BOONE - Appalachian State University's Office of the National Park Service Liaison is planning an event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the US National Park Service Organic Act of 1916, the act which founded the National Park Service (NPS).
The event will take place on September 21st, 2016, between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of the Plemmons Student Union on the Appalachian State University campus.
Four guest speakers, Kevin Adams, J. Scott Graham, Andrea Lankford, and Anne Mitchell-Whisnant, will give presentations on their careers and experiences visiting and working in the national parks. Following the sessions, there will be a concluding question and answer panel followed by a reception where light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be provided. All are welcome to attend.
The National Park Service was founded on August 25th, 1916, presided over by Woodrow Wilson, in order "....to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." NPS has organized a series of events across the United States leading up to the anniversary date. Visit the National Park Service Liaison office for more information about the Appalachian celebration.
About the Speakers
Kevin Adams and J. Scott Graham are local photographers, authors and conservationist, each working in North Carolina and southern Appalachia. Their work has focused on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Andrea Lankford is an author and former National Park Service ranger, where she won several awards for her work as a criminal investigator. She is best known for her book Ranger Confidential, a National Geographic "Top Ten Book about U.S. Parks." Anne Mitchell-Whisnant is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina. Her teaching, research, consulting, and writing focus on public history, digital and geospatial history, and the history of the U.S. National Parks. In 2006, UNC Press published her Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History, the first serious study of the development of the National Park Service's most visited site.