Volunteers sought for National Public Lands Da
If you are looking for something cheap for you and your family to do this weekend, Saturday, Sept. 26 is National Public Lands Day and all national parks and museums are FREE.
Wondering what to do when you get there? National Public Lands Day is also a day when park managers look for volunteers to help out with a variety of projects. What better way to spend a day outdoors than cleaning up or improving a park? It's a worthwhile cause AND it's great exercise.
Last year, NPLD organizers reported that 175,000 Americans turned out to help our parks. They worked at more than 2,000 sites in all 50 states including District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
This is what they accomplished:
- fixed up 1,500 miles of trails
- planted about 100,000 shrubs, trees and other native plants
- pulled up 23,000 pounds of invasive pants
- removed some 500 tons of trash
Now that's a successful volunteer effort. All in one day. Not only that, all this effort reportedly helped save $18 million, which as you know, comes from your taxes.
As a volunteer you won't be bored. There are a variety of activities to do - build trails, repair structures such as bridges, check on endangered species and restore wildlife habitats.
Think about it. Children need to get out. Our parks cover about 200 million acres of national forest, 84 million acres of national parks and 60,000 miles of national trails.
You can't find a better or bigger playground than that.
First Lady Michelle Obama also embraces this event as part of her "Let's Move" initiative to get youngsters away from their electronic devices and more into their natural surroundings.
"We just want to encourage kids to use the resources that are available to them," she said. "I mean that's part of the point of this, is that activity doesn't have to cost a thing."
National Public Lands Day is the largest single day volunteer event for public lands.
That's because It's also a free day - entrance fees are waived at national parks and other public lands. (Check your local museums too. Walking through a museum for a day is certainly a healthy and rewarding activity.)
To help promote the day, Toyota Motor Sales USA contributes as a national sponsor. This is their 17th year doing that. Last year 4,700 Toyota employees volunteered at 44 different sites. That's certainly very nice of them and shows they are a good community-minded, corporate citizen. Makes me want to buy a car from them.
Most of us probably don't appreciate the magnificent national and local parks that we are blessed with in this country. (Here's a site with awesome national park photos as a reminder).
Park officials actually fear there is a "nature deficit" when it comes to today's younger plugged-in, stay inside on the couch generation.
Events like National Public Lands Day are not meant to just have people visit or help a park one day a year. It's designed to bring awareness to the public about these natural treasures and motivate them to come out to the parks more often.
Former president Jimmy Carter once said, "It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever."
You or your family will never know unless you go. National Public Lands Day is the perfect opportunity.
About the The Parks and Facilities Catalog: We are a national e-commerce site that sells park furnishings such as park benches, picnic tables, trash receptacles, bike racks and hundreds of other outdoor site furnishings.