News Release

Launching New Youth Paddling Program

Date: February 13, 2020
Contact: Jason Ginder, 409-951-6721

Today we launch a new and exciting way for youth to explore their local national preserve. All Southeast Texas youth organizations, clubs, and groups are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to build teamwork skills, explore the natural environment around them, and give back to the preserve.

 Through group kayaking programs, youth organizations will be invited to explore the Neches River, Village Creek, and Pine Island Bayou. During each group kayak experience participants will learn basic water safety skills, explore the ecosystem they are kayaking through, and perform a small amount of service work in the park.  

This program invites youth and young adults to explore the Big Thicket. Local community organizations such as schools, church youth groups, after-school programs, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA/YWCA, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, 4H groups, youth sports leagues, and other recreational, academic and social clubs are encouraged to participate in this paddling program as a group. All equipment and basic introductory paddle training is provided as part of this free program.

 We strive to promote awareness, access, resource stewardship ethics, and participatory citizenship values by introducing youth from surrounding communities to the value and importance of federally protected lands through engaging kayaking adventures in the preserve.

 To sign your group up for this program please call our youth paddle team at 409-951-6826 or email us at [e-mail] for more information.

 Big Thicket National Preserve is located in Southeast Texas, near the city of Beaumont and 75 miles northeast of Houston. The preserve consists of nine land units and six water corridors encompassing more than 113,000 acres. The Big Thicket, often referred to as a “biological crossroads,” is a transition zone between four distinct vegetation types – the moist eastern hardwood forest, the southwestern desert, the southeastern swamp, and the central prairies. Species from all of these different plant types come together in the thicket, exhibiting a variety of vegetation and wildlife that has received global interest.

For general information about Big Thicket National Preserve, visit www.nps.gov/bith or call the preserve visitor center at 409-951-6700. Visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/BigThicketNPS, Twitter www.twitter.com/BigThicketNPS, and Instagram www.instagram.com/BigThicketNPS.

 www.nps.gov