Photo: Tom McCarthy and Gunnar Wordon
I was first exposed to adventure education on a Boy Scout hike into the Sierra Nevada mountains. I was only 11, but I can still vividly remember that trip. Hiking through meadows of wildflowers, swimming in the clear lakes, and drinking straight from streams that had the best tasting water I’d ever had. That trip led to similar trips each year and had a profound effect on my youth.
Thirty-three years later, I went on an Outward Bound for Veterans expedition with the Voyager Outward Bound School exploring frozen lakes outside Ely, Minnesota. Relying on a group of people I had just met through the physical challenge and extreme conditions kept me alert and active from the moment I woke in the morning through evening fireside talks. I returned home at the end of our expedition in a much better place -- both emotionally and socially -- than I had been before.
Although those experiences were personal to me, the positive effects of nature are universal. Access to nature is a human right, as important to our individual and collective health as access to clean air and water, and there are clear benefits to outdoor experiences. Public health professionals champion time spent in nature to support health and wellness, and public shared spaces outdoors help strengthen our families and communities. Unfortunately, barriers to nature exist in many forms, often blocking access for communities who have been marginalized historically. The same barriers exist for many of my fellow veterans, including transportation barriers, financial barriers, and cultural and historical barriers that prevent them from experiencing these healing and therapeutic benefits of nature.
New York State is trying to erase those barriers with the Outdoors Rx Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-106) and Senator Brian Benjamin (D-30). The act would require the state to review issues relating to veterans' abilities to access state parks, lands, and facilities. At an event kicking off a final legislative push for the bill, Assemblymember Barrett said, “The idea is really to eliminate the barriers that keep veterans and others from accessing the outdoors because we all recognize the incredible healing and wellness qualities of outdoor activities.”
Sierra Club volunteer Stancy DuHamel spoke about her experiences working with veterans through the Military Outdoors program (audio courtesy of WRIP in Windham, NY):
I have observed how federal and state policy can either limit or increase access to nature, how outdoor education mitigates barriers to nature, and have witnessed the healing power of nature on participants in structured programs like the Sierra Club’s Military Outdoors and others like it. As a veteran myself, I am aware of the challenges many of our veterans face in transitioning from the military to healthy and purposeful civilian life, and I know that time spent outdoors can help.
New York is leading the way with the Outdoor Rx bill, but it’s only the beginning. Our veterans and their families return home to our communities, not to VA hospitals, and the Sierra Club will continue to work to ensure their access to nature nationwide.