AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file photo
In this Sept. 5, 2009 file photo, hikers wade through the Virgin River at the entrance to The Narrows in Zion National Park, Utah.
Friday, June 9, 2017 | 2 a.m.
One group of fourth-graders will have no problem bragging this fall about what they did on their summer vacation.
That’s because they will be kicking off their summer break with a day trip to Zion National Park in Utah. Accompanying them will be Las Vegas Councilman Ricki Barlow, who hopes the trip will foster a lifelong appreciation for the outdoors and help break the stereotype that our national park system isn’t intended for everyone to enjoy.
The trip is part of the 1 Million African-American Youth in a Park initiative, which launched this year to engage children of color with national parks. Studies have shown that people of color are less likely to visit a national park than other populations.
The campaign builds off the success of Every Kid in a Park, a multi-agency program launched by President Barack Obama in 2015. Every Kid in a Park provides fourth-graders and three adults free entry into more than 2,000 federally managed sites. All adults have to do is visit a website (everykidinapark.gov) and print off a voucher.
But recognizing the additional barriers faced by people of color living in economically disadvantaged areas, some organizations are being more proactive about planning group outings like this upcoming trip to Zion.
Barlow hopes the fourth-graders will return from Utah with a desire to explore all of the spectacular outdoor options available here in Southern Nevada.
“We have kids here who’ve never been to Mount Charleston or Lake Mead,” says Barlow. “We need to change that.”
The 150 fourth-graders participating in the Zion trip come from Rainbow Dreams Academy, Wendell P. Williams Elementary School, Victory Missionary Baptist Church, Matt Kelly Elementary School, Imagine 100 Academy of Excellence and Booker Elementary School.
The group will leave Saturday morning from the Doolittle Community Center and experience ranger-led hikes and activities at Zion National Park before returning that evening.
A 2009 survey by the National Park Service found that African-Americans were the most under-represented minority group among its visitors. Hispanics were also under-represented, though to a lesser degree.
Asians were represented proportionally and non-Hispanic whites were over-represented.
Those results were consistent with an earlier study conducted back in 2000.
