national park week april 18 - 26 and find your park

Date: March 31, 2015
Contact: Jeff Wolin, (719) 748 - 3253 ext. 202

Florissant, CO –Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument joins 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. Special activities taking place at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument during the week include:

*Fee Free Days - Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19

Saturday, April 18, 1:00PM –3:00PM, Finding Fossils in the Fossil Discovery Lab
Join geologist Dr. Bob Carnein,for a fun, hands-on demonstration to see how paleontologists uncover tiny leaf and insect fossils at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Sunday, April 19, 1:00PM –3:00PM, Become a Junior Paleontologist

Participate in a hands-on, dirt-digging mini excavation to find fossil replicas of ancient three-toed horse and rhinoceros-like mammals. After the excavation visit the Fossil Discovery Lab, where you can observe fossils up close. All participants can earn their Junior Paleontologist Badge. Meet at the Visitor Center.

Wednesday, April 22, 8:00PM –10:00PM, Night Sky Program: "Lyrids Meteor Shower"

Do you like shooting stars? We do! Wednesday is the peak of the Lyrids Meteor Shower, the best shower of the spring season. Join us to learn about the science behind these celestial fireworks, then head outside to watch them streak overhead. We'll have plenty of targets for our telescopes, too –planets, star clusters, and more –but you might be too busy watching the whole sky for meteors! Meet at the Visitor Center.

Saturday, April 25, 1:00PM –3:00PM, Finding Fossils in the Fossil Discovery Lab
Join geologist Dr. Bob Carnein,for a fun, hands-on demonstration to see how paleontologists uncover tiny leaf and insect fossils at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Park admission is free on April 18 and 19.Regular park entrance fee is $3 per adult (16 years and older) children and federal pass holders are free. Visitor Center hours are 9:00AM to 5:00PM daily.

For additional information, please call [phone] or visit our website at www.nps.gov/flfo or follow us on Facebook/FlorissantNPS.

Visit www.NationalParkWeek.org to learn more about how you can join parks, programs, and partners in celebrating National Park Week across the country.