By: Jenny Burdette.
Saturday, September 24, 2022, is National Public Lands Day. As part of commemorating this day, Friends of Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites (Friends) hosts Your State Parks Day, a day when volunteers arrive at Parks throughout the state to participate in park projects and give back to the places that offer us a wonderful setting in which to enjoy nature. Friends is a Conservation Partner with GNPA and would love to have a photographer on hand at each park to record the efforts of the volunteers.
This year, Friends will launch a state-wide project, Project Blaze a Trail, where volunteers will remap all of the trails in Georgia’s State Parks to update the trail maps. Volunteers will track the mileage, log the terrain and difficulty of each trail, and re-blaze trails to make them easier to follow. Additionally, volunteers will perform trail maintenance and collect trash along the trails.
Along with Blaze a Trail, Friends chapters at many parks will also have other projects. Volunteers will help beautify areas around park offices and entrances, restore picnic tables, plant pollinator gardens, and a perform a variety of other tasks depending on individual Park needs.
Times may vary from park to park, but most participate from 9 AM to 2 PM. No problem if you have an afternoon commitment and need to leave a bit early. At some parks drinks and lunch will be provided and work usually stops between 12 and 1 when everyone gathers to eat. Entry into the Parks will be free for anyone volunteering, and there is usually a free t-shirt involved.
Friends is asking for photographers to take photos of the volunteers at work. Photos will be used on social media, in Friends publications and mailings, and may be archived to promote Your State Parks Day in future years. Our partners at Friends provide full photo credit to both the photographer and to GNPA whenever an image is used.
GNPA members are mostly nature photographers, not event or portrait photographers. However, Your State Parks Day is an easy event to shoot. Volunteers are glad to be there and love being photographed while they work. No special equipment is needed, just a camera. If you’re not there, someone will be taking photos with a cell phone – great for social media, but not so great for print purposes. Photographing this event is much like taking candid photos of your own family, including the group shots where someone is invariably looking in the wrong direction!
It’s a no-stress event.
Interested?? Please email Jenny Burdette at cons_friends@gnpa.org to get more information and/or sign up. She can provide more details on how to shoot the event, which park is near you, answer any questions, etc. Mark September 24 on your calendar and bring your camera to a state park for a fun morning!