First Bloom Grant Awarded to Skagway Recreation Center and Klondike Gold Rush NHP

Date: October 15, 2010
Contact: Amanda McCutcheon, 907-983-9243

The National Parks Foundation has awarded Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and its partner the Skagway Recreation Center (SRC) a grant to host the First Bloom program in Skagway.First Bloom is a National Park Foundation program that plants the seeds for a stronger relationship between Americans and their national parks, beginning with our youngest citizens. First Bloom youth are engaged in regular outdoor, hands-on activities focused around native plant gardening in a national park. Other partners for the First Bloom activities are the Skagway School District and the Taiya Inlet Watershed Council.

The native plant garden will be located on the National Park Service lot on 4th and Broadway in downtown Skagway.Youth participating in the SRC afterschool program will design a garden using historic Victorian landscaping features that meet Skagway historic district regulations.Additionally, participants from both the Skagway School District and the SRC will help construct and plant the garden in the spring of 2011.The native plant garden will be a place for Skagway youth to educate the thousands of visitors about Alaska's native plants and the Skagway community.

For the months of October and November, on Wednesday afternoons between 3:30-4:30 pm, all youth are welcome to join the First Bloom meetings at the SRC.If you would like to become involved in this project or have questions, please contact Park Education Specialist, Amanda McCutcheon at 907-983-9243 or SRC Director Katherine Nelson at 907-983-2679.