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KUNC is among the founding partners of the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration of public media stations that serve the Western states of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Lend A Hand On National Public Lands Day

A volunteer works in Yellowstone on National Public Lands Day.
NPS / Neal Herbert
A volunteer works in Yellowstone on National Public Lands Day.

This Saturday, September 28, is National Public Lands Day. It's called the largest single-day volunteer effort for America's public lands.

"America's public lands are resilient, but they are also very fragile," said Andrew Black, public lands field director for the National Wildlife Federation.

Black said the day is about educating ourselves on the importance of public lands and the challenges they face.

"We need to make sure we manage for the wildlife values, the recreational values and some of the industrial uses of these public lands," he said. "But they need to be done so in balance and what's going to maintain these areas as healthy ecosystems."

National Public Lands Day was established in 1994. As the National Park Service puts it, the day "celebrates the connection between people and green space in their community, inspires environmental stewardship, and encourages use of open space for education, recreation, and health benefits."

Most of the country's roughly 640 million acres of public land is in the West.

To celebrate on Saturday, there will be free admission to national parks across the country. The National Environmental Education Foundation will host a range of events, including trail maintenance, clean ups, and tree plantings.

Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Catherine Wheeler, at cwheel11@uwyo.edu.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Copyright 2020 Wyoming Public Radio. To see more, visit .

Catherine Wheeler comes to Wyoming from Kansas City, Missouri. She has worked at public media stations in Missouri and on the Vox podcast "Today, Explained." Catherine graduated from Fort Lewis College with a BA in English. She recently received her master in journalism from the University of Missouri. Catherine enjoys cooking, looming, reading and the outdoors.
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