Cooperative Living June 2016 - 36

Kids'Korner | by Anne M. Dellinger, Contributing Columnist
Your Land ...
Your Future
Discover America's story by visiting a national park.
D
id you know that you are
a proud owner of
millions of acres of land
and water? This
ginormous amount of real estate
includes snow-capped mountains,
crystal-clear lakes, seashores, historic structures,
battlefields, cultural artifacts in museums and national parks.
There are over 400 of these sites and they belong to you
and all Americans!
What an awesome heritage!
As a valid landowner, you should want to go look over
your property, enjoy its features and keep an eye on its
preservation.
How many of your national treasures have you seen?
Every Kid in a Park
Most of the sites are free to visit, but some require fees that
are used to protect the natural and cultural resources and
provide pleasant experiences for guests.
However, if you happen to be a current fourth-grader, you
and your family can step into these exciting places FREE of
charge during the upcoming summer months. This free ride
comes compliments of the White House and Federal Land
Management agency. They are inviting all fourth-graders
to apply for a FREE pass to national parks, national
forests, national refuges and more.
The pass is good through Aug. 31, 2016. To learn more,
and how to apply for the pass, go to this site -
www.nationalparks.org/ook/every-kid-in-a-park.
If your family doesn't include a fourth-grader, there are still
opportunities for some free visits.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
National Park Service (NPS)
Aug. 25, 2016, is the 100th
anniversary of the National Park
Service. This is the agency that
you need to thank for watching
over all of your holdings. It
manages all the national parks,
many national monuments,
national parkways and numerous historical sites. As part
of the centennial celebration, Free Entrance Days have
been scheduled throughout this year.
34 | Cooperative Living | June 2016
The remaining Free Entry dates for 2016 are:
Aug. 25-28
Sept. 24
Nov. 11
You can even join the
NPS " family " as a JUNIOR
RANGER! A special
activity-based program is
available in most parks.
Interested youth can
complete a series of activities
while in the park, discuss their
findings with a park ranger and then
receive an official Ranger Patch and Certificate. Typically,
Junior Rangers are between the ages of 5 and 13, but even
your parents or grandparents are welcome to participate!
You may want to collect a patch from
every site that you visit.
Find Your Park
With hundreds
of sites in the
National Park
Service system,
choosing where to go
and what to do can be both exciting
and a bit overwhelming. A good place
to start your
planning is at
this website -
findyourpark.com - where you
can select the state to visit and
the type of adventure you wish
to experience.
There's something out there for
everyone!
For the high-heart-rate
adventurer, there are rugged rocks and
craggy cliffs to climb and thriving
ecosystems to hop, jump and splash
through.
If you're a history buff, there are
famous places to visit where things
happened that should always be
remembered.
continued on pg. 36
www.co-opliving.com
KIDS! CLIP AND KEEP YOUR KIDS' KORNER COLUMNS IN A THREE-RING BINDER AND YOU'LL HAVE A NOTEBOOK CHOCK FULL OF FUN IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES FOR THE FUTURE!

http://www.nationalparks.org/ook/every-kid-in-a-park http://www.findyourpark.com http://www.co-opliving.com

Cooperative Living June 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living June 2016