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The New Mexico Senate last week passed Memorial 1, hoping to bring more children outdoors to learn. Eileen Everett from Environmental Education of New Mexico said their many partnerships, including with UNM Law School’s Wild Friends helped shape the legislation to bring kids’ learning out from the indoor classroom.
EILEEN EVERETT: Last fall, when the students at Wild Friends selected what they really wanted to focus on this year, they picked outdoor classrooms, which seems just so timely and relevant given COVID-19 right now. Senate Memorial 1 really has two main things that it's asking for. One, for the governor to declare an Outdoor Learning Day for New Mexico, which we hope will happen this fall, the fall of 2021. And the other big ask is to create an interagency task force, which would include state agencies like the Public Education Department, State Parks, our Outdoor Recreation Division and others, to really engage in dialogue around what are additional resources and support that we can point school districts to to build more outdoor classrooms and learning spaces.