{"id":103855,"date":"2017-08-30T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boy-9-on-a-mission-to-protect-national-monuments\/"},"modified":"2017-08-30T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T11:00:00","slug":"boy-9-on-a-mission-to-protect-national-monuments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boy-9-on-a-mission-to-protect-national-monuments\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy, 9, on a mission to protect national monuments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><!-- gallery:e4c09a24-edcf-4dc8-9e5b-d3505d1756d2 --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ExQ_0RFyVOA\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Nine-year-old Robbie Bond is on a mission to protect the country\u2019s national monuments and parks, and in the process, he\u2019s well on his way to visiting all 27 sites by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, he checked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blm.gov\/programs\/national-conservation-lands\/colorado\/canyons-of-the-ancients\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Canyons of the Ancients<\/a> in Southwest Colorado off that list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur motto is educate, advocate and protect,\u201d Robbie told The Journal Tuesday at Sand Canyon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you have to do it in that order because you can\u2019t protect things that you don\u2019t understand. So you have to educate people about the monuments and then you can advocate and protect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Robbie and his parents, Robin and Michelle, originally set out in April to visit the nation\u2019s parks and monuments, using the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2vBHFhn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Every Kid in a Park<\/a> pass, initiated by President Barack Obama. The program gives fourth-graders free entry.<\/p>\n<p>However, when U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced earlier this year, at the direction of President Donald Trump, a review of national parks and monuments, Robbie\u2019s vacation turned into vocation.<\/p>\n<p>Zinke recommended last week the shrinking of the boundaries at a handful of national monuments, but refused to make public any specific changes and would not release his report.<\/p>\n<p>With his parents\u2019 help, Robbie started a nonprofit called Kids Speak for Parks to help kids understand the importance of protecting these culturally and ecologically important places.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince President Trump signed the executive order, I decided to do more and make Kids Speak for Parks,\u201d Robbie said.<\/p>\n<p>His father discussed the organization\u2019s possible long-term impact on the order it was created to protest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt had a political component when we first started, but it has become so much more now,\u201d said Robin Bond, who accompanied his son and three friends at Sand Canyon on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt most likely will unfold in the Supreme Court with a lawsuit of some sort, but that wasn\u2019t really our big concern,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom Day 1, it has been about trying to educate kids about the monuments so that they then are able to advocate for them and protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p><div class=\"naviga-social-embed\">&lt;![CDATA[\n<div class=\"row hide-for-small-only\">\n<div class=\"leaderboard-ad\">\n<!-- \/3200696\/cj_0_bestof_728x90_top -->\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1537547612612-0\" style=\"height:90px;width:728px\">\n<script>\ngoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1537547612612-0'); });\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--[if lte IE 8]&gt; \n\n<div style=\"width: 100%;background: red;border: 1px black;padding-top: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px;color: #fff;text-align: center;font-weight: bold;font-size: 18px\"> Sorry, you are using an unsupported browser. This page will not display correctly.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whatbrowser.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Please click here to upgrade to a newer browser. <\/a> <\/div>\n\n &lt;![endif]--> <script src=\"https:\/\/embed-492833.secondstreetapp.com\/Scripts\/dist\/embed.js\">\/**\/<\/script>]]&gt;<\/p><\/div>\n\n<p>Robbie\u2019s quest has attracted the attention of the <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/HcLWTF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Huffington Post<\/a> and Patch.com, and even earned the sponsorship of outdoor clothing and gear company Patagonia.<\/p>\n<p>To date, Robbie and his family, from Hawaii have visited 10 national monuments throughout California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. He plans to finish visiting all the parks by the end of the year, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked what he would tell Trump if he had the chance, Robbie said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would probably ask him to go to the monuments because you can\u2019t really experience the monuments without going to them,\u201d he told The Durango Herald. \u201cHe should learn about them because I think if he does, he\u2019ll have an appreciation for them and not get rid of them or downsize them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robin said he didn\u2019t expect to receive the attention they did on a family vacation. Now, on visits to monuments or parks, knowledgeable locals, scientists and tribal members show up and give them a tour.<\/p>\n<p>Michelle, Robbie\u2019s mother, said the response has been overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just been wonderful hearing from so many people all over the world, sending emails, wishing him the best and standing up for his cause,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re really proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robbie, through Kids Speak for Parks, hopes to connect more kids with the monuments through getting them actually in the parks and more innovative ways such as virtual reality tours.<\/p>\n<p>He met Chris, Nick and Logan Kamper at his Durango hotel, and told them about his mission. The three boys and their mother, Lauri Medina, joined him Tuesday at Sand Canyon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Kids Speak for Parks Education Fund is a program where we are going to be teaching kids about National Parks and Monuments using virtual reality,\u201d Robbie said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are going to be meeting people who know a lot about the parks and monuments so that the teachers at the schools can Skype them or Face Time them and so the kids could ask the expert about, \u2018Hey what is that plant thing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The opportunity to use media and virtual reality is something the organization hopes will fuel a passion for national monuments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBringing kids into the monuments through that VR experience is going to be something amazing,\u201d Robin said. \u201cI didn\u2019t like reading out of books when I was a kid, and it is going to give them an experiential exercise through this device.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The project has visited 10 national monuments so far: Giant Sequoia, Periso Plain, Bears Ears, Grand Staircase Escalante, Sand to Snow, Mojave Trails, Gold Butte, Basin Range, Craters Of The Moon and now Canyons of the Ancients. After their stop in Colorado, Robbie and Robin plan to visit national monuments in Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>To keep up with their travels, follow their Facebook page at: facebook.com\/kidsspeakforparks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hawaiian family visits Canyons of the Ancients<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-103855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103855"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=103855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}