About the Great American Backyard Campout^®

Mark your calendar for June 27, 2009.

Come join the fun!

The Great American Backyard Campout provides an opportunity for everyone to relive -- or to experience for the first time -- how much fun it is to spend a night sleeping under the stars and enjoying the sounds of nature at night.

Held each June, the Great American Backyard Campout is a national event that encourages individuals, youth, friends and families to camp out together for one night.

Each year the number of campers has steadily grown. The locations and types of campsites vary from family campouts in the backyard to public campsites with 30 or more community members. In previous years, campers have ranged in age from 3 months to 99 years old and have come from all areas of the United States.

"It was fun to watch these kids who live on base explore some of these areas that they normally just walk past every day. It really opened their eyes. More than once I saw kids dragging over their parents to check out a particular view. So the kids had a lot of fun, even the ones who didn't think they would." -- Dave Myers, Outdoor Recreation Auto Skills Center Manager for the Whidbey Island Naval Air station in Washinton State

The Great American Backyard Campout supports Great Outdoors Month (June), celebrating the diverse and valuable recreational opportunities across the nation -- especially those linked to America's public lands and waters, which cover more than a third of the nation's surface and attract billions of visitors annually.

Learn more about Great Outdoors Month and other events taking place in your neighborhood by visiting www.greatoutdoorsmonth.org.

National Wildlife Federation is dedicated to connecting people to nature. Today's children are increasingly disconnected from nature and to counteract this growing trend, we encourage parents and other caring adults to help children spend one hour each day outdoors, engaged in unstructured play and discovery. Learn more about Green Hour™.