NPS hosts events for National Park Week
This year National Park Week will take place April 16-24. National parks and monuments across the U.S. will be celebrating with events and a fee free day April 16.
Wind Cave National Park will be hosting free tours through the caves on April 16. According National Park Service (NPS), visitors can see a rare calcite formation known as boxwork, during the tours.
One 90 minute tour with 450 steps from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Garden of Eden Tour is an hour long 150 step tour which will run from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Reservations are required at least three days prior on www.recreation.gov.
On April 16, park visitors can build bluebird boxes from 9-11 a.m. There is a one box per group limit and visitors will need to bring their own hammer. Reservations can be made at (605)-745-7020 to make a reservation.
Josh Sebree, associate professor at University of Northern Iowa will be giving a speech on the Wind Cave Park Facebook page. Sebree will be speaking on low energy environment that is found in the caves and is like environments found on other planets.
The week will kick off, nationwide with Park Prescription Day on April 16. This is a day meant to encourage people to get outside to help boost moods and overall health, according to the NPS.
The week also falls into Volunteer Week which beings on April 17. Volunteer information can be found on https://www.volunteer.gov/s/.
On April 20 at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, a virtual career program will be featured titled ‘Our Park Career Path: Corps members on Their Growth as Park Stewards’, meant for young people interested in careers. The program will feature 10 NPS professionals and will be available on the NPS Facebook.
National Park Week was created by the National Park Foundation (NPF) along with the NPS in 1991 to celebrate the over 400 national parks and monuments in the U.S. and its territories.
The NPF is considered to be the fundraising group for national parks and helps to support projects in many parks.
American the Beautiful annual passes to national parks can be purchased for $80 on the USGS website.