State Strategic Plan – Executive Summary
State Strategic Plan - Full Report
During the 81st legislative session, organizations including the Texas Wildlife Association, the National Wildlife Federation, Texas PTA, the Texas Pediatric Society, and many other conservation, education, and public health organizations advocated for the well-being of children through the creation of a formal state plan to enable children to spend more time out-of-doors and to better understand Texas’ natural resources.
In the fall of 2009, a bi-partisan group of Texas legislators requested that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, along with the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Department of Agriculture form a public-private partnership to develop that strategic plan. Over 80 professionals including representatives from state and federal agencies, NGOs, health, education, natural resources, community organizations and businesses, answered the call and formed the Texas Partnership for Children in Nature.
Their discoveries included some sobering statistics:
- Children ages 8 -18 spend an average of 7.5 hours a day, over 50 hours per week, connected to a television, computer, video games and other electronic media. (Kaiser Family Foundation. Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. Publication Number: 8010. Publish Date: 2010-01-20.)
- A child is six times more likely to play a video game than ride a bike. (Figures based on surveys from A Special Report on Youth, The Outdoor Foundation, 2010 and Kaiser Family Foundation.)
- Texas is home to three of the five cities with the highest obesity rates in the nation. (Obesity is defined as having a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile. Childhood Obesity Prevention in Texas. Workshop Summary. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Nyberg K, Burns AC, Parker L, editors. Institute of Medicine. October 21, 2009.)
- In the 2009-2010 Fitnessgram school year report, only a little over 8% of 12th grade girls and boys were deemed physically fit. (Texas Education Agency, Physical fitness Assesment Initiative, Summary data 2207 -2010 report.)
- Today’s children may be the first generation at risk of having a shorter lifespan than their parents. (Ludwig DS (2007). New England Journal of Medicine, 357(23): 2325-27.)
Conversely, children who play and learn in nature are:
Healthier. Active nature play improves physical conditioning and has a positive effect on emotional well-being and child development. Outdoor play has been linked to reduced risk of myopia and vitamin D deficiency.- Happier. Nature play increases self esteem and reduces stress. Children learn self-discipline and are more cooperative with others. Children feel more capable, confident and connected to nature.
- Smarter. Nature play stimulates creativity and improves problem solving. Schools using environmental themes report improved academic performance. And, children who play in nature are more likely to become tomorrow’s conservation leaders.
This executive summary highlights the major recommendations of the Texas Partnership for Children in Nature. It focuses on the role of Health, Education, Access, and Community in furthering engagement with nature and increasing understanding of Texas’s natural resources. Stakeholder teams of content experts examined relevant issues, reviewed current research and developed recommendations for each focus area. The plan optimizes partnerships and relies on implementation across multiple public and private sectors. The full report includes their analyses of the problem, objectives and suggested action items.
Team Recommendations
We envision that all Texas children and their families will spend more time outdoors, engaged in nature, for a happy and healthy life.
A growing body of evidence points to the benefits of physical activity and play in nature to children’s physical and mental health and development. More research is needed, but “we know enough to act.” We envision healthier children and families as a result of increased time spent in nature and more outdoor physical activity.
• GOAL: Utilize healthcare and related professionals to educate families: about the benefits of nature to children’s physical health, emotional well-being and cognitive functioning; about the importance of nature and outdoor activities for healthy child development; and safety precautions.
• GOAL: Encourage Texas-specific research to describe the causal relationship between nature and children’s health and development, including the therapeutic benefits of nature.
• GOAL: As appropriate, encourage integration of nature opportunities as a health strategy in existing health and childcare guidelines.
• GOAL: Promote health considerations in urban and community planning.
Natural resource literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, and address major natural resource opportunities and challenges. The goals to achieve natural resources literacy through education includes educating school administrators, educators, and future educators; tracking students’ outcomes and experiences; integrating local informal resources; and assessing these processes and outcomes. Our vision is that every child in Texas will be engaged in meaningful outdoor learning experiences and achieve natural resource literacy.
• GOAL: Increase the understanding, appreciation and use of experiential learning outdoors within the formal education system.
• GOAL: Develop quality outdoor classrooms, wildlife habitats, and natural play areas on every Texas schoolyard.
• GOAL: Develop integrated and collaborative partnerships between the formal education and informal systems and resources to benefit Texas youth.
• GOAL: Assess the effectiveness of natural resource literacy education in Texas.
Safety, convenience and multi-purpose design are essential to developing a connection with nature and a sense of place, the building blocks to conservation stewardship. We envision a Texas where children and their families have safe, convenient, sustainable and desirable access to the outdoors, where they can develop respect and appreciation for the natural environment.
• GOAL: Optimize access to natural areas to make them safe and convenient.
• GOAL: Partner with government agencies, nonprofits and the private sector, in coordination with youth, to provide increased access to Texas lands and waters.
• GOAL: Encourage creation and expansion of natural areas that provide varied and recurring nature-based experiences.
• GOAL: Plan, develop or expand built environments to include natural areas with interpretive elements.
Connecting with nature must be relevant and welcoming to all, including unifying messages, partnerships and efforts that are respectful to Texas’s diverse peoples, cultures and economic needs. We envision that the message “Happier, Healthier, Smarter” Children in Nature is widely and mutually communicated and that communities inspire children to a lifelong connection to nature.
• GOAL: Raise awareness and action among adults and children through consistent and unified communication.
• GOAL: Create community-based regional partnerships throughout Texas to increase children in nature activities.
• GOAL: Promote the cultural and economic gateways and benefits through nature-based opportunities.
Marketing
A unifying message and brand, with audience-specific tool kits, will help communicate and promote this important initiative. Research is needed to establish baselines for the plan’s goals. The Marketing Team will further identify the marketing implications associated with the plan’s strategic goals.
Policy & Legislative
Many of the goals identified in this strategic plan have implications for legislation and other policy measures. The Policy & Legislative Team will be working with partner organizations and legislative staff to identify policy responses that will advance the Texas Children in Nature Strategic Plan.
State Strategic Plan – Executive Summary
State Strategic Plan - Full Report
