Welcome to the first Open Thread of the Daily Kos Park Avenue group: a group dedicated to America's National, State and other public parks. Some group business below the fold and see everyone down in the comments.
First up, welcome to the NPAWR (National Parks and Wildlife Refuges) group members and followers whom I invited to join us for a discussion about how our two DKos groups can collaborate and work together. Also welcome to anyone picking this up in their stream from the eKos tag.
SJerseyIndy and I would like to get people's thoughts on whether people would like the two groups to merge or remain separate but collaborate on areas in common to both groups. SJerseyIndy created NPAWR to be an apolitical group designed for the pure recreational aspects of the national parks and national wildlife refuges, while I envisioned Park Avenue also having diaries devoted to political matters affecting the parks. Also, as conceived, NPAWR includes (and has as a primary focus) the national wildlife refuges. While I haven't strictly excluded those area from Park Avenue, I envisioned focusing more upon the units of the National Park Service, areas designated as National Monuments (regardless of administering agency) and other public parks of significance. So, SJerseyIndy and I wanted to get everyone's feelings on the two groups and whether they are so similar that we should merge.
Next up, I'm happy to announce that this week we will begin publishing features on specific parks. For now we'll be doing so on a weekly basis until we have enough interest to increased the frequency. What I'd like to know from y'all is when you want the diaries to be released. I think they are probably something to end the week on rather than start it, so I've scheduled the first few to come out on either Thursday or Friday depending on the feedback today. To maximize the ability of people on both coasts and everyone in between to be able to be here for the publishing, we'd need to publish after 8am PT, but before 4pm ET. And on Fridays I'd push the ET up further since I know people try to leave earlier on Fridays. So what would y'all prefer for the regular release dat and time? Thursday or Friday? Early or late in the 11am-4pm ET/8am-1pm PT window?
As for the park features themselves, I'm proud to announce our first four features. This week I'll be posting on the former Jackson Hole National Monument. Next week JenS will be featuring Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. The week after, Phoenix Rising will contribute a diary on Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, followed the next week by SJerseyIndy's feature on the Petrified Forest National Park. In the weeks following, we are lining up more features including ones on Wind Cave National Park & Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota, Zion National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bryce Canyon National Park.
If you have a story to tell about your favorite park(s), we are looking for more people to contribute so we can 1) publish more frequently, 2) have a geographic balance in park locations and 3) have a balance between national parks, monuments and other park designations (lakeshores, seashores, historical parks & sites, etc).
The features don't have to be very long (though they can be if you want). Basically we want to hear about one or more of the following
- Why is this park important to you?
- Why is this park important to America?
- What is the important history behind this park?
- What are the important things or places to see at the park?
- What can you tell us about your visit to the park?
And of course pictures are very welcome!
If this is something you are interested in doing, please feel free to sign up on our on-line sign-up form: Daily Kos Park Avenue group Park Signup Form
And without further ado, please join me and your fellow park enthusiasts in the comments.