By Corinne Irwin, Chair
Spring Activities
In accordance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, the District of Columbia, and the National Park Service, we are making major changes to our Spring activities.
Titanic Day of Service
Our second annual Titanic Day of Service is cancelled. We will schedule work parties again once social distancing guidelines allow for them.
City Nature Challenge
The City Nature Challenge is undergoing major modifications in light of the global pandemic. DC’s 2020 City Nature Challenge leaders have provided guidance about ways we can re-tool the challenge to help participants:
- Learn about our local plants and animals
- Enjoy nature’s restorative power in troubled times
- Promote everyone’s health & safety
We’ll send an update in the next week or so with our revised plans.
More from the National Park Service
The National Park Service sent Park Partners like the Friends a notice with their current status:
- [NPS will] continue welcoming visitors where appropriate social distance could be maintained, primarily in outdoor settings. The memorials, monuments, and grounds will remain open as will the restrooms, for now. All other visitor facilities have been closed and interpretive programs suspended.
- Although most of the Cherry Blossom Festival events have been cancelled, the Tidal Basin and Hains Point will be open to visitors. We expect peak bloom to occur at the end of this week. We’ll supplement our restrooms with portable toilets, but all programming and promotion has been cancelled and a Welcome Area will not be offered. One way traffic patterns will be in effect and the swan boat parking area will be closed to limit gatherings and maximize open space (this event may no longer be open to the public, see below).
We want to emphasize that this is the status as of March 18, 2020. Status may change rapidly, so please review NPS’s Public Health Update for the latest status as you plan trips to any of our National Parks.
Over the next weeks and months, we encourage you to visit Titanic Memorial Park, as you are able and in accordance with guidance and regulations at the Federal and Local level. The restorative powers of nature are important in these uncertain times.
Visit Friends of Titanic Memorial Park at http://www.fotmpdc.org/ for more information.Due to the rapidly evolving Coronavirus outbreak, many events have been canceled or postponed. For up-to-date information, go tohttps://coronavirus.dc.gov/.