Post from Community: How to explore the great outdoors during ‘Safer at Home’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
the Urban Ecology Center Staff
April 6, 2020
South Side resident Alejandra Jiménez-Marván goes on a nature hike with her son Darío. (Photo provided by Miguel Santos)
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The Urban Ecology Center is an environmental community center, with three branches in Milwaukee, whose mission is connecting people in cities to nature and each other.
Since Gov. Tony Evers’ “Safer at Home” announcement, we’ve heard lots of questions about whether it’s still OK to go outside. There was a lot of info in the order and the message about outdoor activity is way down in section 11c, so you might have missed it!
As an environmental community center, the Urban Ecology Center has spent a lot of time figuring out how best to encourage people to connect with nature during this unusual time, so we wanted to share our understanding of the order here, along with some guidelines for how you can spend time in nature.
The order says that individuals may leave their homes to do a number of “essential activities,” including “[t]o engage in outdoor activity, including visiting public and state parks, provided individuals comply with Social Distancing Requirements…”
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This is great news! Spending time outside and engaging in physical activity like walking, jogging, and biking [all expressly permitted by the order] have great physical and mental health benefits, which are critical at a time like this. Below are some guidelines for how to get that life-giving time outside in nature while staying safe:
Guidelines:
Here is a list of activities you CAN do outside [as long as you follow the guidelines above]:
If you want more ideas about how to explore nature “apart, together,” the Urban Ecology Center regularly posts stories, photos, videos, educational content and suggestions on our blog and on our social media platforms.
You can find daily UEC posts on our Facebook page as well as on Instagram and Twitter. The bottom line is, spending time outside can be a safe and beneficial way to practice social distancing, and it can be great for your physical and mental health. We hope to see you out on the trails — from at least 6 feet away, of course!