Celebrate National Park Week, April 18-26

If you’re a fan of public lands, then the time to show some extra appreciation for them is coming up.

For annual National Park Week — April 18-26 this year — national and state parks, national monuments and historic sites, and other recreation areas locally and around the country will be celebrating with a variety of activities.

In California, numerous parks are hosting special events, including a Junior Ranger Day, where kids can learn about nature through hands-on activities, nature walks and stories. Among those with Junior Ranger Day on the calendar for April 25 are Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia and Yosemite national parks, as well as Pinnacles National Monument.

In Northern California, a few sites are going all out for the week. Point Reyes National Seashore’s planned activities include a screening of a Jean-Michel Cousteau film, a beach cleanup, field seminars on birds and a wetlands-restoration project. At San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, events include a Junior Ranger Day focusing on maritime activities a la knot-tying and capstan-turning, and a San Francisco Bay adventure aboard a 60-foot schooner ($35 per adult, $20 per child).

More locally, plan to get really hands-on in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area with a trail-maintenance day on April 18, or a “weed war,” to remove invasive non-native plants, on April 19.

For more details regarding activities, dates, contact numbers, etc., see the list of National Park Week 2009 Events by State.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Joshua Tree National Park. Credit: jeffjharmon; Your Scene / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 at 3:38 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under California, Eco-Travel, Family & Kids, Festival, National Parks, Northern California, Outdoors & Adventure, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Spring, Yosemite National Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.