Mount Rainier National Park is now accepting reservations for the spring 2014 school field trip season on the Mountain. These ranger-led curriculum-based educational programs are available at no charge to school groups on week days through the park’s Education Programs. Programs are tailored to meet the teacher’s identified learning objective and typically take place at Longmire or Paradise.

This spring through a “Connecting Kids to Parks” grant from Washington’s National Park Fund, Mount Rainier National Park will be offering several mini-grants to help subsidize transportation costs for school groups bringing students to the park.

These mini-grants are intended to be cost-share subsidies for bus transportation, so that the maximum amount of students can benefit. Number and size of grants will vary, depending on how many requests we receive relative to our available funding. In order to qualify for the grant and to support our climate friendly park initiative; students must be transported by bus, with one additional support vehicle for the group. We ask that teacher submit signed photo release forms for all students who participate. School groups may not receive more than one grant per school year.

These mini-grants are made possible in an effort to increase the accessibility of park experiences for youth who may not otherwise have an opportunity to visit a national park. In order to be considered for a field trip bus subsidy during the 2013-2014 school year; teachers can request a transportation grant application by contacting Fawn_Bauer@nps.gov. If you need information about the types of programs that are offered and to schedule a program; please contact the Mount Rainier National Park Education Center at (360) 569-6592 or by visiting the park’s web page http://www.nps.gov/mora/forteachers/planafieldtrip.htm.

-NPS-