Last year, the National Park Service shattered its previous attendance record by 14 million, attracting more than 307 million visitors. This year, traffic is already up nearly 3 million in year-to-date comparisons. And while the service won’t project another record-breaking year, 2016 is shaping up to be perhaps its busiest summer, as judged by events created to celebrate its centennial year.
Yellowstone National Park, dating back to 1872, preceded the National Park Service, which was established 44 years later, on Aug. 25, 1916, to oversee the management of a growing roster of parks. That list now stands at 59, though the National Park Service oversees 411 sites, including national seashores, monuments, historic sites, trails and more. It’s those lesser-known sites that the administration hopes to popularize through its anniversary campaign, Find Your Park.
“Most Americans understand national parks to be a few places out west,” said Alexa Viets, the centennial coordinator for the National Park Service. “They know Yellowstone and Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. They don’t necessarily understand the breadth of the National Park Service and the wealth of places set aside for enjoyment and to tell American stories. We are making a concerted effort to celebrate across the system.”
In addition to a few national programs, sites were encouraged to develop centennial events or hitch their perennial affairs to the birthday bash to call attention to the range of activities on offer throughout the country.
Big or small, celebrated or obscure, many National Park Service sites will mark the 100th in events related to volunteering, the arts, history and, of course, nature.
National Programs
Last September, the National Park Service kicked off Every Kid in a Park, a program in which fourth grade students can log onto everykidinapark.gov to answer a few simple questions and obtain a free annual entry pass to the more than 2,000 federal recreation areas, including national parks.
“We’re inviting everyone to find your park,” Viets said. “That includes very particularly the next generations. The document that created the park service in 1916 has the language ‘for future generations.’”
Of the 411 National Park Service holdings, 126 — including 35 national parks — charge admission fees of up to $30 a vehicle. In 2016, 16 days are designated fee-free across the system, including the centennial weekend, Aug. 25 to 28.
As part of nearly $2 million in grants to the park centennial from the National Endowment for the Arts, Music in the American Wild (musicintheamericanwild.com), a collection of composers and musicians from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, will tour nationally, performing music inspired by the national parks. August dates include the San Juan Island National Historical Park, North Cascades National Park and Olympic National Park, all in Washington state.
Centennial Parks
A few parks within the system are coincidentally celebrating their own 100th anniversaries, including Acadia National Park in Maine, Lassen Volcanic National Park in northeastern California and Haleakala National Park and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii, with an extra-long roster of events.
Coastal Acadia, established July 8, 1916, consolidated county land and 10,000 acres donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr., who also financed the construction of the park's carriage roads and many buildings. In salute, the park will hold art exhibitions, lectures, concerts and readings; the full slate is at acadiacentennial2016.org. From July 22 to 24, park-goers can participate in a BioBlitz, helping to measure biodiversity in the park.
Less well known than Yellowstone, Lassen Volcanic, established on Aug. 9, 1916, after Lassen Peak erupted, protects steaming fumaroles and other hydrothermal features, and will mark its centennial Aug. 9 with its Day in the Park Festival, featuring music, food, ranger-led programs and family activities.
Service Activities
Several parks are marking the centennial with volunteer opportunities for visitors to help improve the landscapes and facilities. In Washington, Mount Rainier National Park is holding a series of trail maintenance events, including one on Aug. 13 that includes a potluck dinner and overnight camping (see mrnpa.org).
In central California, Pinnacles National Park will hold its Centennial Day of Service on Aug. 20 to collect litter, weed out nonnative plants, collect seeds and maintain trails. Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Georgia is offering three dates over the summer, July 9, Aug. 13 and Sept. 10, to work on its 20-plus miles of trail.
Arts and Culture
Among initiatives highlighting the arts, the NPS Centennial Band, a group out of the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park in Louisiana, will travel to various parks beyond the Big Easy, including Natchez National Historical Park in Mississippi, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park in the mid-Atlantic region and Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire throughout July.
Fittingly, the Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site in Northern California where the playwright lived and wrote his most famous plays, including "Long Day's Journey Into Night," plans a centennial staged reading of his "Bound East for Cardiff," first produced in 1916, on July 30 and 31 (eugeneoneill.org).
In Oklahoma, the cultural center at Chickasaw National Recreation Area will screen “The National Parks” documentary by the filmmaker Ken Burns on multiple dates throughout the summer.
Adventure
Special events in the outdoors champion the system's natural wonders. In Alaska, Denali National Park & Preserve is planning a multiday field course in honor of the centennial that traces the routes taken by some of the park's seminal conservationists. The trip, Aug. 24 to 26, is run in conjunction with Alaska Geographic, a nonprofit park partner ($350, akgeo.org). Families with children 5 and up can enroll in the park's Family Adventure Camp, Aug. 4 to 7, offering a variety of nature-based activities ($280).
On the Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has scheduled a series of interpretive centennial hikes. A number of parks including Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah are holding stargazing parties throughout the summer. The Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River in New York and Pennsylvania is holding a 100 Mile Paddle, 12 separate dates that collectively cover 100 miles by kayak or canoe. You may have missed a few legs — trips began in June — but dates continue through the end of August.
History
For the anniversary, Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway between Minnesota and Wisconsin is highlighting its Evening Stillwater Island Tours, boat trips among the limestone bluff islands that explore the history of travelers here from Native Americans and loggers to artists and writers. Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is offering ranger-led twilight walks, history-focused talks held on multiple dates throughout the summer.
Timed to hit the park centennial, Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve will open its long-awaited Huna Tribal House on Aug. 25. For the Huna Tlingit people, indigenous inhabitants of the area, the community gathering place will be the first in over 250 years, when their villages were wiped out by an advancing glacier. The clan house, a wooden structure carved and painted in tribal animal motifs, will offer a place for the Huna Tlingit to meet and for park visitors to learn about their culture in the anniversary year and for many years to come.
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