Bays Mountain: National Public Lands Day

Kingsport, TN – On Saturday, September 30, volunteers at Bays Mountain will join hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans at public land sites across the country to give back to the lands where we play, learn, exercise and relax in celebration of the 23rd annual National Public Lands Day (NPLD) – the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer effort for public lands.
 
NPLD, coordinated each year by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) with support from national sponsor Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., brings together volunteers from across the country to improve and restore the lands and facilities that Americans use and enjoy every day. Each year, NPLD volunteers provide tens of millions of dollars’ worth of services in one day that would otherwise take limited park staff months to accomplish.
 
Volunteers at Bays Mountain will get their hands dirty from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., removing brush or improving the parking lot area.  Volunteers will meet at the Herpetarium to begin their day.
 
“Your work will help ensure that Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium continues to be a beautiful place for all to enjoy,” said Megan Krager senior naturalist at Bays Mountain Park.
 
Pre-reservations are required by signing up at the Nature Center or calling (423) 229-9447. The deadline to sign up is September 18, 2017.  For more information please call Megan Krager at (423) 229-9490.
 
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About Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium
Annually, more than 200,000 visitors pass through Bays Mountain Park making it one of the State of Tennessee’s Top 50 Most Visited Attractions, according to the State of Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. One of the nation’s largest city-owned parks with 3,550 acres, Bays Mountain Park features roughly 40 miles of hiking trails, a state-of-the-art planetarium, wildlife habitats, fun exhibits, a 44-acre lake, ropes course with zip line, trails for mountain biking and much, much more.
 
About the City of Kingsport
Founded in 1917, the City of Kingsport (pop. 53,000) is located on the Tennessee-Virginia border at the crossroads of I-81 and I-26 near the geographic center of the eastern U.S.  The city is widely known as a planned community, designed by renowned city planner John Nolen and wrapping around the foot of Bays Mountain – a 3500 park, nature preserve, planetarium and observatory.  Kingsport is recognized as an International Safe Community by the National Safety Council, a Healthier Tennessee community, and won the 2009 Harvard Innovations in American Government Award for its higher education initiatives.  While many city names are duplicated throughout the U.S., there’s only one Kingsport – a fact that invokes community pride, known locally as the “Kingsport Spirit.”