National Public Lands Day 2016

Date: September 19, 2016

Along with federal land management agencies across the country, Big Bend National Park will participate in National Public Lands Day (NPLD) activities on Saturday, September 24. This annual event is the nation's largest, single-day volunteer effort for public lands. The normal park entrance fees will be waived for the day at all National Park Service sites including Big Bend.

Big Bend Conservancy is joining the National Park Service to provide a variety of activities in the park. Starting on Friday evening, September 23, the Conservancy is hosting a root beer float party at 6PM at the Chisos Mountains Lodge patio. This activity is also sponsored by Saint Arnold Brewing Company and Forever Resorts. Breakfast will be provided for registered volunteers at the Chisos Mountains Lodge on Saturday, September 24, at 7 AM.

Visitors are invited to participate in service projects at Rio Grande Village area of Big Bend National Park. One project will focus on efforts to rehabilitate an area where earthen berms were removed in order to restore riparian wildlife habitat. Volunteers will be assisting park staff with re-vegetating the site, including transplanting grasses and spreading seed and mulch. Participants may choose to help with a second project to clean food storage boxes in the Rio Grande Village Campground.

Volunteers and park staff will meet in the Rio Grande Village Visitor Center parking lot at 8:30 AM. The park will provide volunteers with tools, work shirts, and gloves. Participants should wear hats, long pants, sturdy, closed-toed shoes or boots. The projects will end at approximately 12 PM. Registered volunteers will be provided lunch and water courtesy of Culligan Southwest and AimBank.

For information or to register for the free events for NPLD at Big Bend National Park, log onto www.bigbendconservancy.org/get-involved/events.

NPLD, coordinated each year by the National Environmental Education Foundation, brings together volunteers from coast to coast to improve and restore the lands and facilities that Americans use and enjoy every day. Each year, NPLD volunteers provide tens of millions of dollars' worth of services in one day that would take limited park staff months to accomplish. Last year, more than 200,000 Americans participated in events at more than 2,500 sites in all 50 states, Peurto Rico, and Washington, D.C.

National Public Lands Day is sponsored by Toyota and the National Environmental Education Foundation. For other information and events, check out their website at http://www.publiclandsday.org/.