Celebrate 30 Years of National Public Lands Day with Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites, Trails and Outdoor Recreation

Join us in celebration of the nation's largest single-day volunteer event for public lands this September! Help restore, improve, and enjoy Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails across the state by attending an upcoming National Public Lands Day event in your area.

Established in 1994 and held annually on the fourth Saturday in September, National Public Lands Day (NPLD)  is a nationwide initiative led by the National Environmental Education Foundation.  This annual celebration brings out hundreds of thousands of volunteers to help restore and improve public lands around the country. NPLD is also a “Fee-Free Day”—one of only five days a year when entrance fees are waived at national parks and other public lands.

This year, NPLD is celebrating 30 Years of Care and Community. In the past decade alone, over 1 million volunteers have donated almost 5 million hours of their time for public lands, worth an estimated $133 million. These efforts are crucial to preserving our natural resources for future generations to enjoy.

“Not only does National Public Lands Day give us the opportunity to give back and to take care of the public spaces we enjoy recreating on throughout the year, but it also gives us the chance to connect with our communities and to create kinship amongst those volunteering,” states Laurel Stephens, Outreach Coordinator for Wyoming’s Office of Outdoor Recreation.

In honor of this annual celebration, day use and entrance fees will be waived at all Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites on September 23rd.

This year, ten Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites will also host National Public Lands Day events from trail improvement projects, nature walks, park clean-ups and more. Event details for participating sites are as follows:

• Bear River State Park - Sept. 23rd 10 a.m.-1 p.m. River Trail Clean-up & Improvement Project, meet at Rendezvous Group Area. Volunteers will meet at 10:00AM and trek to the west side of the river trail system to remove slash piles as well as reset small culverts near the trail system. Friends of Bear River State Park will provide a light lunch and beverages. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their own gloves and dress accordingly. For more information, please contact 307-789-6547.
• Boysen State Park - Sept. 1st-30th Month-long Park Clean-up & Virtual Stewardship Challenge. Pick up litter anywhere in the park and take a photo of you in action. Tag Boysen State Park on Facebook or comment your photo on Boysen’s NPLD Facebook posts and be entered to win a special prize. For more information, please contact 307-876-2796.
• Buffalo Bill State Park - Sept. 23rd 8 a.m. Park Clean-up, meet at Park Office. Help pick up litter and debris in the park's no fee areas. Maps & supplies will be provided. For more information, please contact 307-587-9227.
• Curt Gowdy State Park - Sept. 23rd 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Pollinator Garden Clean-up, meet at Visitor Center. Volunteers will meet at the Visitor Center and help pull weeds from in and around the garden, making it cleaner and helping to prevent invasive species from taking over. Time permitting, the group will take a brief hike around Kate's Trail to discuss conservation and ecology at the park. For more information, please contact 307-359-4014.
• Edness K. Wilkins State Park - Sept. 23rd 10 a.m. -11:30 a.m. Park Clean-up & Nature Walk, meet at Centennial Group Shelter. Start the day with a hike around Centennial discovering the plants and animals that make it their home. Afterwards, help clean-up brush to create a healthy habitat and ensure visitors can continue to enjoy the area. For more information, please contact 307-577-5150.
• Glendo State Park - Sept. 23rd 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Metal Detector Competition to Clean-up Sandy Beach, meet at Sandy Beach Day Use Area. Participants will be given two hours to use their metal detectors to comb the beach and collect any item that the detector picks up. At the end of the two hours, the participant who collects the most items (by weight) will win a prize. This event is sponsored by Modern Metal Detectors based out of Casper, WY. For more information, please contact 307-735-4433.
• Keyhole State Park - Sept. 23rd 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Park Clean-up, meet at Cliffs Shelter in Coulter Bay. Team up with Keyhole State Park staff and camp hosts in picking up litter and cleaning out fire pits in the campgrounds and along the cliffs. For more information, please contact 307-756-3596.
• Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site - Sept. 23rd 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Pollinator Garden Clean-up, meet at the Red Barn. Volunteers and park staff will head to the new Pollinator Garden to pull weeds and clean-up the area for visitors to enjoy. The Friends of Medicine Lodge will provide beverages and snacks. Volunteers are encouraged to bring gloves. For more information, please contact 307-469-2234.
• Sinks Canyon State Park - Sept. 30th 9 a.m. Park Improvement Projects, meet at Visitor Center. Volunteers will join staff for a morning of park improvement projects such as pruning, trail maintenance, campsite maintenance and more. Projects will vary in required skill and knowledge; volunteers will be assigned tasks based on interest and ability. Sinks Canyon State Park will also host a weekend long campout with Women Who Hike; pre-registration is required and space is limited. For more information and registration, please contact 307-677-2461 or register at wyoparks.info/NPLDWWH.
• Wyoming Territorial Prison - Sept. 23rd 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Interpretive Program Projects, meet at University of Wyoming’s Union Ballroom. In partnership with the University of Wyoming, help build and decorate items for Wyoming State Park’s Laramie District’s interpretive programming such as bird boxes, bat houses, and bee bungalows! For more information, please contact 307-745-6161 and register at bit.ly/NPLD23. 

Participants are encouraged to “know before you go” and to prepare for weather conditions.  Supplies will be provided at most locations; however, participants are also encouraged to bring their own gloves where applicable in addition water and snacks. 

Learn more about each National Public Lands Day event by finding individual parks and sites on Facebook; additional details will be posted in the coming weeks.