Celebrate National Public Lands Day in a National Park

September 25, 2014 - WASHINGTON – This Saturday, September 27, celebrate National Public Lands Day by heading to a national park to play, learn, serve, or work. The 21st annual event will feature free admission to every National Park Service site, as well as special activities and volunteer work projects across the country.

“National parks and other public lands are the birthright and legacy of all Americans, and as we celebrate these special places on National Public Lands Day, people across the country will come together to join in our efforts to protect and preserve them,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis.  “Whether you come for a visit or to volunteer, I hope that everyone will spend some time enjoying their national parks and public lands on Saturday.”

Sponsored by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, National Public Lands Day is the largest single-day, hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance federal, state and local public lands in the country. Last year, about 175,000 volunteers worked at 2,237 sites in every state, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.  Visit www.publiclandsday.org for more information and a list of project sites.

Volunteers will lend a hand to help the land at more than 60 national parks. Among the projects, they will walk weed-eating goats at Carl Sandburg National Historic Site, restore wetlands at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, take part in the Yosemite National Park facelift, clean the beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and rehabilitate a campground at Prince William Forest Park. Anyone who volunteers for a National Park Service work project during National Public Lands Day will receive a free pass for a future visit to a national park.

In addition to providing free entrance on Saturday, many parks will host special ranger programs and events, including a star party at Craters of the Moon National Memorial and Preserve, a Fall Fiesta at Bandelier National Monument, the Peanut Festival at Jimmy y Carter National Historic Site, a wilderness fair at Joshua Tree National Park, the Mountain Festival at City of Rocks, and Music and Art in the Mountains at Blue Ridge Parkway.

The following national parks in California are among those that will host volunteer projects on National Public Lands Day, Saturday, September 27:

California: Channel Islands National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, John Muir National Historic Site, Lava Beds National Monument, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Yosemite National Park

www.nps.gov