5 ways to celebrate National Public Lands Day

Celebrate Public Lands Day in Virginia State Parks

Take advantage of free parking, volunteer opportunities and more on National Public Lands Day at Virginia State Parks on September 28. Here are five ways to celebrate!

Within your 43 Virginia State Parks, there are 80,000 acres of public lands set aside for Virginians to enjoy. Parking fees are waived* for you on National Public Lands Day (NPLD) so that there’s no barrier for you to explore.

For those who want to give back, you can join thousands across the nation who opt to support public lands by volunteering on this day. If you’ve ever volunteered at a park, you know that it’s so satisfying to do your part to better the lands we collectively own. It’s also a great opportunity to make fellow outdoor-loving friends, earn useful skills and support your well-being just by being in nature.

While volunteering is at the heart of National Public Lands Day, you may need to start with just exploring and getting to know your parks first. Did you know there’s a state park within an hour’s drive of every Virginian? Find a park.

Know before you go. Check the website of the park you intend to visit for any alerts. Be weather aware, check the park's weather forecast before heading out and prepare accordingly.

Explore your parks:

Use this day as an excuse to go on self-guided adventures, attend special educational events, go on guided hikes and more.

A great way to get to know a state park, is with self-guided activities. Ask a ranger at the park entrance or stop into the park’s visitor center for activity sheets. You can also download them here. Many of the activity sheets are scavenger hunts.

Shenandoah River State Park will have a Park Wide Scavenger Hunt! Explore the park in an adventurous new way! Stop by the visitor center early to pick up your scavenger hunt list. You'll have till 3 p.m. to complete everything on the list. Hike the Bluebell trail, take a selfie at Cullers Overlook, take a picture of something red, identify an invasive species, and pick up five pieces of trash - these are just a few things you'll find on your list. Whichever individual or team can complete all the tasks in the shortest time will be crowned the winner!

Learn while you explore:
The following special events happening on NPLD provide great learning opportunities about your natural world.

Claytor Lake - Track Trails Hike
Sweet Run - Bird Hike with Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy
False Cape - Blue Goose Wildlife & History Tram Tour
New River Trail - Bertha Cave Explorers
Hungry Mother - Trailgate
Leesylvania - Wetland Hike

Explore the trail:
Park trail maps are another resource to explore the park. While you’re exploring trails, you may as well sign up for Trail Quest! Click here to learn about the program. To get the most out of a hike, sign up for a ranger guided one. See opportunities below.

Wilderness Road - Pioneer Trail Guided Hike
Powhatan - Ranger Led Hike - Coyote Run Trail
Claytor Lake - Tree Identification Hike
Machicomoco - Guided Hike
False Cape - Ride with the Rangers (bike ride)

Beautify your parks:

Help our rangers cleanup the trails, beaches, and waterways.

Find a list of volunteer opportunities below that contribute to beautifying the park in one way or another. Join NPLD volunteers across the nation who are making sure we leave nature better than we found it!

Belle Isle - Park Cleanup
Chippokes - Beach Cleanup
High Bridge Trail - Bird Survey and Site Cleanup
Douthat - Trail and Picnic Area Cleanup
Staunton River - Riverside Cleanup
Powhatan - Park Clean-up
Claytor Lake - Shoreline Cleanup
Mason Neck - Trail Cleanup
Smith Mountain Lake - Beautifying Five Oaks Trail
Twin Lakes - Cleanup
Holliday Lake - Volunteer Opportunities
Leesylvania - Shoreline Cleanup
Southwest Virginia Museum - Park Beautification

Maintain your parks

Show Virginia State Parks some love on NPLD by offering your labor to help us keep your parks maintained. Your service helps us ensure everyone can easily enjoy the park, including the wildlife who call the parks home.

Belle Isle - Trail Maintenance
Natural Bridge - Spruce Up the Children's Discovery Area
High Bridge Trail - Bird Survey & Site Cleanup
Sky Meadows - Service Project

Remove invasive species from your parks

Invasive plants (non-native species that tend to spread out of control and harm the environment) are unfortunately widespread in Virginia, state parks are no exception. Take pride in your park by helping us remove invasive species so that native flora and fauna can thrive.

Bear Creek Lake - Plant Invaders
Sky Meadows - Service Project
Natural Tunnel - Pretty Problem in the Park
Sweet Run - Identifying and Removing Invasive Plants

Become an official volunteer for your parks

Virginia State Parks depend heavily on volunteers to operate – the 200k+ hours of service given in 2023 equate to the work of 101 full-time employees. Because we are so grateful to volunteer service, there are perks to look forward to!

Earn loyalty points
As your volunteer hours accrue, you will earn loyalty points that can be used to purchase an annual pass, or use them to redeem camping, cabin or yurt stays at any Virginia State Park.

Make friends
Volunteering can help you find your community of like-minded folks who appreciate the outdoors like you do. Park's have Friend Groups which are a huge part of each park's volunteer efforts!

Develop job skills
Parks provide training that help volunteers gain work experience and improve job skills. Volunteer hours can even count as job experience when applying for employment with Virginia State Parks or any state agency.

Find purpose
Becoming a volunteer for Virginia State Parks has helped many people find their purpose in natural and cultural resources.

Learn more and apply to join our volunteer team!

*Waived fee exceptions:

Free parking only applies to our standard parking fees.
In Natural Bridge State Park, access to Natural Bridge is not free since it is a per-person fee, not a parking fee, but parking at their trail heads is free.
Grayson Highlands State Park has a $10 parking fee plus a $5 festival admission fee for the Fall Festival taking place on Sept. 28.
Pocahontas State Park’s Zoso Concert has a $10 special event parking fee.

More public lands

Public lands offer opportunities for outdoor recreation, but they also provide benefits of conservation, floodplain management and improving clean air and water.

DCR also manages Virginia’s 66 natural area preserves, which include examples of some of the rarest natural communities and habitats for rare species in the state. Read and/or download a brochure about Virginia's Natural Area Preserves with public access.