Free Entrance to all National Parks on Saturday

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This Saturday, September 27, celebrate National Public Lands Day by heading to a national park to play, learn, serve, or work. The 21st annual event will feature free admission to every National Park Service site, as well as special activities and volunteer work
projects across the country.
“National parks and other public lands are the birthright and legacy of all
Americans, and as we celebrate these special places on National Public Lands
Day, people across the country will come together to join in our efforts to
protect and preserve them,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B.
Jarvis. “Whether you come for a visit or to volunteer, I hope that everyone
will spend some time enjoying their national parks and public lands on Saturday.”
Sponsored by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation,
National Public Lands Day is the largest single-day, hands-on volunteer effort
to improve and enhance federal, state and local public lands in the country.
Last year, about 175,000 volunteers worked at 2,237 sites in every state, the
District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Visit http://www.npld.org for more
information and a list of project sites.
Volunteers will lend a hand to help the land at more than 60 national parks.
Among the projects, they will walk weed-eating goats at Carl Sandburg National
Historic Site, restore wetlands at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, take part
in the Yosemite National Park facelift, clean the beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore, and rehabilitate a campground at Prince William Forest Park.
Anyone who volunteers for a National Park Service work project during National
Public Lands Day will receive a free pass for a future visit to a national park.
In addition to providing free entrance on Saturday, many parks will host special
ranger programs and events, including a star party at Craters of the Moon
National Memorial and Preserve, a Fall Fiesta at Bandelier National Monument,
the Peanut Festival at Jimmy y Carter National Historic Site, a wilderness fair
at Joshua Tree National Park, the Mountain Festival at City of Rocks, and Music
and Art in the Mountains at Blue Ridge Parkway.
The following national parks, listed by state, are among those that will host
volunteer projects on National Public Lands Day, Saturday, September 27:
Alabama: Little River Canyon National Preserve, Russell Cave National Monument
Alaska: Sitka National Historical Park
Arizona: Canyon De Chelly National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park,
Petrified Forest National Park, Saguaro National Park
Arkansas: Arkansas Post National Memorial
California: Channel Islands National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area,
John Muir National Historic Site, Lava Beds National Monument, Santa Monica
Mountains National Recreation Area, Yosemite National Park
Colorado: Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Connecticut: Weir Farm National Historic Site
Delaware: First State National Monument
Washington, DC: National Capital Parks- East, National Mall and Memorial Parks
Florida: Everglades National Park, Gulf Islands National Seashore
Georgia; Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
Hawaii: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Indiana: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Maryland: C&O Canal National Historical Park, Monocacy National Battlefield
Massachusetts: Minute Man National Historical Park
Michigan: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Minnesota: Pipestone National Monument
Mississippi: Vicksburg National Military Park
Missouri: George Washington Carver National Monument
Nebraska: Homestead National Monument of America
Nevada: Lake Mead National Recreation Area
New Hampshire: Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
New Jersey: Patterson Great Falls National Monument
New York: Gateway National Recreation Area
North Carolina: Cape Lookout National Seashore, Carl Sandburg National Historic Site
Ohio: James A. Garfield National Historic Site, William Howard Taft National
Historic Site
Oklahoma: Chickasaw National Recreation Area
Oregon: Oregon Caves National Monument
Pennsylvania: Valley Forge National Historical Park
Puerto Rico: San Juan National Historic Site
South Dakota: Jewell Cave National Monument, Wind Cave National Park
Tennessee: Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Big South Fork National River
and Recreation Area, Shiloh National Military Park
Texas: Big Bend National Park, Padre Island National Seashore
Utah: Arches National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Glen Canyon National
Recreation Area, Zion National Park
Virginia: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, George Washington
Memorial Parkway, Prince William Forest Park, Shenandoah National Park, Wolf
Trap National Park for the Performing Arts,
Washington: Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Mount Rainier National
Park, San Juan Island National Historical Park
Wyoming: Devils Tower National Monument, Yellowstone National Park