Fort Vancouver National Site admission will be free on National Park Service no-fee days:
June 21, first day of summer.
Sept. 24, Public Lands Day.
Nov. 11-13, Veterans Day weekend.
People will be able to window-shop for some regional vacation destinations Saturday at Northwest National Park Family Day.
The fourth annual event at Fort Vancouver National Site will bring rangers and staff members from eight other national park sites in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
“The idea was to pull the Northwest’s national parks to one location, and Fort Vancouver is in an ideal place,” said Kimm Fox-Middleton, supervisory park ranger. “This is the only urban national park in the Portland-Vancouver area.”
There will be representatives from Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, which includes six sites in Washington and Oregon, and is linked with state parks in Washington and Oregon; the Seattle Unit of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park; Mount Rainier, established in 1899 and the fifth-oldest national park in the U.S.; Nez Perce National Historical Park, which includes 38 sites in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana; North Cascades National Park; Olympic National Park; Crater Lake National Park; and Oregon Caves National Monument.
Fort Vancouver National Site admission will be free on National Park Service no-fee days:
June 21, first day of summer.
Sept. 24, Public Lands Day.
Nov. 11-13, Veterans Day weekend.
“People will be meeting the rangers from those parks,” Fox-Middleton said. In one of the previous parks showcases, “We had someone considering going east and decided to visit Crater Lake instead” for a vacation.
The event will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Fort Vancouver National Site’s visitor center, 1501 E. Evergreen Blvd., near the east end of Officers Row.
There will be interactive presentations from National Park Service rangers. Topics include: safety in the woods; hands-on introduction to hiking and camping in Northwest national parks, including information on gear and food; interactive archaeology programs; tales of the fur trade and the Gold Rush; camping, past and present; camp cooking, rustic to gourmet; and wildlife in our national parks, featuring native reptiles from the Oregon Zoo.
This year’s event includes increased involvement from Vancouver schools. Truman Elementary is producing a “Kids in the Park” exhibit inside the visitor center. Students from the Green Club at Marshall Elementary will staff a recycle/reuse crafts table.
There is no admission fee for the family day presentations; however, the usual entry fees will be charged at the Fort Vancouver stockade on the south side of East Fifth Street.
For information, call the visitor center at 360-816-6230.
