Mass Audubon’s ‘Free Admission’ Offer to Military and Their Families Now Year-Round

LINCOLN, MA.—Mass Audubon is expanding to year-round an offer of free admission to its wildlife sanctuaries for active-duty members of the military and their families.

Since 2014, Mass Audubon has been a participant in the Blue Star Museums program. The collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across the country offers free admissions to the nation’s active duty military personnel, including National Guard and Reserve and their families each summer.

The program typically begins in mid-May and runs through Labor Day in early September. And while it was officially suspended for 2020 because of the pandemic, Mass Audubon maintained the program, and will now honor it 12 months a year.

Service members and/or families need only present a valid military ID card to sanctuary staff; the offer applies to a maximum of five people per ID card.

With trails are now open at all Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuaries, from Cape Cod and the Islands to the Berkshires, U.S. service men and women and their families are welcome to explore fields and woodlands, observe wildlife, and connect with nature in all its variations.

Mass Audubon Vice President of Wildlife Sanctuaries and Programs Gail Yeo noted the value of connecting with nature, especially during COVID-19.

“During these times of stress and uncertainty, never has nature been more important, or more valued,” noted Mass Audubon Vice President of Wildlife Sanctuaries and Programs Gail Yeo. “Our sanctuaries are here to offer those in uniform and their families peace and quiet, as well as the restorative powers of the natural world.”