America's public lands are a treasured part of our national heritage, representing its vast grandeur, bountiful promise, and vast natural resources. All citizens share in the rights and the responsibilities of seeing that our public lands are cared for and managed in a way that meets the current and future needs of the American people.

To highlight the beauty, the accessibility, and the benefits of our public lands, the Public Lands Interpretive Association, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based non-profit organization that provides interpretive and educational resources to the public, mapped out a Canada-to-Mexico trek exclusively on public lands, called American Frontiers: A Public Lands Journey.

The Journey is a trek involving two groups of travelers: one journeying north from Mexico and the second headed south from Canada, entirely on public lands. The trek begins July 31 and ends when the two teams meet in Salt Lake City, Utah on National Public Lands Day, Sept. 28.

Inspired by American Frontiers: A Public Lands Journey, National Geographic has designed its Geography Action! 2002 curriculum around the theme of public lands. Aimed at teaching school-aged children the beauty and the benefits of Americaís public lands, Geography Action! 2002 will follow the trekkers along the two-month journey, highlighting the diversity and grandeur of our nationís public lands.

To demonstrate the abundant uses of public lands, trek participants will utilize numerous modes of transportation for this border-to-border journey across America, including:

Hiking
Backpacking
Horseback riding
Honda All-Terrain Vehicles, CRVs, and the new Pilot SUV
Canoes
Mountain bikes
Motorboats
Dual sport motorcycles

Three years in the making, American Frontiers: A Public Lands Journey has enlisted numerous partners and sponsors for the journey, including National Geographic Society, the Department of the Interior, the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, American Honda, Kodak, and the Coleman Company.