Kartchner Caverns State Park provides tours that see over 150,000 people annually and the information that rangers provide on the tours is crucial to the experience. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community has been missing out on a vital part of the experience, until now.
Recreational Trail Program (RTP) funds helped Kartchner Caverns State Park create a more inclusive experience for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. Three interpreters have been trained to assist in the tours from Arizona Freelance Interpreting Services. In the spring of of 2019 the program, which they call "Sign Language Saturdays" begun, and since then has served thousands of people. This is just one example of an innovative use of RTP funds, which are used all over the country, on every kind of trail, to help improve our nation's outdoors. Check out the gallery below of the Sign Language Saturday program.
