Washington, DC –. National Parks on the ocean are more than just places to play or work on your tan-- some visitors will work up a sweat volunteering on behalf of the environment. Several parks offer educational programs that highlight the beauty and cultural values of America’s coastal resources.

President George W. Bush has proclaimed June 2007 as National Oceans Month and the National Park Service invites you to participate by visiting some of the nation’s most beautiful landscapes, above and below the water, in the National Parks. The National Park System conserves more than 5,100 miles of beaches, coral reefs, kelp forests, wetlands, historic shipwrecks and forts, and other features that attract more than 76 million visitors every year. In 75 parks spanning 25 coastal states and U.S. territories, people come to camp, fish, snorkel, scuba dive, boat, and watch wildlife.

The NPS provides a web site that offers many opportunities to learn about our parks as well as programs that conserve underwater and oceanic treasures and address various conservation issues associated with these unique resources. We encourage everyone to visit, Above and Below the Waves: Coastal and Oceanic Treasures Conserved in the National Park System at http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/oceans/conserve.htm

“I invite everyone to celebrate National Oceans Month by visiting one of our 75 parks on the coast,” said NPS Director Mary A. Bomar. “The National Park Service is proud to manage these spectacular places on behalf of the American people, and works hard to restore and conserve the grandeur of our ocean resources in the National Park System for future generations.”

The Above and Below the Waves web site describes how marine life abounds in coral reefs in Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Islands, and in kelp forests in California and the Pacific Northwest. Salt marshes framed by barrier islands provide a haven for birds, and fish and wildlife along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Glaciers and fjords offer a stunning backdrop to thousands of years of native traditions and tribal culture in Alaska, and shipwrecks and maritime museums record centuries of commerce and military history. Each of these 75 parks maintains a rich legacy of ocean wildlife, native culture, U.S. maritime history, and beautiful landscapes above and below the waves. The following are just a few of the volunteer opportunities and educational programs taking place in ocean parks.

Volunteer Opportunities and Educational Programs taking place in Ocean Parks:

Volunteer Divers Converge on Parks for July Fish Count Channel Islands NP and Biscayne NP will participate in the Great Annual Fish Count (GAFC), an underwater event that inspires recreational SCUBA divers and snorkelers to aid scientists in monitoring fish populations across America’s oceans. Each Park will host training seminars for volunteer divers and snorkelers and conduct surveys of fish populations in Park waters, in cooperation with the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). On Saturday, July 21, Biscayne National Park will host a coral reef fish identification seminar followed by a specially-priced dive survey trip to one of the park's coral reefs in cooperation with the Park concession Biscayne National Underwater Park, Inc. If you want to just see the underwater sights, ranger-led glass-bottom boat rides and snorkel tours are available for a fee on other days. Channel Islands NP will participate again this year with REEF and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in co-sponsoring seminars and fish counts around the islands’ kelp forests and other marine habitats.

Biscayne National Park is located near Homestead, Florida just south of Miami. Go to www.nps.gov/bisc and click on Great Annual Fish Count. Or call the Park at 305-230-7275 ext 0.

Channel Islands National Park consists of several islands along the southern California coast near Santa Barbara to just north of Los Angeles. www.nps.gov/chis Call Julie Bursek, 805-382-6141.

Beachgoers Track Sea Turtles at Padre Island Volunteers can help to save the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle at Padre Island National Seashore, and then watch as turtle hatchlings scamper into the waves during scheduled hatchling releases. Most of the remaining Kemp’s ridley turtles found in the U.S. nest on the Texas coast and North Padre Island. A record 102 Kemp’s ridley nests were documented along the Texas coast in 2006, compared with just six nests a decade earlier. Sixty-four of the nests were found at Padre Island National Seashore. Beach visitors and volunteers find and report about half of all nests recorded at the National Seashore. Sea turtle eggs are transported to an incubation facility for protection and monitoring. The hatchlings from the eggs are then released.

The Seashore is located on North Padre Island, southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas. www.nps.gov/pais For more information on attending hatchling releases, call the Hatchling Hotline at (361) 949-7163. Call (361) 949-8068 for volunteer programs.

Sail Back Through Time at San Francisco Maritime Museum Students can embark upon an exciting educational adventure back in time to the San Francisco Barbary Coast aboard a turn-of-the-century schooner. The Park includes the fleet of historic vessels at Hyde Street Pier, the Maritime Museum, and the Maritime Museum Library. Historic ships provide a unique point of departure into the world of living history. Visitors learn traditional arts such as boatbuilding and woodworking in Park classes and workshops; and schoolchildren can spend the night aboard the 1895 schooner C.A. Thayer. The Park provides unique opportunities for docents, interns and volunteers to preserve our maritime culture. The current Museum exhibit is "Sparks, Waves and Wizards: Communications at Sea."

San Francisco Maritime Museum is located at the west end of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. www.nps.gov/safr or call (415)561-7100.

Glacier Bay Puts Education on Cruise Control Nature education takes to the water at Glacier Bay National Park in the Cruise Ship Junior Ranger Program for children ages 6-12 and Explorer Program for teens. The Junior Ranger program is a shipboard collaboration between NPS and cruise ship companies that brings natural and cultural history to life against the backdrop of towering glaciers. Children learn about native culture from Tlingit Tribe storytellers and dancers. The Explorer program engages teenagers in watching Glacier Bay’s extraordinary wildlife including bears, whales, seals, porpoises and seabirds. The centerpiece is a backpack filled with field guides, binoculars and an activity guide, checked out to youths for the duration of the cruise.

Glacier Bay National Park is located in Southeast Alaska south of Juneau. For more information, visit http://www.nps.gov/glba or call the Park at (907) 697-2230.

Sailors Pitch-In at Virgin Islands National Park The Virgin Islands National Park is looking for a few good boaters to assist as volunteer Bay Hosts. You must have your own boat and excellent people skills and boating abilities. But you will get free use of moorings, basic sewage pump-out services, and gas for your dinghy. Bay Hosts assist their fellow boaters by disseminating safe-mooring information and overnight mooring fee payment instructions. They also distribute brochures, give directions, and inform boaters of general park rules and regulations, and help with other duties in their assigned bays, which are highly sought after for their crystal turquoise waters, white sand beaches, and vibrant coral reefs.