Much has been written in recent years about the disconnect between the current generation of young people and the natural world, along with concerns that national parks are not seen as relevant by Americans from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

Both issues aren't helped when field trips to parks and other off-site areas are among the first casualties of tight school budgets. One solution is being provided by the National Park Foundation's "Ticket to Ride" grant program. 

Point Reyes National Seashore, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park are among 65 NPS areas to receive a 2014 Ticket to Ride grant from the National Park Foundation. The goal of the Ticket to Ride program is to provide efficient transportation support for students to visit our national parks.

Working to Eliminate the "Transportation Barrier" for Student Visits to Parks

"We know that one of the greatest barriers keeping America's youth from visiting their national parks is access to transportation," said Neil Mulholland, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation. "Through our Ticket to Ride program, we eliminate that barrier and open up a world of experiential learning in our nation's largest classrooms–our national parks–and help inspire stewardship of these treasured places."

At Point Reyes National Seashore, Ticket to Ride funds supported transportation for 10 recently arrived international refugee children to attend Point Reyes Nature Science Camp and contributed to the cost of bus transportation for 530 San Francisco Bay Area students, teachers, and chaperones to attend School Science Camp.

Both programs are residential, full immersion, environmental education experiences based out of the Clem Miller Environmental Education Center. Campers participate in habitat exploration, hiking, canoeing, wildlife viewing, improvisational theater, and nature drawing.

According to park staff, “Lack of transportation has been identified as a key barrier to National Seashore access and program participation for underserved youth.”

Program Provides "Firsts" For Many of These Students

Staff from Vallejo City Unified School District noted, “Many of these kids have not ventured beyond their neighborhoods. At camp, they have many exciting, ‘first’ experiences: first time on a hike, first time at the beach, first time seeing the Milky Way and shooting stars, first time in a canoe, first time seeing wildlife. But more important, they learn that there are opportunities for them beyond their doorsteps and neighborhoods.”

At Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the grant will support "Over the River and Thru the Woods"—a three-part program that includes a pre-trip school visit, an outdoor field trip day, and a follow up school visit for more than 500 third and fourth grade students. The program introduces them to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and their partners at the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC).

The outdoor field trip day includes a tour of PEEC's EcoZone! discovery room where students will investigate life size replicas of some of the things they might see in the park, including a beaver lodge, bald eagle nest, black bear skeleton, skins and skulls of various mammals, fossils, plants and more. The day also includes a hike on either the Two Ponds Trail or Fossil Trail, where the students will see 'live' what they investigated in the EcoZone!.

"We are so pleased to work with our partners at the National Park Foundation and at PEEC to bring this outstanding experience to so many kids who otherwise might not have an opportunity like this one," said Superintendent John J. Donahue, "and we are especially grateful to the Foundation and their partners for providing the necessary funds to make it happen. We couldn't have done this without their support."

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park will use its 2014 Ticket to Ride Grant to allow nearly 700 Paulding County fifth grade students to visit the park and learn about the history that was made in their backyards. The park will be their outdoor classroom as they hike in the footsteps of soldiers who fought a key battle in the American Civil War.

Bringing History to Life

Students will see the earthworks the soldiers built and imagine the difficulty of dragging cannons up a mountain while an interpreter shows the students the daily rations and uncomfortable clothes of a civil war soldier and the mechanics of firing a Civil war musket. The students will also hike on the CCC trail and see the ruined structures once used by the Civilian Conservation Corps and will hear stories of the hard-working CCC men who helped develop the national park and its trails as it is seen today.

"On behalf of the park staff, we are deeply appreciative of the grant and the opportunity for so many children to explore their park and find a new connection to their history” said Anthony Winegar, chief ranger at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.

The following short video offers a peek at how the program has been used at Everglades National Park.

Since 2011, the National Park Foundation has awarded more than $745,000 through 109 grants to nearly 90 different parks across the country, providing transportation funding for 100,000 students. Many of these students have never before visited a national park. Ticket to Ride allows teachers to connect their students with national parks in an environment that encourages place-based learning in hands-on, meaningful ways.

You'll find a list of all the NPS areas which benefitted from the program this year at this link.

The 2014 Ticket to Ride grants were made possible, in large part, through the support of Bayer USA Foundation, Disney, and Subaru of America.