•    Nearly four in five Americans now live in metropolitan areas, yet there is no dedicated source of federal money for urban parks. America's Great Outdoors should build on innovative efforts to restore, revitalize and create parks to help more Americans connect to and benefit from natural areas, especially those who live in urban areas. 

•    Parks renewal is a vital to turning America’s cities into livable, walkable and sustainable communities. Healthy, inviting parks not only connect city dwellers to the natural world; they can also anchor neighborhoods economically, stimulate job growth, clean the environment, foster civic engagement, stimulate tourism and provide the recreation space to  help combat childhood obesity and other health problems.

•    We should leave the next generation healthier. Nearly one in five American children are seriously overweight. Exercise is key to combating childhood obesity, and parks are key to providing the space to exercise. Research has demonstrated that children who live within 500 meters of a park are less likely to become obese.

•    We need to provide access to green space for all.  Unfortunately access to parks often correlates directly with wealth, leaving lower-income communities with few options for recreation.

•    We need the administration’s strong leadership to enhance funding for community efforts to protect and restore natural places, and for programs intended to protect our land and water, like fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  We need to build on – and have support for - innovative public-private partnership models for park programming, management and stewardship, that have been effective in urban areas.

•    We can nurture the next generation of environmental stewards by connecting our urban youth with programs and job opportunities in city parks as well as in urban sites of the National Park System.

•    Our parks and public lands represent the best of America.  Our local parks are the centers of our community and vivid representations of American democracy and values. Protecting our public lands and investing in our urban parks should be an environmental priority of the Obama Administration.