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Healthy Parks - Healthy Living is a new National Park program, brought to you by Wal-Mart and Lipton Tea/Unilever.
Pasted below is a relevant article from today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. And here is a relevant quote from NPS Director Mainella
"The National Park Service is working with Unilever's LIPTON® brand to renew America's commitment to wellness. We invite you to enjoy your National Parks - not just as destinations - but as everyday outdoor recreation retreats."
You can read Mainella's quote and learn more about this new program at: www.nationalparks.org/proudpartners/partner_unilever_lt.shtml
The weird thing is, I thought Fran Mainella recently said she was not going to allow National Parks to be used as props or as backdrops for commercial interests trying to sell stuff!? Perhaps I misunderstood her.
Scott
PS... If you want to see how BRAZENLY the National Parks and Unilever are being abused as props/backdrops for selling stuff, click on this link http://homebasics.eprize.net/win/index.tbapp?affiliate_id=4k . If you want to know what's behind the new found interest in promoting the national parks as playgrounds, click on this link to a new report titled "Addressing the Role of National Parks to Promote Healthful Recreational Activities: An Outcome-Based Approach" www.nps.gov/pub_aff/healthrec_PDF/HEALTH&REC_BOARDREPORT.pdf
Here's a quote from this report.
Measurement of active visits could be achieved through the use of: pedometers, infra-red counters, visual observation, surveys, on-line self-reported log of activity (including use of existing opportunities such as the President's Challenge program, offered by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports), a passport program, GPS monitoring, wearable radio frequency identification (RFID) tags similar to those used for marathons and other events and other creative means.
ARC's name appears at the end of the report.
Scott
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www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocratNW/2006/06/15&ID=Ar03700&Section=Sports
FITNESS BRIGADE FORMED
Another Saturday gathering at Pea Ridge National Military Park was all
about building fences within the park and between the park and nearby
communities.
Early in the morning, dozens of Wal-Mart employees, along with family
and friends, joined to extend the split-rail fences of the type that
lined the fields and roadways when a Civil War battle was fought there
in 1862.
Previous fence-building efforts by the Wal-Mart volunteers in recent
years have extended the historic fence lines by several miles while
saving the park nearly $100,000 in labor costs.
In the early afternoon, park Superintendent John Scott announced the
park's initiation of the new Healthy Parks-Healthy Living Program
sponsored by the National Park Foundation and Lipton Tea.
Pea Ridge is one of only six national parks chosen to participate in a
new program designed to encourage area residents to become regular
visitors not only to review the park's history, but also to utilize its
roads and trails for biking, walking and horseback riding.
The sprawling park's seven-mile tour road and associated trails had much to do with its selection for the program.
"We want to encourage families in our area to use the park to promote
their fitness, wellness and vitality," Scott said, adding that the
park's natural and serene setting could also promote mental well-being
as well.
The event included quite a bit of swearing, as in taking an oath to
become members of the 1st Health Brigade. In the manner in which
soldiers were sworn in to serve in the Civil War, several volunteers
dressed as Union officers joined Scott in leading members of the crowd
in a pledge to join the brigade.
A highlight of the ceremony was the arrival of a truck bearing 40 new
bicycles donated by Wal-Mart to help kick off the fitness program. The
bikes of various types and sizes for youth and adults will be available
free for use on the park's roads and trails. Visitors will be able to
check the bikes out upon arrival or reserve them beforehand.
To further foster the Healthy Living Program, the park will initiate a
schedule later this month of being open 5-8 p.m. two days each week to
allow fitness activities at a time when the roads will be closed to
vehicle use.
In addition, a designated "vitality coordinator" will be on hand during
the summer. Augusta Arling, a junior at the University of Arkansas at
Fayetteville, will lead special fitness programs associated with park
facilities.
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- Privatization 
