NRPA members are invited to host volunteer events for National Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 29, 2012. On this day, thousands of volunteers, nonprofits and local governments come together to improve the quality of public spaces ranging from the Grand Canyon to community spaces like Riverside Park in NYC.
The types of projects hosted on National Public Lands Day (NPLD) are based on the need of the public land. Typical projects include trail maintenance, tree plantings, harvesting at community gardens or historic site restoration.
NPLD is the largest, single-day volunteer event for public lands in the nation. Volunteers in 2011 contributed about $17 million in services.
There are many benefits to leading NPLD events:
- Your event listed on publiclandsday.org
- Access to site manager resources such as the Manual for Site Managers and 2012 Media Kit
- Free webinars and info on grants and awards
- Best of all, additional volunteers and public interest in helping your public lands
NPLD events can also bring attention to new or underused public lands. Focus your service projects on a green space or public gardens, and new volunteers could become regular visitors.
Host an NPLD event and take advantage of the nationwide volunteer celebration! For more information, visit publiclandsday.org.
Tell us, are you planning to participate in NPLD? If so, what are you planning to do? Overall, what type of volunteer events do you find to be successful in your community? What benefits has your department seen from hosting volunteer events?
Guest Blog Post Written by Jessica Jones, National Public Lands Day Program Coordinator.