Your daily outdoor news bulletin for June 6, D-Day in 1944 – that is all.
Park Plan for Healthy Food
For all the beauty, the food options in our National Park System can leave a little to be desired. Well, that appears to be about to change. In a National Park Service press release, the park service announced that Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell is teaming up with National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis, and others to make sure visitors will have “additional choices for purchasing healthy, nutritious food at national parks across the country.” Staples like hot dogs and snacks will remain said Jewell, but there will be a joint effort by the government and the concessioners to provide additional, healthier choices like fish tacos and yogurt for the 23 million people who visit national parks each year. With the country’s most visited national park – Great Smoky Mountains National Park by a landslide – and Shenandoah National Park, among others in the region, this is great news for the Southeast, and the country in general, who will no longer have to find sustenance in the form of a vending machine candy bar, greasy burger, or sloppy plate of fries.
Plates for the Parkway
Speaking of food: Do you love the Blue Ridge Parkway? Do you love to eat? Then, boy do we have something for you! The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is teaming up with area restaurants for the second annual Plates for the Parkway benefit. From June 10-13, participating restaurants will donate at least 10 percent of proceeds from meals to benefit the foundation, who protect the parkway. Locations in Asheville, Blowing Rock, Floyd, Waynesboro, and anywhere else the Blue Ridge Parkway is important to the community are all participating, so you should too.
For a full list of participating restaurants and more information on the program, click here.
REI Ends Best Policy Ever…Sort Of
Ultimate outdoor retailer REI has announced that it has overhauled its return policy, moving away from it’s previous “no questions asked” policy, to “you can’t return this” policy. That’s not exactly true, REI will move toward a more traditional return policy, in which you can’t use it, abuse it, and return it. Recreational Equipement, Inc. (REI – sometimes known as Return Everything, Inc.) had a less than stellar economic year in which sales went up, but profits dropped. Basically, they had to stop the policy because too many people were taking advantage of it, which is not surprising because a) this is America, and b) this is America. I’m surprised that they held on this long to be honest.
Read more from Transworld Business here.
