chair of the search committee kept in contact with the staff of the Sargent Center and heard there was a possibility the Sargent Center would remain open in 2010.  When that possibility became a reality, she immediately reserved Memorial Day Weekend 2010 for the 31st Annual Women Outdoors National Gathering.  Thank you to everyone on the committee for your great work.

According to the Sargent Coalition Facebook page, "Thanks to an agreement between Nature's Classroom of Charlton, Massachusetts, and Boston University, Sargent Center will remain open to schools, conference groups and campers after August 31.  Boston University will retain the ownership of the property and offer Nature's Classroom a short-term operating lease, allowing programs to run much as they have in the past."

Our 30th Annual National Gathering now lives on in our memories.  We enjoyed beautiful weather all weekend with just a little rain one night and afternoon.  Highlights of the weekend included  hikes to the heron rookery (and a moose sighting very early one morning!), wildflowers galore, a bald eagle in her nest, kayaking on Half Moon Pond, Erica Wheeler's wonderful concert, bike rides long and short, and many cherished memories. The Sargent Center staff treated us to a special slide show on the nearly 100 year history of Sargent Camp and its founder, Dr. Dudley Sargent.  The "then and now" photos were especially moving.

While we had to say good bye to the Sargent Center, the Gathering's home for the past 20 years, we see this as an opportunity to say hello to a new venue for our 31st Gathering.  A group of Women Outdoors members are already working on finding a place for next year's Gathering.  Stay tuned.

On Saturday, June 6, celebrate National Trails Day by taking a hike.  Sponsored by the American Hiking Society, National Trails Day aims to increase awareness and stewardship of hiking trails nationwide.  Women Outdoors partners with American Hiking Society and supports their efforts to inspire the public to discover and enjoy the wonders found along our favorite trails.

Women Outdoors Mid-Atlantic will celebrate National Trails Day with a hike at Sugarloaf Mountain in Frederick County, Maryland.  This will be the official launch of this new chapter of Women Outdoors.  Sign up for the hike by clicking on the Special Events calendar on the Mid-Atlantic region page and then scrolling over to June 6 to get to the registration form.

Women Outdoors applauds the passage of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, signed into law by President Obama on March 30, 2009.  Comprehensive in scope, the act is a dream come true for anyone who loves the outdoors.  

The Omnibus Public Land Act designates over two million acres of wilderness and adds over 1,000 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers, 2,800 miles of National Trails, and 330,000 acres of National Conservation Areas.   In addition, the act addresses the National Landscape Conservation System and the Forest Landscape Conservation Service, and takes steps to improve our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes.

According to the American Hiking Society, a partner of Women Outdoors, “Not since the National Park System was created in 1916 has a single action of Congress had a greater positive impact on the hiking experience.  This is a terrific achievement for all hikers and a ‘crowning achievement’ for American Hiking Society, as we’ve been working for four years on key elements of this all-encompassing trails, wilderness and conservation bill.”

In his speech at the White House, President Obama captured the spirit of the law: 

“Winters hardships are slowly giving way to spring, and our thoughts naturally tend to turn to the outdoors.  We emerge from the shelter offered by home and work, and we look around, and we're reminded that the most valuable things in this life are those things that we already possess.

"Now, as Americans, we possess few blessings greater than the vast and varied landscapes that stretch the breadth of our continent.  Our lands have always provided great bounty, food and shelter for the first Americans, for settlers and pioneers, the raw materials that grew our industry, the energy that powers our economy.

"What these gifts require in return is our wise and responsible stewardship.  As our greatest conservationist president, Teddy Roosevelt, put it almost a century ago, "I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land, but I do not recognize the right to waste them or to rob by wasteful use the generations that come after us."

"That's the spirit behind the bipartisan legislation I'm signing today, legislation among the most important in decades to protect, preserve and pass down our nation's most treasured landscapes to future generations.

“It's a vision that sees America's great wilderness as a place where it was and what is and what will be, all are the same, a place where memories are lived and relived, a place where Americans both young and young at heart can freely experience the spirit of adventure that has always been at the heart of the rugged character of America.”

On March 20, women outdoor enthusiasts can celebrate not only the first day of spring, but also the rollout of a brand new web site, www.WomenOutdoors.org. 

Women Outdoors, a national, nonprofit organization that promotes leadership, friendship, adventure and enjoyment, created www.WomenOutdoors.org  as a way for women to connect with other women who share their outdoor interests and values.  

Check out the completely renovated Women Outdoors web site and here are some of the features you’ll find:  professionally designed graphics, photos by Women Outdoors members, lots of new content, and easy navigation.  Here’s a quick tour of WomenOutdoors.org.

The About Us section describes the history of Women Outdoors, how we’re organized into regions, how we’re managed by a board of directors, and the principles we value as an organization. 

 Our Regions offers a brief description of each of our nine regional chapters.  Click on any of those chapter links and you’ll open up that region’s own web page filled with photos, links to their calendar of activities, special events, news, and a photo gallery. 

The Gathering page offers loads of information about our annual get-together over Memorial Day Weekend in New England.  The Gathering brings together new and old members from across the country gather for a long weekend of outdoor experiences where women can have fun and challenge themselves in a safe and nurturing environment.  With the new web site, for the first time ever, you’ll be able to register and pay for the Gathering online.

Click on Latest News for press releases about what our national organization is doing as well as updates from the regions.  You can also subscribe to an RSS feed so you’ll know as soon as anything new is posted.

At Women Outdoors we want to share our love of the outdoors and the organization that helps us nurture our nature.  The Resources page offers information such as Women Outdoors trip guidelines and Leave No Trace guidelines as well as links to other web sites of interest organized into categories such as clubs and organizations, adventure travel, outdoor gear, and other helpful information.

We anticipate that after exploring our web page, many women are going to want to explore membership in Women Outdoors.  To make that as easy as possible, we have a special Join Us page where women can click a few buttons, fill in a few fields, pay online and become a new member of Women Outdoors. 

An all-volunteer organization founded in 1980, Women Outdoors sponsors nine regional chapters on the East Coast, which organize activities such as hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, climbing, skiing and snow shoeing.  Women Outdoors hosts regional chapters in Connecticut, the greater Boston area, western Massachusetts, Rhode Island/Southeastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire/Vermont, the Finger Lakes Region of New York, Albany, NY, the Mid-Atlantic and South Florida.

Women outdoor enthusiasts take note:  A regional chapter of Women Outdoors will be starting in the Mid-Atlantic later this spring.  We welcome women from Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware and West Virginia to join us as we seek adventure from the Atlantic Ocean to the Shenandoah Mountains.  Join Women Outdoors and register for the Mid-Atlantic region to receive the latest updates on this new chapter.

The 30th annual Women Outdoors National Gathering is just around the corner.   Coming up this Memorial Day Weekend to the Sargent Center for Outdoor Education in southern New Hampshire, the Gathering offers three days of fun and adventure.

Every Memorial Day weekend, women from across the country come together for the Women Outdoors National Gathering.  Whether you are a hiker or biker, kayaker or swimmer, birder or star gazer, painter or poet, writer or reader, the Women Outdoors Gathering has something for you. 

Most of the activities at the Gathering are volunteer-led workshops.  Some of the favorites include the hike to the heron rookery to see the fuzzy heads of baby heron, the wildflower identification walk, trekking up Mount Monadnock, and biking New Hampshire’s back roads.  Members also offer workshops such as orienteering, knot tying, bicycle repair, camp cooking, drumming and first aid.  Some of the quieter offerings may include chi qong, yoga, painting and crafts.  In addition, women can canoe, kayak or swim in Half Moon Pond, explore the many walking trails at the Sargent Center, or challenge themselves with an adventure activity such as the climbing wall or high ropes course.

On Friday night, the Gathering opens with “getting to know you games” that leave you laughing with your new friends.  Saturday evening features a keynote speaker, and Sunday night brings down the house with the annual coffee house review – a talent show of Women Outdoors members.  A campfire and s’mores round out Saturday and Sunday nights.

Boston University operates the Sargent Center for Outdoor Education in Hancock, New Hampshire.  Located in the Monadnock region of southern New Hampshire, the 800-acre camp features hiking and biking trails and a large lake – Half Moon Pond – for canoeing, kayaking, swimming and relaxing.  Perhaps most important, the meals at the Gathering are fabulous.
 
For more information and to register for this wonderful event, go to The Gathering page.

Three members of Women Outdoors participated in the 2008 Wilderness Heals Annual Pledge Hike to raise money for the Elizabeth Stone House in Roxbury, MA.  Women Outdoors also donated directly to Elizabeth Stone House to support their work with women rebuilding their lives after experiencing mental illness, domestic violence and other trauma.