Nationwide free park visit program to kick off at Red Rock Canyon
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will visit Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area on Wednesday for the national launch of a new Obama administration program aimed at getting kids and their families to explore America's outdoor treasures.
Under the Every Kid in a Park program, fourth graders nationwide can get a free pass for them and their families to all federally managed lands and waters — more than 2,000 sites including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and marine sanctuaries.
Close to Las Vegas, the pass will grant free admission to such places as Red Rock Canyon and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Within a few hours drive of the city, the passes will get students and their families into Death Valley National Park in California, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks in Utah.
During Wednesday's event, Jewell and Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, will hike with a group of local fourth graders and hand out some of the first passes, which are good for the 2015-16 school year.
"We want to make sure that every American has the opportunity to develop a lifelong connection to our nation's land, water and wildlife," Jewell said Tuesday in a written statement.
President Obama announced the Every Kid in a Park initiative earlier this year as part of a year-long celebration leading up to the 100th birthday of the National Park Service in 2016.
According to the Department of Interior, more than 80 percent of American families now live in urban areas, and many lack easy access to safe outdoor spaces. At the same time, youth spend more hours than ever in front of screens instead of outside.
"This new initiative will ensure more young people can experience the stunning sunsets of the Grand Canyon, cool alpine meadows of Yosemite, or lazy summer waves at Sleeping Bear Dunes," said Jamie Williams, president of national conservation group The Wilderness Society in a written statement. "We owe it to our children to hand down these places and inspire a new generation to play and explore the natural and cultural wonders that belong to all of them."
The program is designed to continue each year with the next crop of fourth graders. After 12 years, every school-age child in America will have had an opportunity to visit their public lands for free.
To further bolster the effort, Obama's 2016 budget includes $45 million for youth engagement programs by the Department of the Interior. Of that money, $20 million would go to National Park Service activities, including bringing one million fourth-grade children from low-income areas to national parks and funding dedicated to youth coordinators to help enrich children and family learning experiences at parks and online.
Fourth graders must log onto www.everykidinapark.gov and complete a fun educational activity in order to get and print their paper pass. Students can later trade in their paper passes for more durable ones at participating federal sites nationwide.
The website also offers educators and community leaders access to educational activities, field trip options and the ability to print passes for their classrooms. Parents visiting the site can find links for more information on planning trips to nearby public lands.
The nonprofit National Park Foundation will award Every Kid in a Park transportation grants to help those who might not be able to afford the cost of traveling to national parks in their areas. Information on the grants can be found at www.nationalparks.org.
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Find him on Twitter: @RefriedBrean
