Text 1607, 161 rader
Skriven 2005-10-20 23:33:20 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0510204) for Thu, 2005 Oct 20
====================================================
===========================================================================
Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a Junior Rangers Luncheon
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
October 20, 2005

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a Junior Rangers Luncheon
Phipps Mansion
Denver, Colorado



1:45 P.M. MDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you so much, Secretary Norton. Thank you for everything
you do. It's great to be in your beautiful home state today. And it is
magnificent today in Denver. The weather is so perfect, and the leaves are
really, really unbelievable, so I'm so glad I got to be here right now on
this day.

I've been really looking forward to coming to see everyone here in Denver.
I haven't been to Denver very often since George has been President, just a
few times. So I've been looking forward to this chance to get to be with
all of you and meet new friends and see some old friends, as well.

As I flew over here and -- flew from Washington this morning, and looked
out of the window to our beautiful country, I was reminded again how it's
so important that we introduce America's young people to our national parks
and to the outdoors. And you're right, Madam Secretary, kids in Colorado
have parents who let them play outside and take them to ski and do all the
other things that you all can do. But not every state is like that. In
fact, more and more research shows children stay inside. They stay inside
in front of the computer, or they stay inside in front of the television.
And it's really important for us to let young people know how magnificent
our world is and our country is, and how important it is for them to be
outside and to experience nature, like all of us got to when we were
children, and still get so much inspiration and sense of peace from.

I'm proud to be the Honorary Chair of the National Park Foundation. The
Foundation has been a very trusted partner of our national parks for almost
four decades, and the Junior Rangers program, and the way they want to
expand the Junior Rangers program, is the latest example of a
public/private partnership that helps Americans appreciate our history and
our natural resources.

I want to thank the Anschutzes, Phillip and Nancy. Thank you so much for
being our hosts today. And Dan Ritchie, thank you very, very much for
everything you've done to put this great event together, and for everything
you've done for the National Park Foundation and for our country.

And to Vin Cipolla, our new President and CEO of the National Park
Foundation, thanks so much. And then to my best friend, Regan Gammon, who
is on the National Park Foundation. You might wonder why I'm so interested
in Junior Rangers, but Regan and I visit a park every summer. We travel
with a group of women that we grew up with in Midland, five of us. We've
hiked in all of -- not all, but a lot of our beautiful national parks, and
as soon as we finish a hike, we think about what our next one is gooing to
be. And we're actually alr! eady in the planning stages of our hike next
summer.

This year -- 20 years ago, we did the Colorado River trip through the Grand
Canyon and hiked out, and sso this year we thought we'd do it again and ask
our daughters. So this time, it was the five mothers and the -- and all of
our daughters who did the great trip through the Grand Canyon. It's one of
the most magnificent trips of all the national parks, I think, and then a
very difficult hike out. And it was a lot more difficult 20 years later
than it was the first time. (Laughter.) But we've hiked in Yosemite and
Yellowstone -- and where else? Glacier. We love Glacier. It's so really
beautiful. But all of these parks are such an important part of our country
and such a very important part of our special treasures that we have. And
all of these trails and places to bike and hike are really, really
important to people who want to be outside.

But, of course, our national parks, as Dan said, aren't just found in the
wide, open spaces. In fact, the President and I live in a national park.
The White House is considered one of our national parks. Our grounds are
kept by national park employees. The gardens -- which, by the way, are open
this weekend -- this is the fall garden tour of the White House, so people
can come see how preetty they are. And they don't look -- the leaves
haven't changed like they have here, but they do look really pretty.

And, of course, other major national parks are located in cities throughout
our country. In Philadelphia, visitors can explore Independence National
Park to learn about the foundation of our country. In Atlanta, visitors can
go to the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site to learn about
how one of America's heroes struggled to achieve the promise of equal
rights and liberty for all Americans. Earlier this year, I participated in
a Junior Rangers swearing-in ceremony at the Jefferson Memorial in
Washington, and then another one, another swearing-in, at the Mississippi
National River and Recreation area in Minnesota. And it's really fun to see
all these new young rangers who are very excited about their honor.

At many of the parks, including Rocky Mountain National Park in this state,
an official ranger will announce over the visitor center loudspeaker when a
new Junior Ranger gets his or her badge. The father of nine-year-old twin
boys, both Junior Rangers in Wisconsin, wrote to the National Park
Foundation to tell them about a project that his little boys undertook.
Each of the boys has earned 23 Junior Ranger badges, and the boys love the
Junior Rangers and they wanted to do their part to help the program. So
they sold popcorn and soda at a community event in their hometown, and they
raised $158 to donate to the Junior Rangers. (Laughter.)

As Secretary Norton said, young people can participate in Junior Rangers --
actually I don't think you said this -- without actually visiting the park
in person. ; Children who live far from a park or who have a disability
that prevents them from going to a park can log on to the Junior Rangers
website and become Web Rangers. They learn about the history and the
resources of our national parks, just as if they were in the parks
themselves. And for children who can see the parks in person, Web Rangers
provides supplementary material to enhance their visit. It's also great for
teachers, for teachers who are teaching geography or other things! and want
children to know where our parks are.

The newly updated Web Rangers site is drawing great reviews, from children
and from parents. And more people are logging on during the weekend, which
indicates that children are using the website in their spare time for a fun
activity. Children have great enthusiasm for the Junior Ranger program, and
we want more children to be able to experience the fun and the education
found in our national parks. Ultimately, we hope that many Junior Rangers
will actually grow up to be real park rangers, dedicating their lives to
caring for America's parks. Right now, children don't really know what park
rangers do, and people aren't applying to become park rangers or going to
school to study to become park rangers. It's really important that we get
the word out, because it's a wonderful life, to be able to live in all the
different types of great national parks we have.

The best part of the Junior Ranger program is that whole families can go
together to explore national parks together. A week from today, I'll be
hosting a White House Conference on Helping America's Youth at Howard
University in Washington. It will be on C-SPAN all day, so I hope you'll
tune in to some of it if you can. The Conference is to encourage adults to
become involved in the lives of children, and to find solutions to the many
challenges that young people face in our country. And introducing boys and
girls to the magnificence of nature, and encouraging them to spend time
with their parents and their brothers and sisters and their! loved ones is
an important contribution to helping America's youth, and that's one of the
reasons I wanted to travel with Regan and talk about the Junior Rangers
program, because I think it's a very effective way to help young people be
involved with their own families and have family outings into parks, but
also to -- for their own self-esteem and their own self-worth.

The Junior Rangers program enhances the life of every child who
participates, and I want to thank each and every one of you for coming
today to listen to this, because I think you can help make that experience
possible for hundreds of thousands of children each year. And I know that's
what the National Park Foundation's goal is, and that is to really give
children all over our country a chance to participate in all of our
national parks, from our historic sites to our magnificent, beautiful
national parks.

So thank you all very, very much. Thank you for being a friend to America's
national parks. (Applause.)

END 1:56 P.M. MDT
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051020-4.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)