2015 National Park Week

Date: March 31, 2014
Contact: David Elkowitz, 432-477-1108

Big Bend National Park and Fort Davis National Historic Site join parks, programs, and partners across the country to encourage everyone to find their park and share their stories online at FindYourPark.com. Launched yesterday 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 the theme for this year's National Park Week, April 18–26. Big Bend National Park will kick off National Parks Week with National Junior Ranger Day on April 18^th by providing special junior ranger programs and a junior ranger touch table. In addition, April 18^th and 19^th are a fee free weekend for park visitors. Continuing our National Parks Week celebration, the park will be offering a special Texas Gift to the Nation evening program on April 22^nd for Earth Day. A second special program, "Big Bend Top Ten," will be offered April 25^th. In addition, daily interpretive offerings will be available the entire week.

Fort Davis National Historic Site has many activities planned during National Park Week.The park visitor center and museum have recently been remodeled, with the addition of 32 new exhibits.Study army medicine at the restored post hospital and diagnose your ills by trying the "Wheel of Misfortune." The Junior Ranger program is also available for kids of all ages.

Superintendents Cindy Ott-Jones, Big Bend, and John Morlock, Fort Davis, welcome everyone to celebrate National Park Week at your local National Park Service site. Visit www.NationalParkWeek.org to learn more about how you can join parks, programs, and partners in celebrating National Park Week across the country. www.nps.gov