Yellowstone Announces NPS Centennial Itinerary

Several celebrations are slated for the rest of the week as Yellowstone prepares for the NPS Centennial.

Visitors will be able to come to Yellowstone National Park for free between Thursday, August 25 and Sunday, August 28. All entrance stations, save for the South Entrance, are open at this time.

According to a Yellowstone press release, there are a number of events planned around the Park to commemorate the signing of the 1916 Organic Act by President Woodrow Wilson, which created the National Park Service August 25, 1916. From the press release:

National Park Service Centennial highlights in Yellowstone include:

• Director Jonathan Jarvis will be in Yellowstone August 25 to celebrate the Centennial. He is scheduled to attend several events within the park.

• There will be many exciting programs going on throughout the park. Join park rangers for regularly scheduled and special Centennial programs. The locations, descriptions and times for these programs can be found at www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/rangerprog.htm. Check visitor centers throughout the park for other activities.

• A special NPS Centennial pictorial postmark will be available at the Mammoth Hot Springs Post Office between 8:30 am and 5 pm.

• On August 25, An Evening at the Arch: Yellowstone Celebrates the National Park Service Centennial takes place in Gardiner, Montana. “This very special event will kick off the second century for the National Park Service, highlight the importance of public/private partnerships, and recognize the completion of the Gardiner Gateway Project Phase One,” said Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis will be featured speakers. All event tickets have been distributed, however a LiveStream.com broadcast is available at: http://livestream.com/accounts/11206525/events/6052233.  Information about the event can be found at go.nps.gov/eveningatthearch.

• Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), an NPS Centennial sponsor, will have one of their interactive conservation- focused Villages set up at Mammoth Hot Springs from 9 am to 3 pm.

Please note that while celebrations are underway, there are several things to keep in mind. Several wildfires continue to burn throughout Yellowstone, for instance, but officials say they don’t expect it to impact any of the Centennial activities. In addition, visitors to the Park will likely have to endure traffic and congestion, especially around Mammoth Hot Springs and nearby Gardiner, Montana.