When reporters explore National Parks, stories and trails abound

A hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from California through Oregon to Washington state. (Photo by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management, Flickr Creative Commons via SEJ)

For journalists looking for a break from the grind, taking a National Park excursion might be an assignment worth requesting. "Tell your editor you have to do it for work," writes Joseph A. Davis for the Society of Environmental Journalists. "It doesn’t have to be a long hike, necessarily. But it’s a good way to meet other hikers to interview."

Before setting out, it's worth considering which kind of park your audience would find most interesting. Davis explains, "There are four kinds of national trails: scenic, historic, recreational and side trails. To be officially named historic or scenic, a specific stretch of trail must be designated by Congress."

Besides intriguing people stories that can be gleaned while hiking over hill and dale, regaling readers with the history of America's National Park system, which includes 1,300 trails, also provides good storytelling fodder. "It goes back to Daniel Boone, Henry David Thoreau and John Muir, really. Read Thoreau’s essay, 'Walking.'" Davis adds. "President Lyndon B. Johnson gets big credit for the enactment in 1968 of the National Trails System Act."

For community journalists ready to don their hiking gear, sunscreen and EPA-approved insect repellent, an adventure and several stories await. Story ideas by Davis are shared below:

• The system includes some long-distance trails, like the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. Spend some time on the trails (or at a good shelter). Talk to day hikers and through hikers. Explore their culture. You may need to get a trail name.
• The system doesn’t just include hiking trails. Some are also meant for biking, paddling or historical tourism. Talk to biking and paddling groups about their experiences. The Harriet Tubman trail network on Maryland’s Eastern Shore includes a fine museum on the Underground Railroad.
• Trails are often maintained by local or regional volunteer groups, like the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Attend one of their maintenance events and talk to volunteers and organizers. Bring a shovel.
• Where the trail crosses a major road, there may be a handy grocery or ice cream store. Hang out there during the heat of the day and talk to hikers coming in. 
• Not all the great trails are in the system. Find the ones near you. For example, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa pulls in riders from all over the United States. It’s hot in July, but there’s great support. 
• The Anacostia Water Trail is an officially designated part of the trail system. It’s short. But if you look … beyond, you will find it’s just one of many other (often nonfederal) water trails, which are a great way of exploring stories in your ecoregion.

Davis suggests these resources:

• Rails to Trails Conservancy: A nonprofit membership group that advocates conversion of abandoned rail rights of way into hiker and biker trails.
• American Hiking Society: A nonprofit membership and advocacy group whose members like to hike.
• National Park Service: The main agency coordinating the National Trails System. It has maps.
• State parks and recreation agencies: These usually manage state trails. Find yours in this directory.

Rural kids rally: Nature nerding; 4-day school week; hikes instead of detention; farm safety; the 'Little White Duck'

Whether it's discovering a ginormous toad, finding the most gooseberries or uncovering troves of fossils, when kids venture into the great unknown of rural places, adventures unfold. A new graphic novel by cartoonist Tiffany Everett, Diary of a Nature Nerd, celebrates all the discoveries and learning nature nerding youth can make while tramping over hill and dale. "Everett encourages readers to explore new places, keep journals about what they encounter, and think like scientists," reports John R. Platt of The Revelator.

Rural school districts with teacher hiring and retention challenges turned to 4-day school weeks as an employment perk that also saves districts money. The 4-day school week schedule has been criticized as cutting too deeply into student learning time, and yet some rural schools are keeping the shortened schedule because it's a practical fix. "The schedule is especially popular with rural communities, where students and teachers often have to travel long distances to get to school," reports Anya Petrone Slepyan of The Daily Yonder. "But when it comes to assessing how the four-day school week affects students’ educational outcomes, the results are inconclusive."

At the end of the 3 1/2-mile hike, the students grab their 
backpacks and head home. (All Trails photo)

Instead of sitting in detention for breaking school rules, some high schoolers at Morse High School in Maine have opted to take mandatory hikes instead. Morse counselor Leslie Trundy was inspired to start the program after attending an outdoor conference, reports Madi Smith of NPR. Trundy told Smith, "I hoped that time in the woods, like, I could sort of take the skills that I have on the road with them, or on the trail, and be a listener for them and [while students] pay back the time to the school and sort of serve their consequence, [they] also receive more care and attention."

While growing up on a farm may sound wholesome and safe, farms can be dangerous places for children and young adults. The list of risks is long and can include everything from cows and barbed-wire fencing to big tractors and grain bins. To help farming families build safety awareness and habits, the National Farm Medicine Center and National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety support the "Cultivate Safety" website, which offers free resources in English and Spanish. For a quick safety check, Rural Mutual shares its "Top Tips" list for farmers and kids to review.

Often remembered as the voice of Sam the Snowman from the classic 1964 Christmas television special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," Burl Ives also acted and sang. For children who need to calm down after rowdy play or to get ready for bed, Ives' recording of "The Little White Duck and Other Children’s Favorites" is delightfully soothing. Ives’s collection of "traditional folk songs for children is as much fun for the kids as it is for the adults (I dare to say)," writes Jan Pytalski of The Daily Yonder. "Ives was central in promoting traditional folk tunes all the way back in 1940s and continued performing for many decades after."

Quick hits: Timely 'Star Wars' series; U.S.A.-made shoes; modern Appalachian cooking; incarcerated firefighters

The Star Wars franchise might begin and end in "a galaxy far, far away," but its newest series 'Andor' serves up some close-to-home conflicts. "Migrant farm workers sweating visa status amid amped-up immigration enforcement. Aggressive strip mining of the land without consideration of local communities.  … Rising disregard for due process and human rights," writes Adam B. Giorgi for The Daily Yonder. "Various installments in the franchise have been associated with or said to draw inspiration from then-contemporary concerns, including the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. But it’s arguably never been more timely or effective than it is in 'Andor.'"

Keen moved part of its production back to the U.S.
(Keen photo via BBC North America)

High tariffs are one tool the Trump administration has put in place to try to stimulate American manufacturing growth, but even as those costs hit the U.S. market, the question remains, "How can the U.S. reinvent its manufacturing sector in today's global economy?" While U.S. factories look different now than they did in the 1970s, it can be done. Family-owned Keen Footwear located outside of Louisville, Ky., is showing the way, reports Michelle Fleury of BBC North America. "With just 24 employees on site, the factory relies heavily on automation — sophisticated robots that fuse soles and trim materials — underscoring a transformation in how goods are made today."

If it feels like life needs a reset or even an "undo" button, heading outside may be the answer. "Nature can save us from a world gone mad," writes Dana Milbank of The Washington Post. "I hiked the Appalachian Trail, and it fixed my brain. … I wandered happily along the trail spotting the colors of the forest in spring: the red columbine, the lavender wild geranium, the lacy maple-leaf viburnum. … I found myself talking back to the birds that seemed to be following us."

Pharmacist Jan Brandenburg shares her
Appalachian roots in her new cookbook.

Sometimes sharing recipes from home is the best way to showcase what your region is all about. For Jan Brandenburg of Kentucky, home is Appalachia, where she learned to love cooking, baking and science. "Today, after nearly 40 years as a practicing pharmacist, Brandenburg has published The Modern Mountain Cookbook: A Plant-Based Celebration of Appalachia, a tribute to her Eastern Kentucky roots and a vibrant exploration of how food — like medicine — can nourish, heal and connect," report Dana Cox and Rosa Mejia-Cruz for UKnow. "Brandenburg often finds herself offering guidance to patients … not just on medications, but on food choices, too. And she's just as happy to share recipes."

Seeing and smelling my mom's homemade yeast rolls rising in a warm oven, getting a nose-full of Grandma's mildewy basement where I used to fetch canned tomatoes, hearing the old Gordon Lightfoot song my dad played until everyone had it memorized. Those are all distinct experiences with memories and feelings attached to them. According to social psychologist and researcher Chelsea Reid, that feeling — nostalgia — is good for us. Reid explains in her story for The Conversation, that "sentimental longing for treasured moments in our personal pasts is linked to our well-being and feelings of connection with others … triggered by sensory stimuli such as music, scents and foods, nostalgia has the power to mentally transport us back in time."

A line of ARC-supported firefighters head off to battle a blaze. 
(ARC photo via Civil Eats)

When people think of firefighters, they don't also think about prisoners, but that's what some firefighters are, and just like non-incarcerated firefighters, they need care, too. "As hurricane-force winds caused wildfires to raze entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles County, more than 7,500 firefighters risked their lives. … Among them were an estimated 1,100 inmates from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation," reports Nadra Nittle of Civil Eats. "Sam Lewis of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition discusses why good meals, better pay, and post-release support could transform the future for incarcerated firefighters — and why society should see their humanity."

Snowshoes get more popular, and it's a good time for them

Snowshoes on the Falls in the River Trail in northern
New Hampshire. (Miles Howard for The Washington Post)

Looking for some calm and quiet at a turbulent time? It's also the snowiest time of the year, and that presents an opportunity: hiking with snowshoes, and it's becoming more popular.

"You can blast through the forest on a snowmobile, like Wile E. Coyote strapped to a rocket. Or you can strap on snowshoes and disappear into the silence of the frozen white woods, floating atop the powder," Miles Howard writes for The Washington Post from northern New Hampshire.

"Because of the pandemic, I’ve been tucked away indoors for too long, every muscle in my body is too tight, and, with hospitals overwhelmed with covid patients, I don’t feel like taking the physical risks of skiing or of scaling mountains with crampons. Snowshoeing is comparably low risk, beyond exposure to frigid weather, and the inherent social distancing of the sport seems to be speaking to Americans weathering the pandemic winter. Back in early spring, the market research firm Snow Sports Insights noted that snowshoeing participation grew by 12 percent."

Outdoor-equipment firm REI told Howard that its snowshoe sales have quadrupled in the past year. “We’re seeing increased enthusiasm in people embracing new outdoor activities (cycling, snowshoeing, running, hiking) and turning to the outdoors to find solace away from the pandemic,” REI’s senior public affairs manager Courtney Gearhart told him.

And it's cheap, Howard writes: "Other than a solid pair of snowshoes ($100 to $250) and a pair of trekking poles ($25 to $75) to stabilize yourself and avoid pitching over into a deep snowbank, there’s not much of an entry barrier to this sport — though first-timers looking to head deep into the outdoors should consider taking a basic introductory lesson on snowshoeing . . . Otherwise, you just pull on your warmest socks and snow boots, toss your snowshoes in the back of your car, and choose your own wintertime labyrinth to explore."

Coronavirus slams rural areas that depend on skiing and hiking; some towns ask summer residents to stay away

Though the coronavirus pandemic has hit urban areas the hardest, rural cases are rising, especially in rural tourist meccas. Counties that have yet to report any coronavirus cases are mostly rural and poor, The Associated Press reports.

"Rural counties in Colorado, Utah and Idaho, where hordes of visitors flock each year to ski or hike, are ... experiencing some of the highest rates of coronavirus cases per capita in the nation, threatening to overwhelm local hospitals and challenging perceptions of the virus’ reach," Rick Jervis, Deborah Berry and Matt Wynn report for USA Today. "Four counties – Blaine County, Idaho; Summit County, Utah; and Eagle County and Gunnison County, Colorado – lead the nation in per-capita rates of confirmed cases, outside New York state and Louisiana, according to a USA Today analysis of coronavirus cases across the country." The analysis used numbers through March 26.

Many ski resorts nationwide shut down in mid-March after tourists brought the virus to town. But it's not just tourists being asked to stay home. Some small communities whose economies depend on an influx of summer residents are asking them to stay away.

"As the coronavirus quickly spreads across the nation’s urban centers, local leaders in some rural areas — who prize their independent, conservative values that tend toward a live-and-let-live attitude — are taking actions that contradict their ethos in order to keep the virus away," Dionne Searcey reports for The New York Times. "Some officials have anguished over their actions, chiefly because they go against the beliefs of their communities. In New York’s Catskills region, residents still complain about government moves decades ago to seize land surrounding a key watershed. Yet fearful of the virus’s spread, a handful of rural counties have issued bluntly worded orders for second homeowners to stay away."

In Florida, the opposite is happening. Snowbirds ready to migrate back north during warmer weather are being warned to stay put, for fear that they might spread the virus. Such efforts have been largely unsuccessful, Politico reports.

Sixteen states open offices to help rural areas cash in on outdoor recreation; most are in West; East targeted

State Offices of Outdoor Recreation map; click the image to enlarge it.

Some states are trying to help spur rural economic growth by opening outdoor-recreation offices that promote activities like hiking, mountain biking and more. Sixteen states have opened such offices, many of them signatories to the Confluence Accords, a bipartisan effort that seeks to increase conservation to help grow the economy, Bryce Oates reports for The Daily Yonder.

Outdoor recreation can be a big help to rural economies. Rural counties whose economies depended on recreation recovered from the Great Recession more quickly than other rural counties' economies, according to a Headwaters Economics study. Rural recreation counties also slightly gained population through migration while most other rural counties lost population the same way, and saw slightly higher incomes, the study said.

And, the outdoor recreation sector grew faster than the overall economy, according to the most recent figures from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 2017, the outdoor recreation sector grew by 3.9 percent, faster than the overall U.S. economy's 2.4% growth, Oates reports.

Some outdoor recreation guides bring urban dwellers to enjoy—and spend money in—rural areas

David Radditz (left) with a client. (Photo courtesy of Radditz)

For adventure tourism guides like Drake Radditz, one of the best parts of the job is helping urban residents appreciate rural areas. "Radditz, 38, was born and raised in Portland. But growing up, his family spent most weekends elsewhere in the rural Northwest — fishing, hunting and reveling in the natural world. Those were the places Radditz felt most at home," Tim Trainor reports for the Capital Press in Salem, Oregon.

As a teen, Radditz began leading rafting and other outdoor-tourism trips and learned how to help clients feel comfortable even in unfamiliar situations. Some rural residents have been less than pleased with the increased traffic: Over the past decade, Radditz says he's had vehicles vandalized and tires deflated. And some locals who might hang out with him now sometimes refuse to share advice about fishing or other outdoors tips, Trainor reports.

"They think that (the river) is theirs and I’m an outsider trying to take that away from them," Radditz told Trainor. But Radditz says he believes the guided trips help city dwellers learn to appreciate rural beauty and bring more money to rural areas, Trainor reports.

"We’re taking people who wouldn’t normally come to a rural place to spend money," Radditz told Trainor. "Sure, as a guide, we’re making money off of that. But it’s also being spread into the communities."

Outdoor recreation sector grew faster than the overall economy in 2017, says Commerce Department report

Outdoor recreation value added as a percent of state GDP in 2017; map by U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

The outdoor recreation economy is growing faster than the overall economy, according to a new report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the Department of Commerce.

The outdoor recreation sector grew by 3.9 percent in 2017, compared to the overall U.S. economy's 2.4% growth. Outdoor recreation accounted for 2.2% ($427.2 billion) of the gross domestic product in 2017, more than mining, utilities, farming, ranching, and chemical products manufacturing, Amelia Arvesen reports for recreation-industry publication Snews.

For the first time, the report includes information on specific types of recreation activities. They are divided into three categories: "core" (such as camping and hunting), "other core" (gardening, outdoor concerts, etc.) and supporting activities (including construction, travel and tourism, local trips, and government expenditures). "Conventional outdoor recreation accounted for 30.6% of the outdoor recreation economy nationwide in 2017, other recreation accounted for 19.3%, and the remaining 50.1% was supporting activities, Arveson reports.

Chart by U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

The report includes a deep data dive into the outdoor-recreation economy. Read more here.

Recreation is a key to rural population and economic growth

"The outdoor recreation industry is a critical engine for the national economy, larger in size than the agriculture and fossil-fuel mining and drilling sectors, according to a recent Department of Commerce report," Bryce Oates reports for The Daily Yonder. "The report also said that rural communities and small business owners are a key ingredient in the growing economic engine."

A Stateline analysis of census data found that outdoor recreation helped drive the slight growth in rural population from 2016 to 2017. While populations shrank in big mining and farming counties, those with large recreational industries grew, and grew the most. Independent research group Headwaters Economics found that population, employment and personal income grew an average of two times faster or more in Western rural counties with the most federal lands, Oates reports.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis began compiling its report in 2016 after President Obama signed the Outdoor Recreation Jobs and Economic Impact Act, which directed the department to work with the Agriculture and Interior departments to assess and analyze the outdoor recreation economy. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross hailed the report as a good source of data that businesses can use to help them plan for the future, as it measures the economic impact of recreational activities such as boating, fishing, RVing, hunting, camping and hiking.

According to the BEA report, the largest industry in outdoor recreation is motorized vehicles (mostly RVs), which accounted for $59.5 billion of economic activity in 2016. Boating and fishing contributed $38.2 billion that year, and hunting/fishing/trapping brought $15.4 billion.

An industry trade group called the Outdoor Industry Association did a similar study that found $887 billion of economic activity generated by outdoor recreation, more than twice what BEA found. The difference lies in the methodology: "The BEA report did not account for the revenue produced from apparel and equipment manufactured overseas, which makes up a large portion of outdoor gear," Oates reports. "In addition, the BEA did not measure recreation spending on trips that happen less than 50 miles from home."

Penn State Outing Club no longer allowed to go outside

A Pennsylvania State University club for outdoors enthusiasts is no longer allowed to go outside, on the grounds that it's too risky. In the words of columnist Dave Barry, we are not making this up.

"After a two-month review that did not include consultation with student Outing Club leaders, the university’s offices of Student Affairs and Risk Management made the determination that the hiking, canoeing, kayaking, trail building and camping activities the student-led club has long engaged in are too risky," Don Hopey reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The club is one of the oldest entirely student-run organizations at Penn State."

Penn State spokesperson Lisa Powers said the university evaluated risk at all campus sport and recreation student groups, and said "student safety in any activity is our primary focus." The other two outdoors groups, the caving club and the scuba diving club, were also deemed too risky. The Alpine Ski Racing Club, the Archery Club, the Rifle Club, and the Boxing Club passed.

Outing Club leaders said they have fully complied with more stringent safety standards introduced in the past year, but protested that the risk assessment office did not talk with them about perceived dangers. Timothy Hackett, the club's outgoing treasurer, said he knows of no student injuries on any Outing Club trips within the past four years, Hopey reports. Powers said the risk assessment was proactive, and not based on previous injuries.

The university has a similar program called Outdoor Adventures, which Powers said has better trained and more experienced leaders, but Richard Waltz, the Outing Club's 2017-18 president, said Outdoor Adventures trips cost more. "The two programs offer very different experiences," he told Hopey. "The Outing Club is very accepting and welcoming of students who may be out experiencing nature for the first time in a meaningful way. Participants learn organically and develop more of a mentor-mentee relationship over the years."

The Outing Club's board said in a statement that they'll keep working with advisers and university staff to find a way to keep going.

One month after opening Missouri state park closes because of 'potential public safety concerns'

Jay Nixon State Park (photo by
Missouri Department of Natural Resources)

One month after opening, Missouri's newest state park has closed over “potential public safety concerns," Kurt Erickson reports for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "The Missouri Department of Natural Resources confirmed Wednesday that Jay Nixon State Park in Reynolds County" was shut down on Feb. 8. DNR spokesman Tom Bastian told the Post-Dispatch the park's status "was re-evaluated due to limited access and lack of facilities." There are reports that the park in the Ozark foothills is inaccessible and in no condition to hike. It is near two other state parks.

There also is talk of re-naming the park when it re-opens, Erickson writes. Nixon is a Democrat who was governor from 2009-2017 and "championed the state park system during his two terms in office, arguing that an expansion will help draw tourism spending to the state. In the weeks before he left office, Nixon oversaw the opening of four parks," one of which DNR decided to name after him, a move that has angered lawmakers and was cited as a reason behind the firing of the state park director, whom Nixon appointed.

Reports show economic impact of national parks; White House report has state-level data

Great Smoky Mountains (summitpost.org photo)

More than 300 million visits were made to national parks in 2015—a record number—according to separate reports from The White House and researchers at two universities.

The White House report, released last month, said visits fueled local economies and supported "an estimated $646 billion national outdoor economy ... with visitors spending $16.9 billion in nearby local communities." The report listed each state's park visits and estimated visitor spending in local economies, jobs supported and state economic output supported.

The report said "activities associated with outdoor recreation, conservation, water and renewable energy led to $106 billion in economic output and supported 862,000 jobs. Additionally, the report found that America’s national parks, national wildlife refuges, national monuments and other public lands managed by the Department of the Interior hosted an estimated 443 million recreational visits in 2015—up from 423 million in 2014—and that these visits alone supported $45 billion in economic output and about 396,000 jobs nationwide."

A study by Colorado State University and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University found that the total economic value of national parks and the National Park Service’s programs is $92 billion, Doug Gavel reports for the Kennedy School. Researchers, said that figure is a conservative estimate, and "two-thirds of this total ($62 billion) is for National Park lands, waters and historic sites; the remaining $30 billion is attributed to NPS programs."

"When citizens were asked if 'It is important to me that National Parks are preserved for current and future generations whether I visit them or not',” 94.9 percent of respondents agreed," John Wihbey reports for Journalist's Resource, also at Harvard. "Only 14.7 percent of respondents indicated that they do not benefit from national parks, and 6.2 percent thought the U.S. should sell off some national parks." Researchers also found that "the annual budget to run the NPS was $2.6 billion in 2014. However, there was a reported backlog of deferred maintenance costs of about $11.9 billion as of February 2016, and revenue shortfalls reportedly are driving the park system to partner more with private companies to fund repairs."

Each week, newspaper makes an obit a feature; latest one is on famed Appalachian Trail hiker

The Valley News, a daily newspaper in the Upper Connecticut River Valley, publishes a weekly feature called "A Life," in which the paper turns an obituary of someone with local ties into a fuller portrait of that person. On Sunday it featured Leonard "Baltimore Jack" Tarlin (Mike Sisemore photo), a renowned hiker who walked the entire Appalachian Trail eight times. Tarlin died May 3 at the age of 57.

Josh Weinreb started the story this way: Mike Sisemore was heading north on the trail 17 years ago "and found himself on a slow-moving stretch up a hill in Virginia. About 100 yards ahead he saw a disheveled form. Another hiker, presumably, but this one was different. His backpack was crooked, with long straps hanging from its sides. His shoes were untied. He wore a bandana on his head. He wore black nylon shorts and a black T-shirt."

"As Sisemore put it, the hiker was 'bouncing' along the trail," Weinreb writes. "And then Sisemore saw him fall, slip on a mud patch and front flip into a bed of rocks. When Sisemore caught up, the hiker was sitting on the ground holding his broken glasses. 'You got any tape?' he asked Sisemore in a grizzled voice. It was, Sisemore knew immediately, Baltimore Jack, a legend along the Appalachian Trail."

Tarlin "was known for his gruff personality, his deep knowledge of history and his uncanny thoughtfulness,' Weinreb writes. "He also had strong roots in Hanover and thru-hiked the trail eight times. He “had no need for the finer things in life,” Sisemore told Weinreb,. “He was absolutely content sleeping in a sleeping bag in the middle of February under a tree in New Hampshire. Nobody could understand that about Jack. He just didn’t need a lot of things in his life. He was mobile. He carried his life in his backpack." (Read more)

The Valley News is based in Lebanon, N.H., just south of the trail's crossing of the river.

Ken Burns series on national parks repeats on PBS to celebrate National Park Service entennial

To help celebrate the National Park Service Centennial, PBS is rebroadcasting a six-part Ken Burns series on national parks. The series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," was filmed over six years at various parks. It is the "story of people: people from every conceivable background—rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy," reports PBS. For more information or air times click here. The official 100th anniversary date is Aug. 25. There are 407 national parks in the U.S. To find a park click here.

Michigan lawmakers propose raising rural highway speed limits to 75 mph; critics cite safety concerns

Speed limits on Michigan's 600 miles of rural highways could soon be raised to 75 or 80 mph, Emily Lawler reports for MLive Media Group. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday approved a package that includes raising speed limits to 75 mph on most rural highways and eventually raising limits to 80 mph on ones where it's deemed feasible and safe. (MLive photo: Current speed limits in Michigan)

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Bradford Jacobsen (R-Oxford), who sponsored a similar package in 2014, told Lawler, "Most expressways are designed for 5 over, if you would, so they're designed at 75 miles per hour. ... While this legislation specifically calls for raising speed limits on certain freeways to 75 mph, we included provisions that also allows for the studying of raising the speed limit to 80 mph in the future."

Critics say raising speed limits on rural roads is dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists, Lawler writes. Nancy Krupiarz, executive director of the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, "said many of these rural roads in context are carrying pedestrians and bicyclists and sometimes connecting them to trails." Krupiarz told Lawler, "People can come flying over these hills and around these curves and it could be a very perilous journey." (Read more)

BLM unofficial photographer capturing forgotten National Conservation Lands

Bureau of Land Management unofficial photographer Bob Wick is showing Americans a different side of an agency "long known for promoting oil drilling, mining and grazing but less known for supporting outdoor recreation," Phil Taylor reports for Greenwire. "His images—from a fog-filled, desert sagebrush valley to a lush California redwood forest—have exposed thousands of Americans to the agency's National Conservation Lands, a 30-million-acre system of wilderness, monuments, conservation areas, wild and scenic rivers, and historical trails."
Ken Rait, director of U.S. public lands at the Pew Charitable Trusts, told Taylor, "BLM lands are frequently referred to as the forgotten lands. Bob is making sure these lands are given the iconic status they deserve." (Wick photo: Basin and Range National Monument in Nevada)

Wick "spends up to six weeks a year prowling the agency's starkest landscapes," Taylor writes. "He's hiked hundreds of miles, camped in subzero temperatures and scrambled up dicey slopes to capture scrubby BLM terrain as it unfolds in early-morning sun. He's taken tens of thousands of photographs since the agency hired him in the late 1980s." The photos, which are published on BLM's Instagram account, can be used by the public without permission because Wick shoots as a federal employee. (The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in Arizona)

The photos have also been used to help environmental causes, Taylor writes. "In March 2014, CBS Evening News reported that Wick's photos of the Northern California coastline helped catalyze grassroots support for President Obama's decision to expand BLM's California Coastal National Monument." Wick told CBS, "My photos did play a role in that people who weren't visually aware of how spectacular this coastline could get a feel for it."

State parks trying to get youth to put down their cell phones and explore the outdoors

Concerned that too many young Americans are too connected to technology and too disconnected from nature, state parks have begun initiating programs to attempt to get youth interested in the outdoors, Jenni Bergal reports for Stateline. "States such as Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico and North Carolina are sponsoring camping trips, running conservation programs or organizing outdoor classrooms where students can learn about wildlife and ecology." (Bergal photo: teens remove invasive species from trees at Seneca Creek State Park in Maryland)

"Thirteen governors have hosted campouts for youngsters and their families this summer in state or municipal parks or on the grounds of the statehouse or governor’s residence, as part of Capital Campouts, a joint public-private program," Bergal writes. "The goal is twofold: to encourage youth to be more active at a time childhood obesity rates are climbing and to build younger Americans’ appreciation for nature, making it more likely they will support the parks and conservation for decades to come."

Lewis Ledford, executive director of the National Association of State Park Directors, told Bergal, "Young people need to have a healthy lifestyle and truly experience the nature of the world and not some virtual reality through a gaming device. Smelling the fresh air, understanding the stars at night, knowing about the life cycles of ecology—this is important for the stewardship of future generations and is vital in conserving and protecting our natural resources.”

There are more than 5,000 state parks in the U.S., accounting for 221,000 campsites and 8,000 cabins, Bergal writes. More than 700 million people visit state parks each year—two-thirds bring children—but parks officials "say children who grow up in households that don’t visit parks as a family tradition are less likely to visit parks as adults."

Nita Settina, superintendent for the Maryland Park Service, told Bergal, “If our future leaders have no relationship to nature, no understanding of how clean air and clean water are produced and what a healthy environment is, they won’t have the knowledge, nor will they care about, doing anything about the stewardship of the earth. That’s why we need to provide children with adventures and fun—so they become park visitors and will someday expose their children to those places.” (Read more)

New York Times lists '52 Places to Go in 2015'

The New York Times' list of "52 Places to Go in 2015" includes a few rural hotspots in the U.S. At No. 4 on the list is Yellowstone National Park, No. 19 is Steamboat Springs, Colo., No. 30 is Bend, Ore. (City of Bend photo), No. 39 are the Catskill Mountains of New York, and No. 50 is the Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico. We bet the least known is Bend, in central Oregon, just east of the Cascade Mountains.

"Once a frontier logging town called Farewell Bend, this picturesque city of 80,000 is a seductive spot for travelers who are into craft brewing and the great outdoors," reports Dave Seminar. "The Bend region has 26 breweries, three wineries, two craft spirit distilleries, two cideries and the Cycle Pub, a tour that allows visitors to quaff craft beers while powering a sort of mobile pub by cycling."

"Two new distilleries, Cascade Alchemy and Backdrop, and a new cidery, Far Afield, are set to open this year," Seminar writes. "Bend has nearly 300 miles of single-track mountain bike trails, including two new ones, Tyler’s Traverse and Duodenum; a soon-to-open fat-bike trail (at Wanoga Sno-Park); world-class skiing at Mount Bachelor; and an embarrassment of riches for hikers, fishermen, climbers, stand-up paddle boarders and kayakers." (Read more)

Unregulated boot camps in rural and remote areas putting troubled teens in dangerous circumstances

Unregulated therapeutic institutions for troubled teenagers—located almost exclusively in rural and remote areas—that expose kids to often brutal wilderness conditions are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S., Sulome Anderson reports for The Atlantic. Teens, who are often brought to the camps forcibly and without any prior knowledge of what's happening, are admitted anywhere from a few months to as long as two years. (Flickr photo: Wilderness camp in Denali National Park and Preserve) 

Critics say the teenagers are exposed to cruel conditions, abuse and even death, Anderson writes. "Its proponents maintain that this type of isolation, away from the temptations and perils of society, can benefit youth who are straying down the path of addiction and dysfunction. They present a multitude of success stories and insist this type of therapy can be life-changing."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office compiled a 2007 report on the dangers of wilderness and other teen facilities, but no one knows for sure how many teenagers have died at the institutions, Anderson writes. The highest unconfirmed count is 86 deaths since 2000.

One of the main problems is that "many states don’t require background checks for staff, and there have been multiple investigations into sexual abuse and arrests for sexual assault at teen residential and wilderness programs in recent years," Anderson writes. The fear is that untrained staff members are given free rein to do whatever they want to underage vulnerable teenagers.

"In May 2013, Congressman George Miller, a Democrat from California, reintroduced legislation that aimed to better protect adolescents in such facilities from abuse and provide easily accessible information for parents on the safety records of the programs," Anderson writes. "The bill has repeatedly failed in the House." But some politicians, including 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, own companies that run these programs. The institutions are also popular with local residents because they provide jobs and stimulate the local economy. (Read more)

Old 36-mile rail line becoming trail in Eastern Ky.

Officials in three economically distressed Eastern Kentucky counties want to transform a defunct rail line into a 36-mile biking, hiking and horseback-riding trail to attract adventure tourists and help the economy, Jim Warren writes for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"We think it could be an essential piece in the overall economic development puzzle," said Magoffin County's David May, vice president of the Friends of the Dawkins Line Rail Trail, a citizens' group advocating the project. "Younger people gravitate to adventure tourism today, so we think the trail will bring in people. Hopefully, corporate heads would look at that and maybe locate companies here."

The first section of the trail, 18 miles from Hager Hill in Johnson County southwest to Royalton in Magoffin County, opened in June 2013. The next section will "take the trail nine miles closer to the Tiptop railroad tunnel on the Magoffin-Breathitt county line," Warren reports. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is providing most of the funding.

Officials hope to continue the trail through the tunnel and end it at Evanston, a former coal camp in Breathitt County. "It would form Kentucky's longest rail-to-trail project, offering a continuous 36-mile stretch free of vehicular traffic, taking visitors past rural homes and remote areas with beautiful scenery, running through old railroad tunnels and over numerous trestles," Warren writes.

"This fits into the administration's desire to promote healthier lifestyles by encouraging Kentuckians to be more physically active," Matt Sawyers, deputy secretary of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, told Abby Laub, who wrote about it for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. "And these ventures have proven to spur economic development and build stronger communities.

Prestonburg attorney Jo Ann Harvey said she believes the trail is a smart idea. "I think it's a terrific asset for the area," she said. "It's beautiful, and you don't have cars to contend with. You can do a long, hard bike ride or an easy ride; get out on your horse; or just walk for exercise. It's great for kids and families. I can't wait for the whole thing to be completed." (Read more)