Catoctin Mountain Park

Due to increased security measures, portions of Catoctin Mountain Park will be closed effective Friday, Oct. 19, at approximately 11 a.m. Closures are scheduled to continue through Monday, Oct. 22, at approximately noon. Park Central Road is closed between the Camp Misty Mount Entrance and Camp Greentop. Reservations for Poplar Grove, Camp Misty Mount, Camp Greentop and Camp Round Meadow will be honored. Hikers may access trails to Thurmont Vista, Wolf Rock and Chimney Rock as well as the Falls Nature Trail from the Visitor Center Trailheads.

THURMONT, Md. --Due to increased security measures, parts of Catoctin Mountain Park will be closed effective Friday about 8:30 a.m., according to press release from the park. Closures are scheduled to continue through Sunday about 6 p.m., according to the release. Park Central Road will be closed between the Camp Misty Mount entrance and Camp Greentop. Reservations for Poplar Grove, Camp Misty Mount, Camp Greentop and Camp Round Meadow will be honored, according to the release.

Due to increased security measures, portions of Catoctin Mountain Park will be closed effective Friday, Oct. 19, at approximately 11 a.m. Closures are scheduled to continue through Monday, Oct. 22, at approximately noon. Park Central Road is closed between the Camp Misty Mount Entrance and Camp Greentop. Reservations for Poplar Grove, Camp Misty Mount, Camp Greentop and Camp Round Meadow will be honored. Hikers may access trails to Thurmont Vista, Wolf Rock and Chimney Rock as well as the Falls Nature Trail from the Visitor Center Trailheads.

Due to increased security measures, parts of Catoctin Mountain Park will be closed Friday at about 2 p.m. Closures are scheduled to continue through Sunday at about 6 p.m. Park Central Road will be closed between the Camp Misty Mount entrance and Camp Greentop. Reservations for Poplar Grove, Camp Misty Mount, Camp Greentop and Camp Round Meadow will be honored. Hikers may access trails to Thurmont Vista, Wolf Rock and Chimney Rock, as well as the Falls Nature Trail, from the Visitor Center Trailheads.

It was the opportunity to move her classroom to an outdoor, hands-on setting that prompted North Hagerstown High School teacher Wendy Fraker to seek grants for an overnight learning experience at Catoctin Mountain Park in Thurmont, Md., in the fall.  Fifty-five students in her International Baccalaureate biology and IB physics classes traveled Oct. 19 and 20, 2011, to Camp Greentop for the experience. Fraker began writing the grant proposal in April 2011, with the funding covering food, camp rental, and transportation to and from the camp.

It was the opportunity to move her classroom to an outdoor, hands-on setting that prompted North Hagerstown High School teacher Wendy Fraker to seek grants for an overnight learning experience at Catoctin Mountain Park in Thurmont, Md., in the fall.  Fifty-five students in her International Baccalaureate biology and IB physics classes traveled to Camp Greentop for the experience on Oct. 19 and 20, 2011. Fraker began writing the grant proposal in April 2011, with the funding covering food, camp rental and transportation to and from the camp.

In what a local tourism official said is an example of the importance of tourism to the local economy, the number of paid visitors at Antietam National Battlefield increased by 14,991 in 2010, and visitors spent more than $19 million, according to the National Park Service. On the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, which stretches from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Md., 359,557 more people visited the towpath in 2010 than in 2009, according to an annual report compiled to measure the economic impact of national parks across the country.

Hagerstown Police Department Officer Bradley Helman was named officer of the month for August. Helman has been employed with the Hagerstown Police Department for 21 years and is assigned to the Charlie Platoon of the Uniformed Patrol Division. Over the past several months, the Hagerstown YMCA has been experiencing a number of thefts from the men's locker room and from vehicles on the parking lot. Helman recently took a report for the theft of a cellphone and cash.

Debra Mills, park ranger at Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, received the National Capital Region's Freeman Tilden Award for Interpretive Excellence. Mills received the Tilden Award in recognition of the First Bloom program, a year-long project with Robert Moton Elementary School in Westminster, Md. She tailored the project to introduce the natural world and national parks to 80 fourth-graders, many of whom had previously experienced the outdoors only through television and computers.

After months of anticipation, three Maryland national parks have had their grant applications accepted, and the National Park Foundation is giving the parks a total of $39,700 toward improvements and learning projects. According to a press release, the NPF is giving Antietam National Battlefield $18,250 to build new trails through the Active Trails Grant. The NPF is also giving $11,000 to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park and $10,450 to the Catoctin Mountain Park through Park Stewards Grants.