"Great Outdoors" session Friday in Annapolis

Obama administration officials are slated to come to Annapolis Friday to hear from the public on how to promote conservation and stewardship of the nation's lands and waters.

It's another in a series of "listening sessions" the administration is holding around the country on its "Great Outdoors Initiative," which aims to hear from Americans on how to protect those treasured places they love and how to work cooperatively to reconnect people to nature.

The event will be from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase Street in Annapolis. Senior officials from the U.S. Interior and Agriculture departments (Ken Salazar taking a break from keeping his boot on BP's neck?) the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality are scheduled to be there.

Among those planning to give them an earful will be advocates for increasing public access to the Chesapeake Bay, and for preserving more of its special places.  For more on the Chesapeake Gateways network, go here.  For more from from conservation activists, go here.

(2007 Baltimore Sun photo, kayaking on the Eastern Shore, by Lloyd Fox)