National Parks America Tour Concept

National Parks America Tour Concept
DRAFT November 29, 2005
Updated January 23, 2006

National Parks America Tour: a volunteer driven initiative designed to provide National Parks with manpower resources to complete important projects and engage communities in the National Park experience.

I. Concept

Goal
* Do something meaningful in a National Park(s) that engages as many people as possible

Location
* Can be single park or multiple parks

Partners
* NPF
* Unilever
* Wal-Mart
* Take Pride in America
* National Park Service

Schedule: Day/ Month/ Season (From perspective of the Tour partners)
* Saturday events are positive
* Times when children are in school are better
* Partners are flexible—provided we select early enough to secure our proffered date.

Schedule: Day

* Start at 8:00 am
* Catered breakfast, coffee, fruit and bagels
* 9:00 am short program with political people
* Work
* 12:00-12:30 pm Great American Picnic to Salute America’s best—its volunteers. Event includes: Suave, Snuggle, Hellman’s, Wishbone, Lipton tea, Lever 2000, Dove and Breyers products.
* Either call it a day or return to work

Strategy
* Hook-up with radio to get word out. PSA’s run as a hook.
* Leverage branded-side through awareness in stores (i.e. bicycle maps in Wal-Mart Stores)
* Wal-Mart Foundation typically gives park(s) $1,500; Unilever typically gives $3,000 to park (Unilever willing to stretch dollars to more than $3,000)
* Possible donation of recycled wood.
* Volunteers are given tee-shirts, work gloves, etc.
* Showcase end use or products
* Link event(s) to Wal-mart location (website is down, locations unknown)

II. NCR Survey Responses

Participants: Would you and your staff like to participate in the National Parks America Tour in 2006?

NCR VIP Program: Yes! I think it would be a great opportunity to increase volunteerism in NCR parks.

Monocacy : I don't think Monocacy would be in a position to participate, given that we'll be in the middle of constructing the new visitor center along with several other large projects. Maybe in a future year . . .

National Capital Parks-East: Yes.

Manassas: Yes.

Rock Creek Park. No.

Prince William Forest Park: Yes.

Projects/ Activities: If you would like to partner in 2006, what would you like to use this partnership for?

NCR VIP Program: I would poll the parks and see what their greatest needs are. There are always trail projects, watershed cleanups, buildings or other structures to be painted, etc. We could combine this with Public Lands Day or an annual watershed clean up or.....

PRWI: Cleaning assistance needed to ensure a spring opening of the 4 cabin camps (100+ historic structures) that are available to rent by the public from May - October. The camps are closed throughout the winter months so a thorough sweeping and wiping down of mattresses, along with rehanging the screens is needed before spring opening. Also, smoke detector batteries and burnt bulbs must be replaced in each cabin.

The timeframe for cleaning these cabins is April 10 - April 22. The park could use up to 30 volunteers on any given day(s) during that timeframe. Volunteers would need to be at least 15 years of age and bring along with them brooms and gloves. Other supplies needed would be bleach (we use a 10:1 mix when wiping down mattresses) and dust masks. Light bulbs and smoke detector batteries could be donated as well.

The benefit of this project would be to provide a clean, safe historic
camping experience in one of the park's historic cabin camps for the many groups and families that utilize these camps. Nearly all of the buildings we will be cleaning are listed on the historic register. Come out and help us prepare for another opening of these camps for visitors.

CATO: Trails work and painting projects.

Manassas: Help with a fences.

Schedule/Timing:Is there a good time of the year for this collaborative effort? (For example, in May, around Founder’s Day, before or after Public Lands Day, etc.)

Note: June 17, 2006 is the date of the Tour.
* Coordinate with 2006 Healthy Parks-Healthy Living/ Trails Forever event.
* March, May and September best for CATO. Would like to do something during the week.
* PRWI wants to do this April 10-22, 2005
* There is an annual Potomac Watershed cleanup in April.
* I am not sure of any specific region wide volunteer activities around Founder's Day—In August, would also be a good way to highlight/combine NPS history with a service learning project.
* Public Lands Day is in the Fall.
* There is an international coastal clean up in September that parks get involved with, as well.
* There are projects that could tie in with Bridging the Watershed.
* Manassas can’t do weekends

III. Options

Single-park options(Select one):
a. Prince William Forest Park Cabin Camps clean-up
b. Manassas boardwalk
c. Catoctin trails work and painting.
d. Others?

Muliple-park options (Select one):
a. Cluster 3 or more parks for trail restoration projects
b. Cluster 3 or more parks for Potomac River Clean-up
c. Focus on linear park units—C & O Canal, Potomac Heritage Trail, or George Washington Memorial Parkway bike path.
d. Cluster 3 or more parks for projects as needed.
e. Others?