National Parks Waive Fees for Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11

From the National Park Service ...

National Parks Waive Fees for Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11

Date: November 5, 2009
Contact: Mike Litterst, Public Affairs Officer, 757-898-2409

Yorktown, Va. – To honor America’s service men and women, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has declared that areas managed by the department will not charge entrance fees on Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11. Included in the fee-free day are all National Park Service sites, including the Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield units of Colonial National Historical Park.

“The Department of the Interior is honored to offer this fee free day to thank our nation’s service men and women,” said Salazar said “The sacrifices and achievements of the brave men and women of our armed forces can never be understated. We invite all of our visitors to enjoy this fee-free day and take time out on this national holiday to remember our service men and women who are currently serving overseas in harms way.”

As an agency of the Interior Department, the National Park Service preserves and protects 392 units representing some of the country’s most significant scenic and cultural places. The National Park Service website provides information on National Park Service battlefields, military parks, and historic sites that commemorate the service of American veterans.

Free entrance on Veterans Day applies also at other areas managed by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service.

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Picture of the Week: 11/06/09

JD Tanner in Capitol Reef National Park

Wrapping up 09 Season

Our travels have been gradually winding us back toward Colorado. Over the last few days, we have spent time in Minnesota and Nebraska as the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Season '09 begins to wind down.

Amidst enjoying the fun outdoor recreational activities that Minneapolis has to offer, mainly disc golf and bike riding, we toured the campus of Minnesota State University.  We provided an Awareness Workshop to the students in the Programming for Outdoor Settings course.  As they learned the skills and ethics that drive the Leave No Trace program, they also picked up a little bag of tricks on how to teach this information to groups they will lead in the future.

 

Onto Ralston, Nebraska for an evening with over 50 cub scouts for their den meeting.  These 6-9 year old boys learned ways to Leave No Trace through an energetic  game of What Principle Am I?, an activity available in the PEAK Pack.  The boys and their families took home education, as well as their very own Subaru/Leave No Trace tote bag.  The totes were a BIG hit with Halloween right around the corner!  For us, back to Colorful Colorado...

Sate travels...Kate and Tracy

Picture of the Week: Happy Halloween!!!

What better way to celebrate Halloween than a spooky hike in a remote locale?

We thought we'd do just that when we visited Goblin Valley State Park in Southern Utah earlier this week! We didn't see any goblins, but the erie rock formations and eroded cliffs didn't disappoint! Hope you all have a Happy Halloween and if you happen to be in Utah...keep an eye out for goblins!

Impromptu Awareness Workshop

Typically an Awareness Workshop with the Traveling Trainers is set up months in advance. The host contacts our Outreach Manager, Dave Winter. Dave puts the workshop on the calendar. We contact the event host and work out all the logistics well in advance. This is not a story about one of those Awareness Workshops.

Over the weekend we headed to Malibu Creek State Park for an event sponsored by Subaru. The evening before the event we showed up at the park's campground in hopes of finding a place to camp. As we drove around the campground loop we noticed that we seemed to be drawing more attention than usual (if you've ever seen the Leave No Trace Subaru, then you know it has potential to draw a modest amount of attention). As we commented to each other about all the staring, one camper waved us down for a quick photo (of the Subaru, not us). We pulled over and jumped out to chat while several people began photographing the car. As we chatted to the photographers we discovered that they were all part of the same recreation class at a local university. We also found out that this was their first camping trip as a class and that they had recently taken a test that focused on Leave No Trace...talk about perfect timing!

We got the whole group to take the Bigfoot Challenge! What a great group and the perfect opportunity for some impromptu Leave No Trace talk.

If you are interested in setting up an Awareness Workshop with the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers for the 2010 season (and don't want to take the chance that we'll just happen to show up at the perfect time) please submit an online request.

350 at The North Face Endurance Challenge

Saturday we joined Kevin from The North Face and over 1,500 runners and fans at the Kettle Moraine State Park in Eagle, WI for fourth stop of The North Face Endurance Challenge!  After a chilly start to the day, the sun came out and warmed the trails for all of the athletes.  It was a perfect day for a race!
October 24th was also the International Day of Climate Action orchestrated by 350.org.  Currently the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere is at 390 parts per million(ppm) .  In an attempt to bring that number to a healthy level of 350 ppm and to help spread awareness of the dangerous levels of carbon in the atmosphere, we collected 350 signatures on our poster about the Bigfoot Challenge.  The big guy was honored to help us take action and be a part of one of the over 4,000 events going on world-wide.  All of these events are meant to encourage world leaders at the United Nations to re-think policies at the final meeting of the Climate Change Conference in Copehagen, Denmark this December.
It was an honor to be a small link in such a huge chain of events.  World leaders will be unable to ignore this grassroots effort to let the people be heard.  We are one COMMUNITY! 

Safe travels...Kate and Tracy

Picture of the Week 10/23/09

ONLY 8 MORE DAYS TO TAKE THE BIGFOOT CHALLENGE!