Park Service marks centennial of national treasures

(AP) — The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th birthday on Thursday with events across the U.S. including the creation of a giant, living version of its emblem in Washington, D.C., a naturalization ceremony on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and an outdoor concert at Yellowstone National Park. The centennial comes as the agency that manages national parks as well as historic places welcomes a new national monument and nature forces some changes in the party in the West.

Living emblem

More than 1,000 kids and adults used brown, green and white umbrellas to create a living version of the park service emblem on the National Mall, which the agency photographed from a helicopter above. The emblem contains elements symbolizing the major facets of the national park system. A Sequoia tree and bison represent vegetation and wildlife, mountains and water represent scenery and recreation and the arrowhead shape represents history and archaeology. The first 1,000 participants were allowed to keep their umbrellas and got T-shirts commemorating the event.

New monument

On Wednesday President Barack Obama created the Katahdin Woods and Waters monument on 87,000 acres in Maine’s North Woods donated by the founder of Burt’s Bees, Roxanne Quimby. The land, which includes stunning views of the state’s tallest mountain, Katahdin, is cherished by Native Americans, and its history includes visits by naturalist Henry David Thoreau and President Theodore Roosevelt.

Nature intrudes

For a time, both fire and ice hindered travel into Yellowstone National Park on the park service’s centennial anniversary. Authorities closed a portion of the popular Beartooth Highway to the park’s northeast entrance Wednesday night because of snow and ice from a summer snowstorm, but the road reopened Thursday morning.

Free admission

The park service is offering free admission to all its sites through Sunday. They’re among 16 free days scheduled throughout the centennial year. Some parks are serving birthday cake and offering ranger talks for the occasion. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park in Maryland is offering free mule-drawn boat rides on Thursday.