Fourth-graders nationwide now can get a free pass to national parks, national forests and other federal lands.
The program, Every Kid in a Park, was launched by the Obama administration on Tuesday.
Fourth-graders can visit the Every Kid in a Park website at www.everykidinapark.gov to get a pass for free access for them and their families to all federally managed lands and waters, including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and marine sanctuaries.
The program will continue yearly, with each successive class of fourth-graders getting free passes. The passes are good for a year, effective Sept. 1.
Jeff Terry, of Edmonds, plans to take advantage of the program. His son, Xander, is going into fourth grade this year.
“I think it’s really exciting — it’s a great way to get families excited to take advantage of the National Park Service,” he said.
Terry said he and his wife have always wanted to explore more national parks and that this program crystallized their plans.
He said he’d like to do more outdoor activities with his kids.
“This kind of inspired us to do bigger trips,” he said.
Terry and his family are already making plans. He hopes to make a few big trips, perhaps to Yellowstone or Glacier national parks, with other families with kids the same age as Xander.
For some families, the expense of getting to the parks is too great.
As part of the program, the National Park Foundation will award transportation grants, focusing on helping to remove barriers from youths in underserved communities to visit parks and other public lands.
Many families want to get out and explore, but entrance fees — Mount Rainier is $20 per car, for example — and transportation costs can hold them back, said Angela Edwards, director of strategic partnerships at Everett-based Hand in Hand, a faith-based organization that serves those in need.
Combined with financial support for transportation, the free-pass program could encourage more families to get outdoors. The group already takes kids on hikes as part of a partnership with The Mountaineers. Getting the parents involved, too, would be wonderful, Edwards said.
“I think it’s just an overall positive experience to get out of your community and away from the burdens of life and experience nature and all its beauty,” Edwards said. “It opens their eyes to a world beyond where they live.”
Krista Dooley, youth programs director for the Washington Trails Association, says fourth grade is an ideal age at which to encourage kids to get outdoors. Kids around that age connect learn well experientially.
Getting kids to explore public lands also can help them form a connection, Dooley said, which might lead to them be good stewards as they get older. Since the passes also include parents and siblings, it gives a whole family a chance to engage.
Dooley said the Washington Trails Association is already working on programs to help educators and other groups take advantage of the passes.
Dooley hopes the program helps convey the message that parks and other national lands are for everyone, no matter their background.
“I’m hoping that these young people and their families will have a really positive experience and really embrace (the idea) that public lands are for them and are open to them,” Dooley said. “Hopefully that will inspire a sense of stewardship or feeling connected and wanting those places to exist later on.”
Jessi Loerch: jloerch@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3046; www.heraldnet.com/explorenw.
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