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March 8 - 13, 2026
Stronger Together: Transforming Lives, Communities, and Planetary Health
Innovations at the intersection of
active living, health, equity, and nature
2026 Co-Chairs
Erica Timko Olson, Leander Lacy,
Ingrid Schneider, AND NiCOLE KEITH
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Conference Summary Description
ActivEnviro, along with our local hosts through the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, along with Lacy Consulting and other partners, invited you to a week-long gathering to bring together the best elements of the former Active Living Conference and the Global Outdoor Health Summit into a unified, multidisciplinary event called the Active Living + Outdoor Health Summit. Grounded in the theme Stronger Together: Transforming Lives, Communities, and Planetary Health, the conference explores how physical activity and nature experiences, indoors and outdoors in all forms, can contribute to preventive health, well-being, equity, and environmental sustainability.
This AL+OH Summit 2026 provided a space for dialogue and shared learning across sectors, including public health, planning, parks, recreation and tourism, environmental science, community development, researchers, students, academia, and allied organizations. Sessions highlighted research, policy, and practices that support active living and outdoor engagement as strategies to improve quality of life—particularly in the context of social connection, mental and physical health, environmental resilience, economic development, and systems-level change.
Participants from around the USA and globally had many opportunities to connect, reflect, and explore how individual and collective action can support healthier people, stronger communities, and a more sustainable future.
The program started with a Welcome Reception on Sunday, March 8, 2026, culminating with a combined Town Hall and Action Planning Session on Friday, March 13. Throughout the week the schedule was full of high-quality, peer-reviewed educational plenaries, workshops, speed sessions, panels, and poster sessions, along with purposeful networking activities, and experiential outdoor and indoor activity/nature breaks, created to allow attendees to rejuvenate and transform our own thinking during this gathering of allied great minds, sponsors, and supporters. If you are interested in discussing planning for future Active Living and/or Outdoor Health Summit events featuring the AL+OH legacy, contact Dr. Teresa Penbrooke, CPRE.
Congratulations to the 2026 Summit Award Winners!
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Final Awards were presented at a Ceremony with prizes on Friday, March 13.
Individual Final Nominees were:
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Dr. Gina Besenyi
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Dr. Junia de Brito
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Dr. Genevieve F. Dunton
Congratulations to Dr. Gina Besenyi, Individual Award Winner!
Organizational Final Nominees were:
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Active Living After Cancer
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Denver Urban Gardens
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Melanin in Motion
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NatureQuant
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The Bus for Outdoor Access & Teaching
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Three Rivers Park District, MN
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Traverse Area (MI) Recreation & Transportation (TART) Trails
Congratulations to Three Rivers Park District, MN, and Active Living After Cancer as the top two Summit Organizational Winners!
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Research and Practice Poster Winners
A variety of posters were featured at a networking reception, and judges voted with criteria to select the best posters for 2026. Winners this year were:
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Hsuan Hsieh, PhD Candidate at Clemson - Forest Therapy in Higher Education
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Nick Otis, Naval Health Research Center - Surf and Hike Therapy Project
All of these individuals and organizations are doing great work!
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Background on The Active Living + Outdoor Health Summit
The Active Living Conference (ALC) began in 2004 in San Diego, CA as a venue for both cutting-edge research and for making findings usable by non-scientists. The conference brings together a diverse audience and provides networking and engagement opportunities for active living researchers and practitioners from many fields. Presentations and discussions focus on the importance of creating healthier communities for all people. ActivEnviro has been facilitating administration of this convening since 2020.
The Global Outdoor Health Summit (GOH Summit) began as the SHIFT Summit in 2014 in Jackson Hole, WY, then came under administration from ActivEnviro (formerly GP RED) in 2021. In 2026, these two events will be held together as the AL+OH Summit to leverage the reality that much active living occurs in the outdoors (along with indoors) and many of the same researchers, policy makers, and program providers serve all of these aspects. This is in line with our mission to connect allied disciplines and minimize duplication of efforts - to better serve our allied research, education, and practice colleagues who help communities and the people within them thrive around the world.