A family approached the Alpine Visitor Center desk. The man held a card in his hand. “We came into the park on my 4th grader’s pass” he bragged. “Our family is having a great time.” He then asked me, as the volunteer staffing the desk, questions about where to go next. I was delighted they were enjoying the visit because of the pass.
Every Kid in a Park program began in 2015 as part of the National Park Service centennial. Congress renewed the (renamed) Every Kid Outdoors program through the EXPLORE Act in 2024, authorizing the program for another seven years.
Every Kid Outdoors mobilizes the next generation of stewards by introducing 4th graders to public lands in their backyards and beyond. Statistics indicate that almost every US citizen is within a 2-hour drive of public lands. Research also shows that adults are significantly more likely to return to a national park if they visited with their families as a child. Family outings to parks provide lifelong memories.
I never thought much about parks as a child, but I loved being out in nature. The outdoors was inevitable when growing up on a farm. I have childhood memories of going to the “crick” most days in the summer and playing in the water. My dad got really disgusted when we tried to dam the creek and the cows downstream didn’t have water! Fortunately for the cows, our efforts were usually futile.
Although going to a national park was something done on only one vacation as a child, we made use of our local and state parks frequently for family gatherings. Two of my state park memories are of swimming and hiking at Backbone and my folks coming to Iowa State to visit me and us all going to Ledges State Park for a family picnic.
One website I visit regularly is the Children and Nature Network. It was established shortly after Richard Louv authored his book, Last Child in the Woods. The site states “we believe that the well-being of children and the wild places we love are inextricably linked… today’s kids are less connected to nature than ever before.”
Just like the National Park Service and other public agencies have advocated, the Children and Nature Network supports and mobilizes people to turn the trend of an indoor childhood back outdoors to the benefits of nature.
As the family reminded me at the visitor center this summer, efforts must continue to increase safe and equitable access to the natural world for everyone.
I like to think that the NPS Junior Ranger Program helps take it a step further by giving the child/family interesting activities to do that help them appreciate that particular approach but also instill stewardship principles to take home and apply there.