Are you venturing into the great outdoors this three-day weekend? Then, perhaps, on your return next week you might want to consider telling President Obama all about your adventure.

Well, he will not be here exactly, but his representatives are coming to UC Davis to hold a “listening session” for the initiative that Obama calls America’s Great Outdoors.

The initiative aims to build a 21st-century conservation and recreation agenda and reconnect Americans with the outdoors.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, whose congressional district takes in UC Davis, is hosting the listening session — and he has arranged for it to be held in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

The session is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. July 7. People who plan to attend are asked to send RSVPs to Thompson’s legislative director, Jonathan Birdsong (jonathan.birdsong@mail.house.gov) by July 6.

Thompson plans to be one of the listeners, along with Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Center on Environmental Quality; Will Shafroth, principal deputy assistant secretary, Department of Interior; Ed Burton, state conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Jovita Pajarillo, representing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9.

Thompson said the speakers list already includes Andy Beckstoffer, a landowner and advocate for conservation easements, to discuss the benefit of private conservation easements and how the conservation easement tax deduction has benefited California rangelands and landscapes.

The panel also includes representatives of these organizations: Ducks Unlimited and the California Rice Commission, to address cooperative farming, wetlands and waterfowl habitat projects; and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, to discuss the foundation’s partnerships with private landowners and state and federal governments.

“After the panel,” Thompson said, “we hope to hear from Northern California outdoor leaders in the audience on the great projects they have participated in to enhance our country’s outdoor heritage and share new ideas for the future.”

Obama inaugurated the America’s Great Outdoors initiative in April at a White House conference that brought together people from around the country who are working to protect outdoor spaces and who are focused on developing and supporting innovative ideas for improving conservation and recreation at the local level.

"Even in times of crisis, we’re called to take the long view to preserve our national heritage –- because in doing so we fulfill one of the responsibilities that falls to all of us as Americans, and as inhabitants of this same small planet," Obama said.

The president directed Sutley and other initiative leaders to listen and learn from Americans throughout the country about community-driven conservation.