Blog

To ring in the new year, the South Carolina State Park Service partnered with Kids in Parks to install four new TRACK Trails. Kids and families were invited to hike the newly opened trails on Friday, January 1 as part of First Day Hikes, an initiative led by America's State Parks to encourage people to get outdoors.

For another #ThankfulThursday, we want to recognize city and county parks. Just as water, sewer, and public safety are considered essential public services, parks are vitally important to establishing and maintaining the quality of life in a community.

This #ThankfulThursday, we want to recognize our partners in the National Park Service and other partners within the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture. America’s public lands are the crown jewels of our country. Made up of renowned national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, conservation areas, scenic rivers, marine monuments, historic sites, battlefields, and wildernesses, public lands cover hundreds of millions of acres across the nation.

Not only do people benefit from being outdoors, but our public lands also benefit when people use them! Stronger connections between children and parks cultivate stewards who will understand the value of our public lands. As those connections have grown (and still grow!) on our network of TRACK Trails, we’re excited to celebrate our 2nd annual National TRACK Trails Day! A day to honor our partners and Trail TRACKers who help make this program possible!

Creating a nature journal is a great way to connect kids to the outdoors and encourage them to observe the natural world around them. Nature journals can be as simple or as creative as desired, can have a singular theme or cover many topics, and record findings in your backyard or findings from a hike.