This is an established day to celebrate our public lands. It is not eco-nazi day, they already have Earth Day. The BLM and USFS are heavily involved in this, virtually every local office has something going on. Get you and/or your club involved, the OHV presence needs to get out there on NPLD, we don't need to try to name an already established (9 years) day something else. Contact the media, get them out there to see what you and your OHV club are doing on NPLD, and make sure you contact your local BLM and/or FS office to let them know you want to help. Lets get involved, show the eco-nazis and the rest of the public who cares about the public lands without being divisive.

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For Immediate Release Contact: Gary Kozel
202-298-1225

AMERICANS TO FAN OUT COUNTRY-WIDE
TO SPRUCE UP PARKS, REFUGES, CAMPS, FOREST LANDS
ON NATIONAL PUBLIC LANDS DAY

70,000 EXPECTED AT 500 SITES FOR SEPTEMBER 28 EVENT

WOODSY OWL, TEDDY ROOSEVELT
TO LEND A HAND TO AMERICA’S LANDS

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25, 2002 – Aspire to create a nesting habitat at a shoreline park in California? Long to clean up a historic sea wall at a military fort in Maryland? Or have a yen for something more basic such as installing picnic tables at a campground in Montana?

Well, you can take part in those and hundreds of other activities as part of the 9th annual National Public Lands Day (NPLD) on Saturday, September 28.

Sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales USA, NPLD brings together the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Wonderful Outdoor World, Sierra Club, American Hiking Society, National Association of Service Conservation Corps, National Parks Conservation Association and thousands of other individual and organizational volunteers to refurbish and restore the country’s public places. These are the lands and facilities Americans use for outdoor recreation, education, and just plain enjoyment. They encompass national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, forests, grasslands, marine sanctuaries, lakes, and reservoirs managed by government agencies, but belonging to, and enjoyed by, everyone. This year’s NPLD theme is “Explore America’s Backyard.”

“America’s public lands -- our country’s natural treasures – need help,” said Kevin Coyle, President of the National Environmental Education & Training Foundation, which has managed and coordinated the all-day effort from its start in 1994. “On National Public Lands Day, we all have a chance to contribute to the improvement of our public places for current and future generations of Americans, and we encourage everyone this year to do so.”

At least 70,000 volunteers are expected at 500 sites in September, making NPLD the largest volunteer, hands-on effort of its kind in the country. The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation estimates that the volunteers’ work, along with community contributions of food, tools, and equipment, will result in more than $8 million of improvements and provide the day’s “Helping Hands for America’s Lands.”

For the fourth consecutive year, Toyota is the national NPLD sponsor. Sponsorship of national and regional environmental preservation projects is just one of many areas in which Toyota has proven environmental stewardship. Toyota operates under a global Earth charter that makes caring for the earth a priority. The company created the world’s first mass-produced, clean-running gas/electric hybrid car, the Prius, which has received numerous environmental awards, most notably from the Sierra Club and National Wildlife Federation.

Volunteers will plant trees and beneficial plants, install signs, improve trails and campgrounds, clean up streams and waterways, clear weeds and overgrown brush, and build facilities. At Boston’s African-American National Historic Site, debris from historic structures and grounds will be removed; the Ozark Stream will be cleared as volunteers float along its pastoral waters in Rolla, Missouri; fences and buildings will be repaired and repainted at the historic Rogue River Ranch in Medford, Oregon; and a pavilion will be erected at a horse ranch in Fort Hood, Texas.

By educating volunteers at work sites across the country, NPLD maintains the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps, an army of 3 million Americans who in the 1930’s countered the devastation of the Dust Bowl and the American chestnut blight by planting more than 3 billion trees, building bridges and 800 state parks, and fighting forest fires.

Working with volunteers at the flagship event in Anacostia Park in Washington, D.C. will be Woodsy Owl, the U.S. Forest Service mascot, and a “resurrected” President Teddy Roosevelt, who placed millions of acres of public land under U.S. government protection a century ago.

Since 1994, NPLD has dramatically demonstrated Americans’ concern for their public lands. The first event was sponsored by three federal agencies and attracted 700 volunteers to three sites. Last year, nine federal agencies and 85 state and local partners supported the efforts of 65,000 volunteers at 375 sites.

The nine participating federal agencies are the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Tennessee Valley Authority. Other event partners are the Outdoor Life Network, Backpacker magazine, and approximately 125 state, county, and city partners, including state parks departments in Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation, chartered by Congress in 1990, is a private nonprofit organization that develops and supports environmental learning programs to meet social goals, and builds partnerships between government, the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

For more information, including a list of NPLD sites, activities, contacts and downloadable photos, go to www.npld.com. Or call 800-Vol-Teer (800-865-8337).