Mauricia Baca, Executive Director of OLVF, accepts a ceremonial “big check” from REI Outreach Specialist Eric Larsen at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on September 30, 2011. Representing SNAP: Bill Dickinson, NPS; Shaun Sanchez, USFWS; and Angelina Yost, USFWS - Photo Credit: USFWS

By Dan Balduini, Public Affairs Specialist

LAS VEGAS – A grant award of $5,000 from REI to the Outside Las Vegas Foundation (OLVF) will translate into a boost for a program designed to encourage young people to get outdoors for improved health. OLVF is using the grant money to provide direct support to the rapidly growing “Let’s Get Healthy!” Nature Prescription Program.

The prescription program is administered in Nevada through a partnership between the Southern Nevada Agency Partnership (SNAP), OLVF, the Children’s Heart Center, Clark County School District and a variety of health care professionals and organizations. In just over a year, the program has grown from 20 participating health care professionals to more than 100 prescribing outdoor activities such as visits to national wildlife refuges, national parks, and other public lands. Developed under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Children and Nature Initiative, the program connects young people and their families with the outdoors, while helping them achieve and maintain health and fitness.

Under the REI grant, OLVF will conduct two Nature Prescription Program workshops in southern Nevada. The workshops will bring together health professionals currently participating in the program and recruit additional professionals to continue the initiative’s expansion. The workshops include hands-on conservation activities such as planting native vegetation at a picnic area.

“This grant award clearly demonstrates REI’s commitment to conservation and the outdoor life,” said OLVF Executive Director Mauricia Baca. “The company is supporting a program that promotes a healthy lifestyle, energizes health care professionals, and offers young people an opportunity to enjoy and become stewards of our public lands.”

SNAP is a partnership comprised of professionals from the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service. The agencies work together to coordinate activities that protect, conserve, and ensure the proper use of public lands in southern Nevada. The four SNAP agencies manage more than 10 million acres in southern Nevada including national parks, national conservation and recreation areas, national wildlife refuges, national forests, and other public lands.

Formed in August 2000, OLVF is committed to helping southern Nevada residents and visitors enjoy, value, and protect the special outdoor places that surround the Las Vegas Valley, the completely different Las Vegas that awaits just minutes from the Strip. Through its partnerships with SNAP and the local communities, the foundation is leading efforts to link urban and rural trails while developing the Vegas Valley Rim Trail; a 100+ mile loop with links to the outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands encircling the valley.

REI is a national outdoor retail co-op dedicated to inspiring, educating and outfitting its members and the community for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship. Founded in 1938 by a group of Pacific Northwest mountaineers seeking quality equipment, REI is committed to promoting environmental stewardship and increasing access to outdoor recreation through volunteerism, gear donations and financial contributions.