Participants of the year-round program in Tucson

You can help Parks in Focus win a grant from Summit Hut, a locally owned outdoor recreation store in Tucson, by voting online at the link below between now and March 18.  Parks in Focus is a finalist for one of two grants that will be awarded in Tucson on March 24 as part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, during its stop at the Fox Tucson Theatre.

Summit Hut is asking customers to choose the two winners of the grant via a vote in its two Tucson locations as well as voting via Summit Hut’s Facebook page.

Voting has started and will last through March 18th. The two winners will be announced at the Banff Film Festival on Saturday, March 24th. Click here to buy tickets to the film festival in Tucson through Summit Hut.

The Udall Foundation wishes to thank Summit Hut for designating Parks in Focus as one of the finalists for the Banff Film Festival Grant!

You can vote for Parks in Focus here.

Information on the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour brings Banff to audiences around the globe. Immediately after the Banff Festival ends in November, a selection of the best films go on tour across Canada, the United States, and internationally from Scotland to South Africa to China, Japan, New Zealand, Antarctica, and points in between. Each year, the films travel to 32 countries reaching more than 245,000 people at over 635 screenings.

Host organizations in each tour location choose a program that reflects the interests of their local audiences from a selection of films on exploration and adventure, culture and environment, and mountain sports.

The proceeds of many tour screenings benefit a local outdoor program, community cause, or a non-profit such as youth adventure and outdoor pursuit programs, search and rescue operations, climbing clubs, adaptive sport programs, conservation groups, and trail maintenance organizations.

Taken by D'Angelo from Tucson, Ariz., age 11.

The Stewart L. Udall Parks in Focus program connects underserved middle school youth to nature through digital photography by organizing outdoor outings to local natural areas and week-long immersion trips to national parks.  Arizona provides the backdrop for the majority of our excursions and trips.  We wish Arizona a happy 100^th birthday and look forward to continuing to introduce youth to the beauty of this great state for years to come.

 To donate to Parks in Focus: pif.udall.gov/donate.asp.

12 year-old Richard tests out the red dye created by insects called cochineal that he found on a prickly pear at Catalina State Park.

Kelly, age 12, captured this image of a pinecone on the grounds of the Holmes Tuttle Boys & Girls Club in Tucson.

Over the last few weeks, you may have noticed photographs from what we’ve been calling the “East Bay Immersion Experience” in our Featured Photo of the Week posts. By now, you’ve probably read quite a bit about our year-round community development initiative and classic summer immersion trips, and you may have been wondering what the East Bay Immersion Experience was all about. To put it simply, the East Bay Immersion Experience was Parks in Focus with a twist; a unique variation on our typical program model born out of new collaborations with the National Park Service (NPS), East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), and four East Bay municipalities.

On October 22-23 Parks in Focus, NPS, EBRPD, and leaders from Concord, Hayward, Oakland, and Richmond teamed up to introduce middle school youth to area parks through digital photography. In just two short days, 19 youth participants and 12 adult leaders traveled (on a big yellow school bus!) to six natural, cultural, and historic sites within the region. Our trip leaders were an eclectic mix of Udall Foundation staff and alumni volunteers, NPS rangers, an EBRPD naturalist, and youth leaders from each municipality represented. Together, our crew logged 750 collective outdoor education hours and snapped 5,000 photos on our whirlwind journey to Mount Tamalpais State Park, Muir Beach & Muir Woods National Monument, Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historic Park, Anthony Chabot Regional Park, and Jack London Aquatic Center.

Trip highlights included:

• Onsite interactive introductions to Regional, State, & National Parks provided by rangers
• Ongoing photography challenge assignments emphasizing storytelling and self-expression
• Sharing a collective moment of silence under the breathtaking redwood canopy at Muir Woods
• An exclusive tour of the SS Red Oak Victory ship at Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park
• Setting up tents (many for the first time) & coming together for evening campfire songs led by special guest Rick Parmer (EBRPD Chief of Interpretive and Recreation Services)
• An exploratory morning nature/bird/photography walk with abundant wildlife siting
• Teaming up to paddle the entire crew in a dragon boat at Jack London Aquatic Center

To cap off the amazing weekend, 50 family members and friends came together to share a meal and learn about participants’ experiences at a final closing ceremony attended by special guests Mickey Fearn (NPS Deputy Director for Communications and Community Assistance) and Bob Doyle (EBRPD General Manager). To get a taste of what our trip participants shared with their families and friends, be sure to check out photographs of the trip (taken by Amanda Fencl, Udall Scholar alum and PIF volunteer) and taken by the kids on our Flickr site!