LAS VEGAS – The “Let’s Get Healthy!” Family Fun Walk at this year’s National Trails Day Celebration not only extolled the virtues of outdoor activity, it provided the perfect opportunity for spreading the word about the Nature Prescription Program. The fun walk was sponsored by the Southern Nevada Agency Partnership (SNAP).

More than 3,000 people attended the National Trails Day Celebration hosted by the City of Henderson Parks and Recreation Department, and 110 of them took part in the one-mile fun walk around the Promenade at the Pavilions in Henderson. Seventeen patients of the Children’s Heart Center were among the walkers, and four Clark County School District nurses wrote “nature prescriptions” for participants.

The prescription program is administered through a partnership between SNAP, the Outside Las Vegas Foundation, and a variety of health care professionals and organizations. Other southern Nevada partners include the Children’s Heart Center, the Clark County School District and approximately 100 health care providers. Health care professionals across the country are now prescribing visits to national wildlife refuges, national parks, and other public lands. The program encourages young people to get outside and experience nature as a fun and educational way to achieve and maintain health and fitness.

SNAP is a partnership comprised of professionals from the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service. The agencies work together to coordinate activities that protect, conserve, and encourage enjoyment of public lands in southern Nevada. The four SNAP agencies manage more than 10 million acres in southern Nevada including national parks, national conservation and recreation areas, national wildlife refuges, national forests, and other public lands.