Post for the Parks

“The Trump administration just proposed massive fee increases in 17 national parks -- increases that could see entrance fees jump from $25 to $70. And they’re only giving the public 30 days to comment. The administration claims this fee hike will help address the $11.3 billion maintenance backlog in national parks, but Interior Secretary Zinke estimates that the new fees could raise around $70 million annually. That’s just a tiny fraction of the maintenance backlog!”

This fee increase is ON TOP of a proposed $300 million budget cut.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/10/what-raising-fees-means-for-the-national-park-services-diversity-outreach/543927/

https://secure.npca.org/site/SPageNavigator/pepcfee.html

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZawIPBAG_k)

MOTHER

A kind, generous soul has been collecting National Parks maps and hosting them in one convenient website of everyone to find and enjoy!

This site currently has 1,474 free high-resolution national park maps to view, save, and download.

There are full park maps, trail maps, campground maps, topo maps, so many kinds of maps!

These are very strange, very troubling times, my nature, science and Park-loving friends. The folks who took control of the White House on January 21st have some bizarre ideas about our freedom of speech and the dissemination of information that they, for some reason, feel threatened by. Science can be scary to some less-educated folks I suppose. 

Let’s hear it for Badlands National Park who tweeted out some climate-related facts (that’s right, FACTS) in response to the new administration forbidding the NPS from tweeting after the new president was offended by an aerial shot of his inauguration. (The Interior’s twitter has since been unlocked and the Badlands’ tweets have been deleted - but don’t worry, there are screenshots.) Oh and the EPA and other government agencies have been blocked from sharing actual science and other known factual information as well. 

Badlands is back to following the rules but some other accounts have popped up (and instantly acquired huge followings) to promote science and knowledge since the official accounts have been gagged.

Please follow and retweet AltNatParkSer for more “rogue” climate-change related tweets. And start planning a trip to the Badlands to show your support for science and facts.

If you follow the @postfortheparks instagram account, you will have already seen this news but...

A few days ago I received this letter notifying me that Yosemite is going to keep my painting in their museum collection. I’m guessing just tucked away in a folder somewhere but it still feels nice to OFFICIALLY gift the painting to the park. This morning I signed the deed of gift and sent it back to California - with a National Parks stamp, of course.

I am so honored and so humbled and said so in a note to the curator. I sort of knew how this project would evolve throughout 2015 but I didn’t realize it would still be continuing in a way until the end of 2016! 

As the year has been winding down, I’ve been missing this project a lot. I have received some orders for prints and it has been nice revisiting the process a little with the packing and shipping. I did the math and made a year-end donation to the National Park Foundation of 10% of the profits from all the Post For The Parks shop sales (and I’m glad I waited as it was DOUBLED by another supporter working with the NPF).

THANK YOU if you have ever purchased a print, liked a post or shared this project. It means so much to me and I hope that it is helping to preserve our public lands - even if just a little corner.

Happy Solstice and very Happy New Year.

Happy December, Friends! 

There is still plenty of time to order up some parks prints for holiday gift giving! And now through December 15th, all orders will include a FREE Post for the Parks logo lapel pin!

On the eve of the National Park Service centennial, President Barack Obama designated Maine's Katahdin Woods and Waters a national monument.

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My fingers are still crossed for a new National Park park this year but I’ll settle for another monument right here in New England!

More coverage:

http://mpbn.net/post/its-official-obama-declares-katahdin-woods-and-waters-national-monument#stream/0

http://www.nrcm.org/projects-hot-issues/woods-wildlife-and-wilderness/a-new-national-park-recreation-area-in-northern-maine/