Video
Kenai Fjord Stewardship
Transcript
Welcome to Kenai Fjords National Park—your National Park. One of the most amazing things about public lands is that these special areas have been set aside and protected by people we have never met in order that you and I could experience them. With that great gift come comes a great responsibility that you and I are each responsible for stewarding this gift and legacy into the future for the visitors who will come after us and the future generations who will visit perhaps 100 years from now.
These special sites preserve some of the most remarkable landscapes in our country and some of the most inspirational stories of bravery and challenges, overcome. They also reflect on some of the toughest stories in our country’s past—in order that we never forget.
It is important that all of these landscapes, monuments and stories be protected and made available so that people can experience them, learn from them, be moved by them—first hand. It is also critically important that we always create space for youth to have transformational experiences in these special sites, whether in a field trip to Cesar Chavez National Monument or to see Exit Glacier first-hand in Kenai Fjords National Park. From one day experiences in places like Yosemite to multi-day backcountry adventures in the Grand Tetons. From desert parks like Bryce Canyon to east coast gems such as Acadia, to the rich stories preserved for us at Brown vs. the Board of Education or Manzanar to the now quiet battlefields of the South and the stories found along National Historic trails, such as Selma to Montgomery—the gift of public lands is rich and deep, bold and beautiful, turbulent and triumphant.
All of these have been saved for us and we need to assure that the youth of today have access to these special places and riveting stories that each of these sites holds. We need to create space to connect youth to the environment as well as our country’s deep cultural history. Public lands are a tremendous gift—not all countries have them, and we do. In many ways we are seen as a leader in public lands management worldwide and this stewardship and the legacy that carries them into the future takes all of us. So today, as you visit Kenai Fjords National Park, consider what you can do to help protect the park, not just during your visit but for all the visitors who will come long after your visit is over.
I hope you will find your own way to steward the park into the future. Thank you for visiting Kenai Fjords National Park—your national park—and we hope that you will continue to find ways to make public lands a part of your life and to steward them into the future for the generations of visitors we will never know.
Description
Kenai Fjord Stewardship
Duration
3 minutes, 18 seconds
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