Bush was in the southwestern Utah park to dedicate the Zion Nature Center, a facility built in 1934 that originally served as a cafeteria part of the year but has been renovated for hosting park functions and the National Park Service's Junior Ranger Program.

"Now the Zion Nature Center is open year-round," said Bush, chairwoman of the National Park Foundation.

The first lady praised the Junior Ranger program as an opportunity for children to learn about the ecology, wildlife and rich history of the country's national parks. Bush said Zion is one of the first national parks in the country to offer the program, and "hopefully the program will inspire [Junior Rangers] to become rangers themselves someday."

Bush plans on staying in the park for nearly a week as part of a tradition she has of vacationing in one of the country's national parks each year with some of her childhood friends.

"To visit national parks makes and fills happy memories," she said.

The first lady said she and her husband both support historical preservation efforts. She mentioned the president's 2003 Preserve America Initiative, which offered federal funds to communities preserving historical structures. Some 486 communities have been recognized for taking part in the program - including 11 in Utah.

"Preservation work in Utah helps educate people to be good stewards of our national treasures," Bush said.

U.S. Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne also spoke to the crowd of about 200 people gathered for the dedication, many using their programs to shade their heads on a day when temperatures reached the upper 90s. He, too, praised the efforts to preserve the nature center and said $500,000 in park fees paid for improvements including insulation, a heating and cooling system, and foundation work.

Kempthorne also encouraged the public to support the president's National Park Centennial Initiative, designed to raise $2 billion through government, private and individual contributions by the centennial of the National Park Service in 2016.

"This is not your typical budget exercise, but a partnership we're asking the public to join in," said Kempthorne.

In addition, he said, the president has proposed increasing the operating budget for the national parks by a billion dollars by 2016.

"Three billion dollars in the next decade will truly prepare us to celebrate as a nation [the parks] and launch them into a second century as grand as the first," he said.

Kempthorne said he has heard positive feedback from members of Congress on both of the president's proposals.

The nature center was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, said Barbara Pahl, regional director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, before Sunday's ceremony. Underwood designed many structures in Western national parks, including the lodges in Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, some in Yellowstone and his last design, the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park.

Pahl said the small nature center has classic elements of Underwood's buildings, including rock columns and bay windows.

"It's wonderful the park embraced this project," said Pahl, who traveled to the dedication ceremony from Denver.

After the ceremony, a reception was held inside the nature center, where Bush met with a select group in attendance. It was a special moment for Jordan Hebner, a 12-year-old from nearby Rockville who had his picture taken with the first lady.

"It was cool she was here and the park is getting some money," he said.

Hebner finished the Junior Ranger program, getting certificates and badges.

"It was pretty fun," he said of the experience.

Gerald Schiefer, one of three people born in the park, also met Bush. Schiefer's father was a park ranger in the 1930s, and he said his family supplied the nature center with milk, butter, cream, chickens and eggs when it was a cafeteria.

"She was wonderful," said Schiefer of the first lady. "She's really down-home. Just down to earth."

mhavnes@sltrib.com

LAURA BUSH, first lady