Published: 2:14 PM, 05/12/2010

Last updated: 2:20 PM, 05/12/2010

By: Staff Reporter

Dr. Carolyn Ward, President and COO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, announced today that Foundation's, Kids In Parks Program (www.kidsinparks.com), in partnership with the Blue Ridge Parkway, the USDA Forest Service Pisgah Ranger District and the North Carolina State Parks Chimney Rock received a highly coveted Tier 2 Grant from the National Park Foundation's America's Best Idea Grants Program.  The Grant will be used to help build new TRACK trails at Chimney Rock State Park and Pisgah District National Forest.  Funding for the projects is provided, in part, by the National Park Foundation's America's Best Idea grants, a nationwide program currently underway in 33 national parks which seeks to connect youth and other underserved audiences to parks.
 
Dr. Ward said that she is "pleased that the Foundation's Kids In Parks Program is able to assist in unifying these agencies in order to get children unplugged and outside.  The health of our children and the health of our parks are linked. We are proud to help create these opportunities to get kids back into our beautiful public lands."
The TRACK Trail program is part of the larger Kids in Parks Initiative sponsored by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. Working together with partners throughout the community, their mission is to increase physical activity of children and their families, to improve nutritional choices, and to get kids outdoors and along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The TRACK Trail adventures at Pisgah National Forest and Chimney Rock State Park will be designed to help kids explore nature through the use of self-guided brochures.  The TRACK program is superimposed on existing trail systems and includes numerous adventures for visitors to experience; thus, maximizing the educational and recreational value of each singular trail. Motivational incentives or 'prizes' for participation are provided through registration on the web page, www.kidsinparks.com. In this manner, not only are participants motivated to experience the first trail, they are prompted to either return or visit another TRACK trail segment in order to achieve the next reward.

Funding for the projects was inspired by the epic Ken Burns documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea, the National Park Foundation, in partnership with Unilever, has awarded America's Best Idea Grants totaling roughly half a million dollars, to 33 national parks across the country.
 
"As stewards of the parks, there is nothing more important than connecting our communities and young people to these treasured places," said Neil Mulholland, President and CEO of the National Park Foundation.  Additional support for the America's Best Idea Grants is generously given by The Ahmanson Foundation and other donors to the National Park Foundation.
 
About Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation:
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the primary private fundraising organization for the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Foundation funds endowments and makes direct allocations for projects and programs which enhance the visitors' experience and preserve the Blue Ridge Parkway's scenic, cultural and environmental quality.
For more information visit www.brpfoundation.org
 

 

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