National Park Service Unveils New Website For Children
August 24, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC – The Kids Zone, a new addition to the National Park Service’s website, http://www.nps.gov
, contains more than 50 interactive activities designed to connect children with the people, places, and events commemorated in the country’s 391 National Park Service sites.
Starting August 25, children visiting the website can learn about Mitsy, a nine-year-old Border Collie who performs an important job at the Statue of Liberty or little Lula McLean’s rag doll which is a witness to history at Appomattox Courthouse or how Thomas Edison changed their lives.
“The Kids Zone, launched on the 92nd anniversary of the National Park Service, introduces the next generation of park stewards to the fascinating stories told in national parks,” said National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar. “The website will enable young people to actively explore parks without leaving home but, hopefully, will also inspire them to visit these special places in person.”
The website includes information on the 325 in-park Junior Ranger programs where young visitors complete booklets on park resources and earn certificates, patches, or badges. In 2007, more than 440,000 children participated in Junior Ranger programs nationwide.
Other features on the website include stories by children who live in national parks, biographies of dogs who work in national parks, and an expanded WebRangers page. Children can continue to earn a WebRanger patch after completing exercises that include decoding a secret message from George Washington, helping endangered turtles get to the sea, setting up a ranger station, tracking animals, and learning how to survive in the desert.
The Kids Zone “hot button” on http://www.nps.gov, the National Park Service homepage, will provide a direct link to the expanded children’s website starting on August 25, 2008.
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Cast Away: Park Rangers Take Public on Podcasting Adventure
August 1, 2008
WASHINGTON – All across the country, park rangers are turning into podcasters. Hundreds of brief audio and video programs are up on park websites and on iTunes giving visitors a new national park experience. People can learn about park resources, take a guided tour, get help planning trips, and, best of all, meet actual rangers.
“While nothing can replace a personal experience in a national park, we think our podcasts will enhance people’s trips or give them the opportunity to learn about a park that they can’t visit,” said Mary A. Bomar, Director of the National Park Service. “Whether people download them to portable devices or watch them on their computers, these free electronic presentations give us another way to serve park enthusiasts of all ages.”
Learn About Parks Many parks offer interpretive podcasts about wildlife, history, and topical issues like climate change and fire management. The most extensive collection of park podcasts is from Yellowstone National Park where they are reaching out to new and nontraditional audiences to spark an interest in visiting the park. The Inside Yellowstone series has more than 50 episodes, which are one to two minutes in length. More episodes are on the way.
“Our podcasts give people from every corner of the earth the chance to fall in love with Yellowstone and become its stewards for the future,” said George Heinz, one of the writers and on-screen personalities for the podcast series. The park has another online series called Yellowstone InDepth that presents mini-documentaries on subjects like volcanoes, invasive species, bears, and wolves.
Yosemite National Park launched a new monthly podcast called Yosemite Nature Notes. A printed publication of the same name began in the 1920s and existed for five decades. “Just like the earlier version of Nature Notes, our podcasts tell Yosemite’s stories from the perspective of the people who work here,” said Steve Bumgardner, videographer and producer at Yosemite National Park. “I like the idea that we’ve brought this institution back to life and that we use new media to put a personal face on the National Park Service.”
“My favorite podcast about Canyonlands National Park is the one on potholes,” said Carter, an 8-year-old visitor who watched all of the park’s podcasts before his trip. “It was so interesting to learn that tiny creatures are living in a bunch of dirt.” Carter’s sister Brooke, 11, appreciated knowing how to recognize cryptobiotic soils so she didn’t walk on the delicate crust. Their mother, Tiffani, thought the podcasts empowered her kids and said, “they loved being the experts and teaching us (their parents) what they learned while we walked around the park.”
Take a Guided Tour In addition to general information, podcasts are a great way to offer ranger-led tours of specific areas that people can enjoy on their own schedule. More and more people download guided tours onto their iPods or mp3 players prior to their national park trip. When they arrive, they literally have a ranger in the palm of their hand to guide them on a walking or driving tour.
At Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, people stop at overlooks along the South Rim Road and watch podcasts about geology, history, life, and recreation at those exact spots. Everglades National Park also has a car tour (audio only) that leads listeners on a guided exploration down the main park road. Four civil war battlefields – Gettysburg, Antietam, Petersburg, and Richmond – offer podcasts that allow you to walk or drive along as you listen to an NPS historian talk about decisive and dramatic battles.
Urban parks use podcast tours to reach local residents who may not know much about the parks they pass every day. For example, residents in Minneapolis and St. Paul can listen to information about Mississippi National River and Recreation Area while walking a four-mile loop near the river. Residents of Washington D.C. can download walking tours for Rock Creek Park and people in St. Louis can do the same for Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Plan a Trip Visitors already use the internet to research park trips, but now podcasts make it more personal. “It’s a blast when visitors hear my voice and recognize me from the podcast,” said Elysha Iversen, Wilderness Visitor Use Assistant at Grand Canyon National Park. “It tells me that we actually reach people and help them plan their hikes before they get here.” Iversen and others record podcasts with important safety information about trail conditions. The park also offers hiking and river running orientation videos as podcasts and will soon, launch new podcasts about Leave No Trace to help people reduce their recreational impacts.
Glacier National Park offers videos online about hiking, and rangers say the programs speed up the backcountry permit process. “Rather than having to watch the video at the permit station which is required, more and more visitors have watched it online ahead of time,” said Bill Hayden, Interpretive Specialist.
Other parks help people plan trips with podcasts, too. Visitors can learn about recreational activities at Curecanti National Recreation Area, like fishing, hiking, and camping. Katmai National Park and Preserve has an audio podcast weaving together music, stories, and tips for reaching that remote wilderness area.
Take a Virtual Tour While not available for download like podcasts, virtual tours give people a park experience right on their home computer. For example, Clara Barton National Historic Site offers a virtual tour of Barton’s home, a building that served as the national headquarters for the American Red Cross. The tour allows visitors to navigate through all three levels of the house and gives access to images, text, and audio clips.
Acadia National Park has an eCruise along the rocky shores of Mount Desert Island and Glacier National Park offers eHikes that take visitors through stunning wilderness areas among glaciers, wildflowers, and bears. The experiences really have visitors buzzing. One man wrote, “I am a fighter pilot in Iraq…and it makes my day when I can take a hike in Glacier even if it’s from behind my computer.” A teacher from Michigan said, “the virtual hikes are awesome for a classroom project I am doing with my 5th graders.” And, another visitor remarked, “they are perhaps the next best thing to actually being there.”
New virtual tours are coming soon: Zion National Park will release an eHike for Angel’s Landing; Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks will launch eHikes that go through the Sierra Nevada foothills or among the giant sequoias; and the Statue of Liberty will provide an eTour covering Liberty Island, the inside of Lady Liberty, and a 360-degree view from her crown.
Some worry that creating podcasts and virtual tours about national parks may keep people, especially children, disconnected from the actual places. “Personally, I don’t think that people are going to give up on the real thing,” said Todd Edgar, Media Specialist at Acadia National Park. “After learning about parks from our online resources, people want to get outside and explore on their own.”
For many other national park podcasts and virtual tours, go to www.nps.gov. If a park unit offers online programs, you will find them by clicking on “Photos and Multimedia” in the left navigation bar of their homepage. The following list provides links for the podcasts mentioned above. Links for podcasts and virtual tours mentioned above:
Acadia NP - http://www.nps.gov/acad/photosmultimedia/virtualtour.htm
Antietam National Battlefield - http://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/hiking.htm
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP - http://www.nps.gov/blca/photosmultimedia/parkcast_srtour.htm
Canyonlands NP - http://www.nps.gov/cany/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm
Clara Barton National Historic Site - http://www.nps.gov/clba/photosmultimedia/virtualtour.htm
Curecanti National Recreation Area - http://www.nps.gov/cure/photosmultimedia/parkcasts.htm
Everglades NP - http://www.nps.gov/ever/photosmultimedia/podcast.htm
Gettysburg National Military Park - http://www.nps.gov/gett/historyculture/gettysburg-podcast-tours.htm
Glacier NP - http://www.nps.gov/glac/photosmultimedia/index.htm
Grand Canyon NP - http://www.nps.gov/grca/photosmultimedia/index.htm
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial - http://www.nps.gov/jeff/photosmultimedia/pastcast.htm
Katmai National Park and Preserve - http://www.nps.gov/katm/photosmultimedia/katmai-podcasts.htm
Mississippi National River & Rec. Area - http://www.nps.gov/miss/hrhy.htm
Petersburg National Battlefield - http://www.nps.gov/pete/photosmultimedia/virtualtour.htm
Richmond National Battlefield - http://www.nps.gov/rich/photosmultimedia/index.htm
Rock Creek Park - http://www.nps.gov/rocr/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm
Yellowstone NP - http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm
Yosemite NP - http://www.nps.gov/yose/photosmultimedia/index.htm
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Prairie Club centennial at Indiana Dunes SP, May 31
May 20, 2008
Indiana Dunes State Park will host a 100th anniversary party for the Prairie Club on Saturday, May 31, at 11 a.m.
The day’s events begin at the state park beach pavilion, where cake and punch will follow special presentations. Scheduled speakers include Leo Krusak, Prairie Club president, and Ginger Murphy, assistant director of the DNR Division of State Parks and Reservoirs.
At nearly 100 years from the day, the first Prairie Club hike to the dunes was held. In years following, the Prairie Club heavily influenced the area, protecting much of the land that is now the state park. A beach house was located east of the high dunes, and is remembered today with named landmarks, like Beach House Blowout.
After opening activities, special Prairie Club hikes, led in conjunction with state park naturalists, will take visitors to many of the same sites that the original Prairie Club hikers saw in 1908. Total distance will be about 2 miles. An alternate hike will be offered for those wanting a more relaxing stroll along the park roads, to the campground, and back.
“This is an exciting time for the Prairie Club,” said Brad Bumgardner, park interpreter, “There have been many changes in the park in the last few years while maintaining the park’s significant natural and cultural resources. Much of the park resources could not have been saved intact had it not been for the preservation and advocacy of the Prairie Club 100 years ago.”
Visitors to the Nature Center on this special day can enjoy a video highlighting Prairie Club history. Showings will continue throughout the day and by request.
The DNR, the Friends of Indiana Dunes, and the Prairie Club are event sponsors. The program is free, but normal gate fees of $5 per in-state vehicles and $10 for out-of-state vehicles apply. Visitors should come early to ensure parking availability. For more information about this or other park programs, call (219) 926-1390.
Link to this event: http://www.in.gov/rde/xfw/in_pre/newsroom.inc?detailContent=22405.htm&backEnabled=true
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Ronald C. Wilson Selected as Chief Curator and Head of the Park Museum Management Program
April 15, 2008
Washington, DC - The National Park Service (NPS) today announced the selection of Ronald C. Wilson as Chief Curator to lead the Park Museum Management Program. The Park Museum Management Program is one of five park cultural resources programs that provide national program support functions for park resources and advises the Associate Director for Cultural Resources in Washington, DC, on related policy. As Chief Curator, Mr. Wilson will provide national leadership for development and coordination of service-wide plans, policies, standards, and procedures for managing National Park Service museum collections. He will also have responsibility for overseeing technical assistance, publications and professional development pertaining to park museum collections, and the maintenance of a service-wide catalog and other statistics on the National Park Service’s more than 123 million museum items. Mr. Wilson will begin his new position on May 11, 2008.
Ron Wilson has been head of the Department of Interior’s Museum Program since 1991. In that capacity he has led museum program strategic planning efforts in ten Interior bureaus and offices and developed agency-wide museum training programs. He worked for NPS from 1991-1996, during which time the Interior Museum Program was housed within the NPS museum program. Prior to that he held management positions in several public and university museums in the southeast, midwest, and mid-Atlantic states. A strong generalist with over 30 years of professional museum experience, he holds a B.S. in Zoology and a M.S. degree in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, both from the University of Kentucky. A national leader in museum management, he brings to the park museum management program a wealth of experience successfully building and managing a large, complex program.
“We are very pleased that Ron Wilson is returning to the Washington, D.C. office of the National Park Service,” said Janet Snyder Matthews, Associate Director, Cultural Resources. “We look forward to working with him to strengthen stewardship and access to park museum resources.”
Mr. Wilson’s formal association with the National Park Service began while he was in college at the University of Kentucky. He joined Cave Research Foundation projects in Mammoth Cave National Park, where he participated in projects involving cave archeology, biology, and Pleistocene vertebrate paleontology. He later served as president of the Foundation, coordinating Foundation research programs at Mammoth Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, and Lava Beds.
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