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Area Fourth Grade Students Get Closer To Nature With 'Every Kid In A Park' Program

Anthony Moreno

The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and last September the Obama Administration rolled out a program that gives fourth grade students free entry to more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters across the country.

On a recent weekday morning school buses pull up to a parking lot at the Dripping Springs Natural Area part of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces.

Fourth grade students from the Gadsden Independent School District exit the buses and make their way to the nearby La Cueva group site facing the Organ Mountains.

The trip is part of “The Every Kid in a Park Program” that offers fourth grade students the opportunity to become more familiar with their public lands through educational trips like this.

As their teachers and family members watch on, Eileen Davis, a volunteer with the Bureau of Land Management shares with the students why they are here and what to expect a as they prepare to hit the trail and explore the monument.

“The every kid in the park program is about getting kids outside and having families enjoy public lands, and we have so many of them around here so it’s a really good opportunity for the Bureau of Land Management to utilize that,” says Davis.

Davis says several classrooms have come out since March thanks to a grant with the National Park Foundation that provided transportation funds, which she says is a big reason people and classrooms can not get to federal lands and waters.

In order to get the most of each school’s visit the BLM’s staff meets with classrooms before the trip out to the public land to educate students on what they will see so they can recognize the natural land they encounter and prepare for the elements.

“It’s not like your classroom with the four walls and ceiling, and this really nice chair you sit in all day, and so we prepare how much water to drink, and whether you should just be wearing sandals or not, and things like that,” says Davis.

Credit Anthony Moreno
Students learn about rock art at La Cueva that is centuries old.

After the welcome, the students prepare to hit the trail for a short hike to La Cueva, known as the cave that has offered refuge for humans in this area for centuries.

The students are excited once they see the entrance.

Students navigate the roped off entrance to the cave which leads to a platform for them to experience the cool shade on this warm day.

After checking out La Cueva, students exit the cave to find rock art from 500 years ago.

Emma Jornlin, an intern working with the BLM shares some history of La Cueva.

“The BLM has employed and worked with lot of archeologists, and they tell us that there are traces leftover from the Jornada Mogollon culture. They inhabited this area from about 1 A.D. to 1450 A.D,” says Jornlin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T55hNjH9H44&feature=youtu.be

Fourth grader Ramón Enriquez says today he learned about the people that have resided here.

“They probably used a few berries to make the paintings, and they carved in rocks so they could make the food,” says Enriquez.

Another student Natalie Cruz said it’s her first time here to this area and there it was really cool to experience nature up close.

“The Cactuses are really gorgeous. They’re pretty. I’ve never seen them really close as right now,” says Cruz.

Credit Anthony Moreno
Flint stones that were found near La Cueva.

Natalie Cruz says that she wants to come back, and because of the “Every Kid in a Park” program, these students and up to three accompanying adults can all visit national parks and thousands of federally managed lands with the “Every Kid in a Park” pass that fourth grade students can receive through the program.

Parents that accompanied these students also were having a learning experience. Amanda Vega was surprised out how much life existed at the monument.

“You would think that there is not a lot here at the hot desert, but we saw so many different things, especially birds,” says Vega.

Eileen Davis says that events like this give people a chance to get out of their normal routines and experience and enjoy the nearby federal lands and waters up close.

“If you don’t enjoy something you don’t like it, and if you don’t like it then you don’t want to take care of it,” says Davis.

A Department of Interior spokesperson says that the department is pleased with the interest so far. Also, the everykidinapark.gov website has seen more than a half million hits since it launched in September 2015. 

With transportation funding available for more than 130,000  fourth graders through the National Park Foundation, recently announced additional funding by the National Park Service could bring thousands more to federal lands and waters.

The “Every Kid in a Park” student passes are good for one year, and the program will last up to twelve years to help establish a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts who will be more connected to the land that is owned by the public.

Anthony Moreno serves as the Director of Content at KRWG Public Media. He also is host and executive producer for "Fronteras-A Changing America" and "Your Legislators" on KRWG-TV.