Smithsonian Channel will celebrate the centennial with AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS AT 100 premiering Sunday, August 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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That’s part of the reason for making such a big deal out of turning 100 – convincing young people to care about the country’s national parks, and to advocate for the National Park Service in the years to come.
More than 1,000 people assembled on the national mall to hold brown, green, and white umbrellas to form the National Park Service’s iconic logo.
There are now 59 major parks out of the 413 parks that span 84 million acres, the newest being Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in ME, which is 87,000 acres donated by the founder of Burt’s Bees and designated Wednesday by President Obama.
Donated by Burt’s Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby, the expanse features views of Mount Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky are also relatively close.
Visitors are already allowed into the woods, which was open to the public before the designation.
Notably, California’s Yosemite Valley, one of the crown jewels of the park system, was actually designated as a space to be “used and preserved for the benefit of mankind” way back in 1864 by a California senator.
The Whitney Western Art Museum is one of the many galleries at the Center that illustrates the importance of the National Park Service’s preservation of Yellowstone, so millions of visitors can witness its sensational sights each year.
Authorities closed a portion of the popular Beartooth Highway to the park’s northeast entrance Wednesday night because of snow and ice from a summer snowstorm, but the road reopened Thursday morning.
US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel spent Thursday morning with Glacier Park scientists and stakeholders to get an up close look how climate change is affecting the park’s glaciers and other park resources.
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Today, the National Park Service manages more than 412 sites and 58 national parks, according to its website. That includes free admission this weekend. Some parks are serving birthday cake and offering ranger talks for the occasion.
