Nat'l Park Service celebrates 100th birthday

Associated Press (ap.org/mail.com); Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

Sunrise over Crater Lake, Oregon, Crater Lake National Park, which sits in a caldera of an ancient volcano called Mount Mazama that collapsed 7,700 years ago, according the NPS. It is the deepest lake in the US and is famous for its vivid blue color and clarity (Marc Adamus/The Register-Guard via AP).

Park Service marks centennial with new citizens, monument

The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th birthday on Thursday with events across the U.S. including the creation of a giant, living version of its emblem in Washington, D.C., a naturalization ceremony on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and an outdoor concert at Yellowstone National Park.

(August 25, 2016) The centennial comes as the agency that manages national parks as well as historic places welcomes a new national monument and nature forces some changes in the party in the West.

 

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says all Americans deserve the chance to experience the national parks.

 

Speaking below the Roosevelt Arch in Gardiner, Montana on Thursday night, Jewell said Americans from all walks of life should see themselves in the country's public lands. It was a full night of speeches and singing as about 6,000 people gathered to celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Park Service.

 

The Billings Gazette reports two-time Grammy winner John Prine sang "Paradise" in honor of his father, who used to take him to state and national parks. Next, Emmylou Harris and a stage filled with musicians sang Woody Guthrie's [originally very radical] "This Land is Your Land" as the crowd sang along. More