Cleveland National Forest Launches New Interactive Mobile Game for Youth

SAN DIEGO, CALIF (July 6, 2015) –  This summer, youth visiting the Cleveland National Forest Trabuco Ranger District will have an exciting new way to learn about the forest. Thanks to grant funding from Edison International,and in collaboration with the Get-to-Know program, the Agents of Nature mobile game launched via iOS and Android, providing youth with innovative, engaging, and accessible opportunities to move to learn outdoors and in their communities.

Agents of Nature is a place-based, environmental education game meant to encourage youth to remain active as they explore their local parks, beaches, zoos, and forests. Currently, the Cleveland National Forest offers 2 locations, known as “mission sites,” where the users can play and learn right in the heart of the environment by completing educational challenges to advance through the game. “We are very excited to support this new informative adventure with the Agents of Nature and Edison International, two great cooperators” said Darrell Vance, District Ranger for the Trabuco region. “Both the El Cariso Nature Trail and the San Juan Loop Trail offer great natural resources and educational opportunities for youth and we want to encourage them to use it.”

The Agents of Nature mobile game invites youth to become a ‘secret agent of nature’ and get outdoors to unlock its mysteries. “Agents of Nature provides an accessible, engaging way for youth to learn about parks, nature and science,” says Mary Clark, director of the Get to Know Program. “Our goal was to make learning fun and engaging while promoting physical activity. The overarching goal was to encourage a new generation of mobile, active, and engaged learners.” The Cleveland National Forest’s launch is part of a rollout of multiple mission sites in the Southern California region. The mobile game is now available in 18 parks across North America, including Texas, Kentucky, Oregon, and Alberta, Canada. Currently, the two available mission sites for the Cleveland National Forest can be found in Lake Elsinore at the El Cariso Nature Trail and the San Juan Loop Trail

For more information, please visit www.agentsofnature.com or for trail information please visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/cleveland/home

About the U.S. Forest Service:

The mission of the Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world. Public lands the Forest Service manages contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation's clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion per year. The agency has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 80 percent of the 850 million forested acres within the U.S., of which 100 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.  Learn more at http://www.fs.usda.gov/cleveland