Creating Connections

Fun, healthy, and active engagement with the outdoors for Alaskans of all ages.

The Chugach National Forest is a vast and inspiring mix of glaciers, mountains, rainforest, and wild coastline—and backyard to half of Alaska’s population. Yet only a small fraction of Alaska's residents are fully aware of its wonders and opportunities. In fact, many children and families from Anchorage neighborhoods have never even set foot in the forest!

This disconnect has significant consequences for the long-term health of our children, our forests, and our cherished wildlands. From childhood obesity to declining interest in protecting our natural world, the risks to our future are very real.

To address these critical challenges, the Chugach Children's Forest brings together communities, educators, land management agencies, and environmental and social non-profits to offer a wide range of innovative programs designed to engage Alaskans of all ages with their natural world.

This exposure to nature provides an increased connection with Alaska’s magnificent outdoors and helps foster a strong ethic of stewardship for Alaska’s forests, parks, and refuges. By connecting Alaska’s communities with their surrounding public lands, the Chugach Children’s Forest is working to ensure the long-term health of these cherished landscapes. We believe that the more people know about Alaska’s public lands, the more they’ll care about protecting them.

The Chugach Children's Forest is especially focused on engaging Alaska's youth. Our youngest generation is rapidly losing touch with the outdoors. An increasing number of children and teens are missing out on the extensive physical, emotional, and psychological benefits provided by exposure to nature, including critical thinking skills, self-confidence, reduced stress, and improved cognitive development.

Studies show that this isolation from nature may be a significant contributing factor to a wide range of childhood maladies, including obesity, attention disorders, and depression. Experts ranging from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to the Kaiser Family Foundation agree: Children need access to nature the same way they need good nutrition and adequate sleep.

To address these challenges, the Chugach Children’s Forest acts as an organizing force for existing programs that get youth outside, and the source of new programs and strategies that engage Alaskans of all ages in fostering healthy, sustainable connections with the outdoors. These include:

--A wide range of hands-on, interactive youth education programs that introduce Alaska’s youngest generation to the fun, excitement, and wonder of the natural world.

--Partnerships with more than two dozen community organizations, educators, government agencies, social and environmental non-profits, and state and local business.

--A "stair-step" approach to connect communities to nearby nature opportunities, creating pathways to increased connection with parks, forests, and refuges throughout Alaska.

--Targeted outreach to underserved kids from all backgrounds who have few other opportunities to experience the Alaska outdoors.

--Collaboration with educators throughout southcentral Alaska to bring outdoor education into the classroom.

--Volunteer and professional mentorship opportunities for both adults and children.

--Close collaboration with Alaska's communities to develop programs in line with local needs

--Engagement with the communities of Prince William Sound to create an interactive map and information source about the Sound’s rich natural, cultural, and recreational heritage.