On July 23, federal officials heard an earful from about 125 teens and young adults - 16 to 25 years old – who participated in an America’s Great Outdoors listening session in Berkeley, CA. It was clear they wanted to have their opinions heard: some traveled from as far away as Sacramento and San Jose to attend the Friday afternoon session.

On July 7, under a big white tent overlooking a lake, east of downtown Los Angeles, a standing room crowd of nearly 400 people turned out to help protect and preserve the San Gabriel Mountains and rivers as part of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors conservation initiative.

“The thing that surprised me the most is how really connected I became to the North Cascades. How deeply I began to care about my surroundings being there for a whole month. It was all a new experience for me,” said Laura Humes, a 16 year old who lives in Seattle, Washington and took part in a month-long study program at North Cascades National Park last summer.

On Monday, June 28, the Obama administration will hold a listening session as part of its America’s Great Outdoors initiative in the Longleaf pine region of South Carolina.

This summer, the Obama administration is organizing a series of “listening sessions” on America’s Great Outdoors to hear our best ideas for developing a new conservation strategy for protecting and connecting us to nature.

This weekend, hundreds of young people travelled from around the country to Central Park, to discuss the future of conservation at the Outdoor Nation Youth Summit. The goal of the summit was to grow “a cultural movement where youth are empowered to redefine, reclaim, and rediscover the outdoors.”