Dr. Mark Fly to Be Featured Presenter at April Nature @ Noontime Program
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 | 03:06am
NASHVILLE --- Dr. Mark Fly, an active member of this Every Child Outdoors-Tennessee Coalition, will be the featured speaker at the Tennessee Wildlife Agency’s Nature @ Noontime April presentation from 12-1 p.m. on Thursday, April. The monthly program is held at the TWRA Region II conference room and is located in the Ellington Agricultural Center.
As of mid March, both the Tennessee Senate and House of Representatives had unanimously approved Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 705 which expresses support for the Tennessee Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights (TCOBoR) and the work of the Every Child Outdoors–Tennessee Coalition.
The TCOBoR was developed by the Every Child Outdoors–Tennessee Coalition whose members are concerned about youth detachment from the outdoors, lack of physical exercise and increased health risks. Formed in November, 2008, more than 100 organizations now belong to the Coalition. They include local, state and national organizations and agencies, governments, non-profits and businesses representing health, natural resources, education, hunting and fishing, recreation and youth stakeholders. This group has worked hard to find ways to promote opportunities for children to experience the outdoors.
As Professor and Human Dimensions Research Lab Director with the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, UT-Knoxville, Fly is very interested in many aspects of outdoor recreation. Fly will explain why getting children outdoors is so important, not only to their physical and mental well-being but to the well-being of the natural world.
From social science research methods used by his lab such as surveys, focus groups, and personal interviews, the human dimension aspects of natural resources and the environment can be studied and understood. Fly’s findings from this research are very revealing as to the critical need for children to reconnect with nature.
The next steps for the coalition are to promote in every way possible the outdoor opportunities for children through formal settings such as schools, and informal settings such as parks, and through the infrastructure, i.e., how cities and towns our designed.
Hosted by TWRA’s I&E Division and held on the first Thursday of each month, except July, Nature @ Noontime presentations are about natural resource related topics and last about 30-45 minutes, allowing time for discussion during the allotted lunch hour.
---TWRA---