Forest Service, Ad Council launch new campaign to reconnect kids with nature

The U.S. Forest Service and the Ad Council are teaming up for a national public service advertising campaign to encourage children and their parents to re-connect with nature. Chief Gail Kimbell will unveil the campaign on June 13 at Denver City Park to coincide with National Get Outdoors Day. Children in the U.S. spend fifty percent less time outdoors than they did twenty years ago, according to the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

[MORE: The Interior Department is also getting in on the effort to get kids outside. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed an order this week establishing the Office of Youth in Natural Resources to create more opportunities for children to get outdoors and inspire a new generation of conservation leaders.]