Hiker Headlines: Public Lands Victory, Have a Say on Larrabee, Health Benefits of Green Spaces

It's Feb. 28. A massive lands package — including permanent authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund — passed Congress. If you use trails at Larrabee State Park, the state would like your input. A much-needed update to maps of the Kettle Crest is in the works. And science proves what a lot of us know — being outside is good for you.

Here’s some hiker news that you may have missed while out on trail this week.

Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Photo by Valerie Pherson.

Woohoo! A massive public lands package passed Congress on Tuesday. The package permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is responsible for protecting many beloved outdoor spaces across the country. It also establishes the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area, protects the Methow headwaters and extends the program that offers free national park passes to all fourth graders. Thank you to all of the hikers who spoke up and helped make this possible! 

Have a say. If you like to hike in Larrabee State Park, Washington State Parks wants to hear from you. The agency is doing planning work for the park and will be considering trail uses and how trails connect to other trail systems, among other issues.

Good news for Kettle hikers. The Kettle Crest in the Colville National Forest is wild, beautiful and popular with a range of recreationists: hikers, runners, skiers, mountain bikers and hunters. Yet, even so, it’s a wild area where it’s easy to find solitude. The maps for the area are also horribly out of date. Yet, that could all change soon, thanks to a passionate trail runner and a map maker.

Science says being outdoors is good for you. Most of us feel that instinctively, it’s one of the many reason we hike. A new study is the latest to provide scientific weight to back up that feeling. A large study in Denmark showed that people who grow up near green spaces have up a 55 percent lower change if developing mental health disorders as an adult. Part of what makes this study so important is its massive scope, which allowed for researchers to account for other factors such as income level and education.

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