Celebrate, support our National Parks

Published 3:57 pm Wednesday, April 13, 2016

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

—John Muir, naturalist and author, 1834-1918

John Muir, who led President Teddy Roosevelt into the wilderness of California’s Yosemite Valley in 1903, deserves much of the credit for inspiring the creation of the National Parks Service. Although Congress and presidents began setting aside national parks earlier, starting with Yellowstone in 1872, Muir lived long enough to see the National Park Service established two years before his death.

Now, 100 years later, the National Park Service celebrates the milestone with more than 400 parks, monuments, recreation areas, memorials and historical parks and trails in all 50 states on more than 84 million acres.

The parks service marks its 100th year on Aug. 25, with the celebration continuing year round, but the centennial gets its focus in coming days during National Parks Week, April 16-24. Admission to all National Park facilities is free during those nine days. Other observations include Junior Ranger Day on Sunday; special volunteer opportunities on Earth Day, April 22; and Park Rx Day, April 24, encouraging healthy activities in parks for physical and mental well being. More information about the week’s events is available at www.nps.gov.

Washington residents are fortunate to have a long list of national parks and reserves, the nearest of which for Snohomish County residents is Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve near Coupeville on Whidbey Island. Among the newest is the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, spanning three sites at Hanford, Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, telling the story of the dawn of the Atomic Age.

But the national parks that most easily come to mind for most in Washington state are Olympic, North Cascades and Rainier.

Even if it’s a little early for most to break out the camping gear and head for one of those three parks, the week offers other opportunities to give back to the parks that provide the beauty to go with our bread.

Washington’s National Parks Fund, established 23 years ago out of conversations among former governor and senator Dan Evans, mountaineer Lou Whittaker and Microsoft employee Melinda French, has raised money and organized volunteers to support programs at the state’s three premiere parks.

This year the fund, whose fundraising and volunteer efforts stay within the state at the three parks, raised more than $600,000, a banner year, said the organization’s executive director Laurie Ward.

The organization works closely with the rangers and staff at the three parks to determine which projects will be funded.

The fund has four areas of focus for its work, Ward said:

• Encouraging youths and families to go to the parks;

• Supporting science and research, such as studies of wildlife populations;

• Supporting visitor needs, including campground and trail restoration and search and rescue work; and

• Organizing volunteerism and stewardship efforts.

Among the projects funded this year was support for an education ranger at Mount Rainier, replacement of a nature trail bridge at Olympic and a monitoring project in the North Cascades to study butterfly populations in the park’s alpine meadows. As part of the butterfly study, important to measuring the effects of climate change, hikers and other park visitors can assist in the study by recording sightings.

A speciality state license plate with a scene of mountain peaks raised $145,000 last year for the fund, but the organization also schedules fundraising events throughout the year, in particular its spring dinner and auction. This year’s dinner is schedule for 5 to 9:30 p.m., April 23 at the Renton Pavilion.

The guest speaker for the evening is Jonathan Jarvis, the current director of the National Parks Service and former superintendent for Mount Rainier National Park and chief of resources at North Cascades National Park. Tickets are available at wnpf.org/spring-dinner-and-auction/.

We’re often told that we’re “loving our parks to death,” so enthusiastic to go to those places where we can play and pray, find healing and strength, that we overwhelm the parks’ capacity to accommodate visitors and remain healthy and wild.

For the 100th birthday, yes, go to your national parks, but also do what you can to support and protect them.

We can think of no better birthday gift.