Date: April 2, 2015
Contact: Dana Dierkes, 559-565-3131
National Park Week 2015 Encourages Everyone to Find Your Park
SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS –Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks joins parks, programs and partners across the country to encourage everyone to find their park and share their stories online at FindYourPark.com. Launched this week by the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, Find Your Park is a public awareness and education campaign celebrating the milestone centennial anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016 and setting the stage for its second century of service.
Find Your Park invites the public to see that a national park can be more than a place—it can be a feeling, a state of mind, or a sense of American pride. Beyond vast landscapes, the campaign highlights historical, urban, and cultural parks, as well as the National Park Service programs that protect, preserve and share nature, culture, and history in communities nationwide.
"Find Your Park" is also the theme for this year's National Park Week, April 18 –26. On Saturday, April 18, come celebrate National Junior Ranger Day at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Discover what it is like to be a park ranger! Stop at the Foothills Visitor Center (Sequoia National Park) from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. for exploration stations that include learning how insects and flowers teach us about the Earth's climate or how horses and mules bring supplies to rangers in the wilderness. Or, from 2-3 p.m., build a cave and learn about spelunking at the Giant Forest Museum (Sequoia National Park). Or, visit Grant Grove (Kings Canyon National Park) from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. to participate in a variety of ranger-led hikes, arts and crafts, and much more! Don't miss out on the fun! You can become a Junior Ranger at any age. Note: Entrance fees will be waived at all national parks on April 18 and 19.
In both 2015 and 2016, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is celebrating park anniversaries. In 2015, you are invited to help celebrate Sequoia National Park's 125th anniversary and Kings Canyon National Park's 75th anniversary! For more information about how you can participate, visit www.nps.gov/seki.
"Junior Ranger Day is a wonderful opportunity to engage with youth around national parks," said Superintendent Woody Smeck. He added, "We look forward to celebrating with you throughout 2015, and invite you to find your park and take some time to renew yourself in wilderness or under a giant sequoia, dip your toes in a clear mountain stream, or just wonder at night sky full of stars."
Visit www.NationalParkWeek.org to learn more about how you can join parks, programs, and partners in celebrating National Park Week across the country.
About Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, which lie-side-by-side in the southern Sierra Nevada in central California, serve as a prime example of nature's size, beauty, and diversity. Over 1.5 million visitors from across the U.S. and the world visit these parks for the world's largest trees (by volume), grand mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons, vast caverns, the highest point in the lower 48 states, and more! Learn more at www.nps.gov/seki or 559-565-3341.
About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 407 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.
