National Scenic Visitors Center/Earthwalk USA

Engineering the largest walkable relief map in the universe

Welcome to the NSVC Board…

We extend a hearty and appreciative welcome to two new NSVC board directors; Dr. Phil Reeder and Stacy Krenn.

Dr. Phil Reeder is Dean of Duquesne University’s Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences. Phil’s research and areas of expertise focus on environmental change, paleo-climate and landscape evolution; environmental education, sustainability and the human role in environmental change; and paleo-environments, geoarchaeology and cultural landscape evolution. Prior to joining the Bayer School as Dean, Dr. Reeder served as Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Geography Department, at the University of Southern Florida. In 1994, Reeder served as a prestigious Fulbright Scholar in Peru, where he led workshops about the environment for Peruvian educators and conducted environmental contamination and geoarchaeological research. Dr. Reeder’s work has appeared in the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, Focus on Geography, Professional Geographer and Geoarchaeology and Karst: A New Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his master’s degree in Geography from Western Kentucky University, and his bachelor’s degree in Earth Science from Frostburg State University.

Stacy Krenn is a young Pittsburgh-based photographer, adventurer and distinguished employee at REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc), a leader in the outdoor equipment field. REI is a co-op business with roughly a million members. In 2015, Stacy distinguished herself at REI as their Anderson Award Winner, a national award given to an outstanding employee. In a recent leave of absence from REI, Stacy spent 14 months on the road, visiting and photographing 52 National Parks in 52 weeks, as well as parks in Canada and other natural sites. A Penn State graduate, Stacy has previous non-profit and social media experience.

2018 Family & Friends Appeal

THANK YOU to all who have helped us start the year with your support…!

If you want to join those who have responded to our Family & Friends Appeal, please consider a contribution.

Matt Kambic, Mary Ellen Snyder, Dan Beaupre, Ray Ghelardi, Vicki Kulifay, and Waverly Walker established the National Scenic Visitors Center / Earthwalk USA non-profit in January 2016. Together, we’re creating a tactile, immersive experience that showcases the remarkable physical nature of the USA.

When completed, you and your friends and family will be able to walk across the largest relief map on Earth. And help us champion environmental stewardship along the way.

We hope you’ll consider making a contribution to this slightly audacious, expressly adventurous, and sure-to-be iconic national project. In a time when the world is spinning with sensory overload from flat screens, our map will be a meeting place of feet, minds, and hearts over our common and shared ground, featuring real air, walkable distances and actual gravity!

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Clicking on the Donate link will take you to our secure, encrypted, SSL web menu, where the organization we work with, Flipcause, will attend to the transaction. (You can read about Flipcause’s comprehensive security measures here.)

Now back to our map-making…!

The NSVC concept in 30 seconds

3D renderings courtesy of CADnetics, Inc. Music courtesy of Matthew Walker/Alan Berliant.

Earthwalk Traveler developments

A brief update on our traveling, smaller version of the Earthwalk USA map.

The Earthwalk TravelerSM (ET) exhibit is being designed as a compact but powerful traveling museum exhibit. The ET team is expanding weekly, with a host of contributors adding to the pool of creativity and knowledge as we move forward.

By creating a transformative proof-of-concept piece, the NSVC can achieve several goals:

Engineer a working example of what the full scale Earthwalk USA map might look like
Get the exhibit out into the world and under the feet of audiences
Consolidate the team and ideas necessary by focusing on a more immediate and realizeable goal
Create a 4 ft. x 8 ft. physical prototype portion of the planned 100 yard NSVC map
Take a tremendous step forward on the road to opening day at the NSVC

We’ll be updating this site with concept sketches and more glimpses of the EWT in the next few months. For more details, click here.
Onward…!

NSVC traveler glimpses

NSVC Board Member Ray Ghelardi reports on his visit to Alaska this summer…

‘Alaska is incredible…I have never seen such wild, spectacular and savagely rugged terrain before, and with nobody living in it. There are more bears in Alaska than people. Flew into Denali National Park, visited Skagway, Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka and others. Saw the Hubbard and Mendenhall glaciers among others. Spent time with a four time winner of the Iditarod (Jeff King, a wonderful guy) etc. We will have a challenge presenting the wonders of Alaska in the map project! Amazing terrain! The largest national park in the US is in Alaska, the Tongass National Forest…..HUGE and beautiful.”

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The National Scenic Visitors Center is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. We welcome your tax-deductible contributions!

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