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The environment desk at Aspen Public Radio covers issues in the Roaring Fork Valley and throughout the state of Colorado including water use and quality, impact of recreation, population growth and oil and gas development. APR’s Environment Reporter is Elizabeth Stewart-Severy.

ACES gives kids free parks passes

Courtesy of Aspen Center for Environmental Studies

The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) recently handed out hundreds of free National Parks passes to elementary students in Aspen, Basalt and Glenwood Springs.

The local nonprofit worked through President Obama’s “Every Kid in a Park” initiative, which provides 4th graders and their families free access to National Parks for a year.

“Getting kids outdoors with their families is what leads to adults having a strong environmental ethic that they act on,” said Arin Trook, education director for ACES.  

 
This year, ACES distributed 333 passes to students at Aspen, Basalt and Crystal River elementary schools, where the organization’s educators teach regular environmental education classes. Spending time in these diverse ecosystems allows kids to put what they have learned in the classroom into practice, and free passes might be just the ticket.

“A $20 entrance fee to a National Park is a significant barrier for a lot of families,” Trook said.  

 
ACES plans to track how many students use the passes and where, and the nonprofit will share this information with the National Parks Service to help improve the program.

Aspen native Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is excited to be making a return to both the Red Brick, where she attended kindergarten, and the field of journalism. She has spent her entire life playing in the mountains and rivers around Aspen, and is thrilled to be reporting about all things environmental in this special place. She attended the University of Colorado with a Boettcher Scholarship, and graduated as the top student from the School of Journalism in 2006. Her lifelong love of hockey lead to a stint working for the Colorado Avalanche, and she still plays in local leagues and coaches the Aspen Junior Hockey U-19 girls.
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