REGION : 300 Youths to Get Taste of the Outdoors

Determined to show urban children what it’s like to pitch a tent, cook outdoors and catch fish, a national recreation coalition is launching a pilot program in Los Angeles that will introduce 300 young people to camping.

Motivated by research which shows that fewer children are participating in outdoor activities and that inner-city residents rarely use state and local campgrounds, a recreation association has put together a coalition of federal, state and city agencies and private corporations to fund the program. “Wonderful World of Outdoors” offers children age 9 to 12 an overnight camping trip in Los Angeles area parks.

The pilot program consists of 10 camping trips with 30 children each at city campsites ranging from the Eagle Rock Recreation Center to Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro.

Officials with the American Recreation Coalition, which coordinated the planning, hope at least six families from each trip will be interested in the next phase of the program, a camping trip to a state park for the entire family.

The first camp will be held on May 19 at Eagle Rock Recreation Center. They run through Oct. 20-21, when the last overnight session is at Machado Camp at Harbor Regional Park in Harbor City.

Jackie Tatum, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, said families in urban areas are less likely to try camping.

“People don’t participate in things they don’t know about,” said Tatum. “They don’t like to get into situations where they might be embarrassed, such as putting up a tent.”

For the children in the program it won’t just be a night in the park.

During the day they will learn to pitch a tent, prepare dinner on a camp stove and spot a constellation. After dinner, representatives from the U.S. Forest Service and the Los Angeles Zoo will discuss night animals.

The next day, the children will learn to fish and use a compass. After a demonstration on planting, each child will be given a tree to take home and plant.

Campers also will conduct community service projects such as graffiti removal or neighborhood cleanups.

“The children are going to experience--for many of them--just sleeping in the out of doors and in sleeping bags for the first time,” said CeEtta Crayton, an associate professor at Cal State Long Beach who helped design a workbook for the children and a curriculum for the camp directors.

Each child will be given a sleeping bag, a flashlight and an emergency preparedness kit.

If the program succeeds it would be duplicated at parks in urban areas nationwide.

“We are hoping that the experience will not only reach the young people, but we hope their families will come out and sit around the campfire,” Tatum said.