Happy National Park Week!

S02 Episode #22

Happy National Park Week!

 

Welcome to the Travel Gluten Free Podcast, where you, my friend, listen in on how to lead a gluten-free lifestyle with more fun and ease!

 

This is Elikqitie and I founded Travel Gluten Free for you! I want to be a resource, contributor and support to you on your gluten-free journey!

 

Happy National Park Week! National Park Week officially starts April 20th, but I'm celebrating a bit early this year. There's no better way to learn about America's heritage than through a journey into a National Park. Did you know there are 84 National Parks preserving over 400 million acres of land?

 

I've always loved going to National Parks - it's one of my favorite places to travel! I've never gone to a national park and have been disappointing. No matter whether they are big or small, the national park system will wow you every time!

 

In this episode, I'm going to give you the 411 on National Parks, activities to do, when to go and how to navigate the park you choose to visit. I'll also take you on a brief tour of the National Park Service website and tell you about the National Park Foundation.

 

Let's dive in and chat about the National Park Service. I'm not going to bore you with a bunch of information about history history of The National Park Service; but I do want to give you some basics about the heritage of the national Park system. By the Act of March 1, 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and placed it "under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior." The founding of Yellowstone National Park began a worldwide national park movement. Today more than 100 nations contain some 1,200 national parks or equivalent preserves.

 

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established. This "Organic Act" states that "the Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations…by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

 

An Executive Order in 1933 transferred 56 national monuments and military sites from the Forest Service and the War Department to the National Park Service. This action was a major step in the development of today's truly national system of parks—a system that includes areas of historical as well as scenic and scientific importance. Congress declared in the General Authorities Act of 1970 "that the National Park System, which began with the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, has since grown to include superlative natural, historic, and recreation areas in every region…and that it is the purpose of this Act to include all such areas in the System…."

 

So, what can you do in a national park? What do you want to do? Find out about local geologic features? How about the history of how our country's government formed? Or maybe you want to learn about the ecosystem of the Everglades? Sound overwhelming? Why not start at the National Park website at NPS.gov

 

Here you can:

• search by state
  
• see what parks, monument and national lands are in the state
  
• link to the specific park
  
• find out what activities each individual park has to offer
  

Kids stuff: you'll never see a bored child at a national park. My kids LOVED going to national parks and completing the junior ranger programs!

 

In this episode, I'll give you the what's up on

• why you should get an annual pass
  
• what to expect at a park
  
• what to pack before you go to a park (especially if you're gluten-free)
  

 

Listener Shout-Out!

Bonnie.Frank

Online Visibility Expert
Get Seen-Heard-Paid
#MDMC19 speaker

 

Resources | Links

National Park Service

Plan Your Visit
Junior Ranger for Kids

 

National Park Foundation

National Park Week

Donate to the National Parks Service

Sign up to get National Park news here

Hidden gems: parks off the beaten path

 

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