National Park Service wants to help you 'Find Your Park'

In 2016, the National Park Service (NPS) will celebrate 100 years of sharing America’s special places and helping people make meaningful connections to nature, history and culture. In honor of this centennial birthday, NPS is partnering with the National Park Foundation to launch a public awareness campaign called Find Your Park.

Through the Find Your Park initiative, the National Park Service is inviting everyone—and especially new audiences—to discover the special places that belong to us all. More than ever, it’s important that the national parks engage not only those who already know and love the parks, but also the next generation of visitors, supporters and advocates who will ensure the preservation and critical relevancy of our nation’s majestic landscapes, rich history and vibrant culture for the next 100 years.

Find Your Park invites the public to see that a park can be more than just a place. It can be a feeling of inspiration; it can be a sense of community. Beyond vast landscapes, the campaign highlights historical, urban, and cultural parks, as well as National Park Service programs that protect, preserve and share nature, culture, and history in communities nationwide.

Here in the Chesapeake Bay region, there are close to 100 national park places and hundreds more community parks and state parks, public access sites, wildlife refuges, water trails, hiking and biking trails, wildlife sanctuaries and celebrations of cultural heritage. The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail connects many special places where people can have new experiences, make meaningful connections to nature and be inspired.

On National Trails Day, June 6th, the NPS Chesapeake staff and partners will be helping young people have on-the-water experiences with kayak trips around the Chesapeake. You can participate with a John Smith Trail experience at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, or one of many other inspiring places, and paddle through settings that look much as they did 400 years ago.

To find Chesapeake experiences and parks near you, use “Chesapeake Explorer”—the official NPS mobile app—or check the Find Your Chesapeake website.

Written by Charles "Chuck" Hunt – Superintendent, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail