Outdoor Recreation

Janelle Smith of the U.S. Forest Service notes some of the resources available at "www.recreation.gov" to educate and customize an activity within our nation's public lands. "There are thirty seven hundred different recreation areas that are represented on the site, not just for forest service, but all the federal recreation areas and over 100,000 different individual sites that can be reserved. You see a need to know section and within that it tells you like here's what you can expect, things like don't bring your wood to this area and any safety messages. In addition, through www.recreation.gov, they're able to communicate with visitors. So, say a wildfire is in the area. They're able to send you text message, email messages and even put banners up on the website, letting people know about that, whether it's just possibly going to impact them from their might be smoke in the air or even that location might be closed. Being able to guide people to different locations and experiences that really would meet their needs and not be too difficult or strenuous or say, a hike with a 2 year old. So it's really helping people match their needs with the resources available to them. On our site right now, we've got the top 10 tips for first time campers that really give them these very basic hints and tips for how do you prepare for and then actually go camping for the first time. So things that they'll need, things to expect even the standpoint of practicing at home before they go. And there's both kinds of tips that really help people better prepare for any outdoor activities.