A federal initiative will allow the North Cascades National Park to carry out several projects as part of a centennial celebration.
The projects are expected to improve the park’s Junior Ranger Program, encourage more ethnically diverse visitors and install two high-elevation stations for weather and glacial monitoring.
“The centennial is not about the last 100 years but the next 100 years,” said Chip Jenkins, North Cascades National Park superintendent.
Although the actual centennial isn’t until 2016, more than 100 park projects have already been selected nationwide to receive funding from the Centennial Challenge.
The Challenge is part of the President’s National Park Centennial Initiative, where $24.6 million was allocated in federal funds to support projects this year, and will be matched by another $27 million in donations.
In addition, national parks will receive an increase in federal funding for operations. The increase will allow North Cascades National Park to hire 10 additional seasonal employees this year.
The projects are meant to encourage people to visit their national park, Jenkins said.
The park could not carry out the three projects if it didn’t receive the Centennial funding or donations from its partners, he said.
Partner donations are a large component to the national parks as it plays a supportive role in caring for the national parks on many levels, Jenkins said.
The park has developed partnerships with Washington’s National Park Fund, the North Cascades Institute and Puget Sound Energy, and each group contributed to the Centennial Challenge.
“The centennial fund gives us a chance to leverage some federal dollars with private contributions so donors know that their money is going further,” said Eleanor Kittelson, Washington’s National Park Fund executive director.
The organization provides funding to the North Cascades, Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks, and is donating to the Junior Ranger Program. The program will receive a total of $23,000 from the fund. The Junior Ranger program is not just for younger people but includes everyone interested in learning about the different aspects of the park like geology or cultural history, Kittelson said. Children become Junior Rangers by participating in various ranger activities or completing a booklet provided by the national park, and receive a certificate and a pin marking their accomplishment.
The program as a whole, however, has needed some improvements for quite some time and the Centennial funding has allowed park officials to hire someone to make those improvements, said Charles Beall, North Cascades National Park interpreter.
The activities in the booklet have not been revised for several years and may not be properly engaging today’s youth, he said. Park officials would like to see the booklet encompass the entire park in one book to hopefully encourage families to explore other areas of the park.
Another $100,000 will fund the park’s effort, with assistance from the North Cascades Institute (NCI), in connecting members of diverse nationalities within neighboring communities to the outdoors and to the North Cascades National Park through outreach and specialized programming.
To do so, about 10 classes from low-income areas will attend Mountain School, a several-day program for fifth- to 12th-grade students at the Institute’s learning center that teaches participants about the natural and cultural history of the mountains.
NCI, based in Sedro-Woolley, is an education-based nonprofit that works to connect people with the outdoors through various classes and speakers. The organization works in partnership with the national park.
Several summer programs will also be offered at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center in Newhalem and 50 classes will receive a follow-up Mountain School visit. In addition, promotional materials like educational brochures, trip planning information and web-based resources will be available for the communities.
The third project, in partnership with Puget Sound Energy, consists of installing two high elevation weather stations that will record real-time weather data and help track changes in the mountains’ glaciers. The park’s current monitoring stations are located at lower elevations.
With a changing climate, the stations are important to the park especially for monitoring the glaciers, Jenkins said. Glaciers largely affect local rivers and streams which in turn impact fish and wildlife, recreation, hydroelectric power and fire protection.
The weather stations will allow the park to further connect with scientists, opinion leaders and managers, Jenkins said.
The Centennial Challenge is a way of showing the relevance of a big, beautiful park to everyone in the community, Kittelson said. One of the goals for Washington’s National Park Fund is to help people have a really great experience in the park, she said.
“Whether it’s for science, hiking or backcountry camping — we’re hoping the money we raise (for the park), at the end of the day, benefits the citizens who are spending their time at the park,” Kittelson said.
