American College of Lifestyle Medicine welcomes national resolution advancing nature as a foundation for health and well-being

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine said it welcomed a national resolution adopted by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies recognizing nature’s role in supporting human health and calling for greater collaboration among the conservation, healthcare and research communities. Adopted during AFWA’s 116th Annual Meeting, the resolution also supports establishing a strategic partnership among AFWA, ACLM and the Nature and Health Alliance to promote the health and well-being benefits of nature. The action is an organizational and policy development rather than a clinical trial: the announcement reports no new intervention, controlled comparison or measured patient outcome. Its immediate effect is to place natural environments and outdoor activities within a broad lifestyle-medicine framework while establishing a proposed route for cooperation among organizations working in conservation, clinical education and research.

The resolution identifies nature as a beneficial component of all six pillars of lifestyle medicine: optimal nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, connectedness and avoidance of risky substances. It also names outdoor activities such as walking, hiking, wildlife viewing, fishing, hunting and habitat stewardship as opportunities to encourage physical activity and connectedness. According to the announcement, these activities can also support mental and cardiovascular health and improve quality of life. The resolution does not assign a measured effect to any individual activity or establish that every form of outdoor recreation produces the same benefit. Instead, it treats nature as a setting in which several dimensions of lifestyle medicine can be supported and as a resource relevant to whole-person health.

ACLM chief executive John Findley described nature as one of the most accessible but underused resources for whole-person health. In the announcement, he cited emerging evidence suggesting that time in nature can positively affect depression and anxiety, blood pressure, stress and inflammation. He characterized these as developing findings rather than results generated by the resolution or by a newly reported study. Findley said nature offers opportunities to move, play, be curious, restore and connect more deeply with others and with oneself. He also emphasized the connection between human well-being and the places people inhabit, arguing that helping people experience nature can inspire greater care for environments that support human flourishing. The resolution itself does not test that reciprocal relationship or quantify clinical outcomes associated with conservation activity.

AFWA executive director Ron Regan said state fish and wildlife agencies connect millions of people with the outdoors and natural resources that sustain communities. He said the resolution recognizes the connection between healthy natural resources and healthy communities and presents an opportunity to strengthen both through conservation work. Regan also discussed hunting and fishing as means of connecting people with outdoor resources and noted that fish and wildlife can provide naturally sourced protein. This aspect of the initiative extends beyond physical activity and emotional well-being to include food resources, recreation and habitat stewardship. The announcement is an advocacy statement from participating organizations and did not include new nutritional analyses, estimates of protein consumption or measurements of health changes associated with particular outdoor practices.

The initiative grew from the work of AFWA’s One Health Committee, which brings wildlife and conservation leaders together with experts across sectors to address connections among the health of wildlife, people and the environment. The committee identified alignment between its charge, ACLM’s programs and six lifestyle-medicine pillars, and the Nature and Health Alliance’s work to advance research. Committee chair and Missouri Department of Conservation Director Jason Sumners said the health of people, wildlife and outdoor environments cannot be viewed in isolation. The announcement describes a shared effort to help communities connect with and care for natural resources. It does not specify a funding amount, governance structure, implementation timetable or measurable targets for the proposed strategic partnership, making the resolution an initial framework for collaboration rather than evidence of a completed public-health program.

Survey findings cited in the announcement illustrate a possible gap between public interest in guidance about nature and what healthcare providers have offered. The American Nature & Health Survey, conducted by the Nature and Health Alliance and REI Co-op, found that 83% of respondents said they would spend more time outside if a healthcare provider recommended it, while 20% said they had received such a recommendation. These are descriptive responses from the surveyed participants rather than measurements of behavior after a recommendation. The figures do not establish that provider advice causes changes in outdoor activity, physical activity, mental health or chronic disease. The release also does not provide the survey’s sample size, sampling method, field dates, exact question wording, confidence intervals or demographic breakdown, so the results cannot independently establish national prevalence or causal effects in the wider population.

ACLM plans to launch a Nature and Health continuing medical education and continuing education course in 2027. The course is being developed in partnership with the Nature and Health Alliance and underwritten with support from the REI Cooperative Action Fund. Its stated purpose is to help clinicians understand the science connecting nature and health and responsibly integrate evidence-based, nature-based interventions into patient care. Because the course is still planned, it is not an evaluation of clinical efficacy. The announcement does not describe its curriculum, credits, faculty, accreditation status, target patient population, intervention protocol or outcome measures. It therefore provides no basis for claiming improved clinical outcomes. The planned course represents an attempt to address the difference between the substantial share of surveyed respondents interested in provider guidance and the smaller share who reported receiving such advice.

The resolution also connects health policy with outdoor recreation and conservation. Outdoor Recreation Roundtable president Jessica Turner described the $1.3 trillion outdoor recreation economy as a national public-health solution and said the resolution complements the group’s vision for an “American’s Outdoor Era,” in which safe and convenient opportunities to spend time outside are more widely available. The economic figure was cited in the announcement without a source or methodological detail, so it is not a new estimate presented by the study or evidence of a health effect. More specifically, the resolution seeks to bring recreation, conservation, healthcare and research leaders together and to recognize time outside as relevant to health and well-being. It does not resolve issues identified in the announcement, including barriers to access or differences in recreational resources.

The overall result is a policy recognition accompanied by proposed organizational and educational work. AFWA has formally linked healthy natural resources with human well-being, endorsed nature as relevant to every pillar of lifestyle medicine and supported collaboration among itself, ACLM and the Nature and Health Alliance. A 2027 clinician course, a survey showing interest in provider advice and support for a strategic partnership provide possible routes for implementing that recognition. At the same time, the release is a news announcement from participating organizations rather than an independent evidence assessment. It contains neither newly collected clinical data nor a systematic review of the research literature, and it does not present a research protocol or evaluate the health effects of the proposed collaboration. Its clearest demonstrated achievement is agreement among the named organizations to treat nature and human health as subjects requiring coordinated conservation, education and research efforts.

Subject of Research: A policy resolution linking nature and natural resources with lifestyle medicine, professional education and cross-sector collaboration.

Article Title: American College of Lifestyle Medicine welcomes national resolution advancing nature as a foundation for health and well-being

Article References: American College of Lifestyle Medicine welcomes national resolution advancing nature as a foundation for health and well-being. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: nature and health, lifestyle medicine, conservation, public health, outdoor recreation, One Health, clinical education, healthcare collaboration, fish and wildlife, natural resources, American, College