Centennials are rather a big deal. The National Park Service (NPS) hopes to take advantage of their 100th birthday in 2016 to spark interest in the future direction of the agency. They have created a new web site to begin the discussion and are asking the public to submit their ideas by October 20th. To share your thoughts on how to mark this important anniversary go to The Next 100 Years for America’s National Parks.
The site also provides an opportunity to create your own discussion groups and post your own comments. The National Heritage Areas already have a number of topics on the site such as examples of educational programs and some updates on the areas. Large landscape practitioners may want to jump in and in share their thoughts on existing park partnerships and where this movement should be headed in the future.
While many of the proposals for the centennial will be celebratory in nature, this is also a time for reflection. As always the George Wright Society is out in front on this issue. Starting in 2007, the journal The George Wright Forum began publishing a series of Centennial Essays by the leading thinkers on the both NPS today and tomorrow. Thanks to the society for gathering all these essays in one easy to use location. You can read them here.
The year 2016 will be here before we know it!