Search results for “Enhancing the Visitor Experience”
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Blog Post Can Technology Improve the National Park Experience? Should national parks be respites where visitors, young and old, are encouraged to turn off their electronic devices? If so, do national parks risk losing relevancy? One youth group explores how technology can improve the park experience.
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Press Release Administration Censors Climate Science, Harms Visitor Experience at Historic Fort Sumter To censor and erase sound science at this park, where the first shots of the American Civil War rang out, is a deep insult to the Park Service’s hard work and legislative mandate.
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Press Release New Everglades Management Plan Means Improved Visitor Experiences and More Access to the Park After more than a decade of research, planning, and an extensive public comment process, the National Park Service released their final General Management Plan for Everglades National Park.
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Blog Post The Only National Park Planetarium National parks are some of the last, best places in the country to experience naturally dark night skies. Only one U.S. national park site features a planetarium to help visitors learn about the cosmos.
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Blog Post The 'Outrageous Evil' That Led to the Birth of the National Park Service Today, the National Park Service celebrates its 99th birthday. Establishing an agency dedicated to the care of America’s national parks is one of our country’s most visionary accomplishments. The lands and landmarks our park rangers protect are among the world’s greatest wonders.
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Blog Post Meet the Three People Least Impressed with the Grand Canyon Not everyone is amazed by the grandeur of the Grand Canyon—but these three unimpressed girls made one NPCA staffer love the park even more.
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Blog Post The Quietest Place in the Contiguous United States According to a specialized researcher who has been analyzing sound recordings for more than three decades, one park contains the “quietest square inch” in the Lower 48.
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Press Release Angelenos Unite to Support Rim of the Valley Expansion of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area NPCA, The City Project, and local partners call for action to advance the National Park Service's Rim of the Valley special resource study.
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Blog Post Your Guide to 3 Hikes Within the Rim of the Valley Get out there and make a connection with this land in California that could one day be part of the National Park System.
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Magazine Article Over the River and Through the Woods A wintry return to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.
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Press Release Senate Bill Provides Historic Investment to Combat Climate Change as National Parks and Communities Experience More Frequent and Severe Weather If passed, this comprehensive bill would provide nearly $1 billion for NPS to hire more staff and adapt its natural, cultural and historic resources to the changing climate.
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Blog Post The Rise of the National Park Mascots From Major Muskrat to Sunny Saguaro, human-sized mascots help national parks attract new visitors and convey important messages about wildlife and safety.
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Policy Update Public Lands Bills in the 118th Congress NPCA has been working with Congressional champions over the last two years on many bills that will enhance resource protection, historic preservation and visitor access to parks. Leaders in the 118th Congress are working to pull together a package of bills that could pass before the end of the current session. NPCA is hopeful that most of the bills we have been working on will be in the package.
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Blog Post 10 Parks Getting a Boost Through the Great American Outdoors Act 2020’s historic investment continues to improve our national parks. Read about some of the latest maintenance and repair projects and why NPCA urges Congress to extend the act’s funding to finish the job.
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Blog Post Cut to the Bone The Trump administration has threatened to close the National Park Service’s regional offices and cut even more staff in the coming weeks. We examine what that would mean for parks and visitors.
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Blog Post 5 Reasons the ‘Lower Energy Costs Act’ Is a Bad Idea A proposed new energy bill expands mining and fossil fuel production at the expense of our public lands, hurting our national parks and some of the most irreplaceable resources they protect. Let’s not let it become law – the long-term price is too great.
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Blog Post The Irreplaceable Value of National Park Service Staff What would national parks be without rangers and other National Park Service staff? Certainly not the same parks you love to visit. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at why staffing resources should stay strong.
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Policy Update Welcome to the 116th Congress On behalf of all of us who work at the National Parks Conservation Association and our more than 1.3 million members and supporters nationwide, welcome to the 116th Congress.
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Blog Post The Longest Government Shutdown in US History Has Ended. What’s Next for National Parks? We break down the impacts to parks and their staff during the 43-day shutdown and the outlook for the months ahead.
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Policy Update Position on Reauthorization of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act NPCA submitted the following position to members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
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Blog Post 2025 Park Visitation: Prepare for the Unexpected In changes seen and unseen, we outline what you can expect when visiting a national park this year in light of recent changes in the federal government.
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Blog Post The First Park with a Million Visitors The 1930s brought big changes to the National Park System, setting the stage for large increases in tourism, including the first national park site to welcome more than 1 million annual visitors.
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Magazine Article The Ranger Project The stargazers, climbers, paddlers, teachers, naturalists, historians, scientists, rescuers, protectors and dreamers of the National Park Service.
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Press Release Former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Park Service Ranger Betty Reid Soskin Honored at Annual Salute to the Parks Celebration The celebration will focus on people whose stories are told in our parks – and the people who protect those places.
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Blog Post Park Visitation Is Up, Staffing Down. How to Prepare for the Rest of Summer Visiting a national park this summer? Here’s the latest scoop on what’s happening in parks and how you can prepare.
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Blog Post Latinos Are Critical to the Environmental Movement Latino Conservation Week highlights the contributions of Latinos in caring for the environment, while encouraging the community’s culture of stewardship. Here’s how NPCA supports Latino engagement every day.
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Blog Post How the New Administration’s Actions Will Affect National Parks Will there be a shortage of national park rangers this visitation season? Our policy experts weigh in on the latest developments.
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Policy Update The Undoing Of Our Public Lands and National Parks President Trump and the officials he appointed systematically undermined, degraded and outright attacked the laws that protect our public lands, the agencies that manage them and the irreplaceable resources these places safeguard for the American people.
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Policy Update The Undoing Of Our Public Lands and National Parks Since the Trump administration began in January 2017, a series of actions taken at the presidential and departmental level have undermined, degraded and outright attacked the laws that protect our public lands and the agencies that manage them.
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Press Release President Biden Nominates Charles Sams for Director of the National Park Service Today, after more than four years without an official director, President Biden nominated Charles “Chuck” Sams III to be the director of the National Park Service.
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Victory Navajo Citizens Stop Developers from Building an Egregious Resort and Tramway on the Rim of the Grand Canyon Developers have been attempting for years to build a massive 420-acre resort hotel and aerial tramway right on the rim of the Grand Canyon. In February 2018, Western Navajo citizens unanimously opposed allowing this destructive project on their land, effectively ending the threat to this landmark national park and its deeply significant cultural sites.
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NPCA at Work Two National Monuments Under Threat in the California Desert Last year, President Obama protected some of our country’s most spectacular and unique desert lands by designating three national new national monuments. Now, the Department of the Interior could attempt to alter or revoke federal protections for two of these important places.
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NPCA at Work Protect Mojave from the Soda Mountain Solar Project Developers have proposed building the Soda Mountain Solar Project, an industrial-scale renewable energy facility, less than one mile from the boundary of Mojave National Preserve. It would be the closest renewable energy project to a national park site in the entire southwestern United States, in the middle of a critical pathway for desert bighorn sheep.
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Galas Salute to the Parks Join National Parks Conservation Association for Salute to the Parks 2026!
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Testimony Support for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Testimony in support of S. 3300, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act
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Page Trustees for the Parks Become a Trustee for the Parks. Protect America’s national parks with an annual gift of $1,000 or more.
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See a Map Farming in National Parks in the Mid-Atlantic See 14 national park sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed where farmers work with Park Service staff to manage runoff and other environmental threats responsibly.
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See a Map The 10 Featured Restaurants Get easy directions and links to our 10 picks.
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Fact Sheet How to Write a Letter to the Editor Another way to hold your members of Congress publicly accountable on national park issues is to write to your local newspaper. This step-by-step guide explains how.
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google maps Parks in the Arctic See a map of four national park sites in Alaska that are located above the Arctic Circle.
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Amazon See America — the Book A hand-picked collection of artwork from the See America poster project is now available for sale as a book. A portion of the proceeds benefit NPCA.
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Park Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park - Seattle Located in the historic Cadillac Hotel, the Klondike in Seattle bookends the legendary route from the Lower 48 states to the Yukon gold fields during the Gold Rush of the late 1890s.
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NPCA at Work Don’t Put Endangered Wildlife at Risk to Drill Big Cypress A private energy development company wants to conduct seismic testing on 70,000 acres within Big Cypress National Preserve for oil and gas development — paving the way for drilling to begin on an unprecedented scale on national park land.
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Park National Capital Parks-East Includes a rich diversity of sites in Washington, D.C. including the 1,200-acre Anacostia Park along the banks of the Anacostia River, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, and the Fort Circle Parks that protect Fort Dupont and other fortifications to defend Washington during the Civil War.
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Park First Ladies National Historic Site They command the attention of millions and spearhead initiatives that shape our culture, yet for years, no comprehensive resource helped to document and interpret the lives of America’s first ladies. Recognizing this need, enthusiast Mary Regula, wife of a former Ohio congressman, helped establish a bibliography on these leaders. Her efforts led to a National First Ladies Library in 1996 and this historic site in 2000 — one of only a handful of national parks devoted specifically to interpreting women’s history. Though the site preserves the childhood home of one individual woman — First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley — it also archives a wealth of information on the diverse lives of dozens of influential women who served in this rare and distinctive role in American politics and society.
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Letter Great Waters Coalition Opposes Continuing Resolution On behalf of the America’s Great Waters Coalition, we urge you to reject extreme provisions in the House-passed Continuing Resolution that threaten to undermine the restoration and protection of our Great Waters and the millions of jobs and other economic opportunities that depend on them.
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Trip Important Notice After thoughtful evaluation, NPCA has made the very difficult decision to sunset the Educational Travel Program at the end of 2025.
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Staff and Government Affairs Tariq Zahran Tariq brings over ten years of expertise to NPCA, having worked in both the House and Senate, as well as in various NGOs. He joins NPCA as the Director of Cultural Resources in the Government Affairs department.
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Report Turning Point Through individual stories from parks around the country, this report describes how air pollution harms our national treasures. The report also recommends ten specific steps that our government representatives and all of us can take to clean up harmful air pollution and protect our national parks for future generations.
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Park Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River The Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River offers fishing, hiking, hunting, boating, canoeing, and more in the shadow of the famous Delaware Aqueduct.
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Page Next Generation Advisory Council NPCA believes that engaging the next generation is critical to ensuring the protection of our national parks, which is why we launched the Next Generation Advisory Council.
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Page Regional Offices With a network of more than two dozen programmatic locations in 11 regions across the country, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is uniquely positioned to protect our nation's most cherished places. By living and working in and around the parks and communities they serve, NPCA's regional and field staff forge lasting and effective partnerships with advocates, organizations and governments to bridge local advocacy and national policy.
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Sarah Duensing As the Senior Communication Coordinator at NPCA, Sarah Duensing worked on a variety of projects, including the blog, advocacy actions and National Parks magazine.
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Page Join Your tax-deductible gift of $25 or more entitles you to all the exclusive benefits of membership — and helps us protect our beloved national parks from the threats of lack of funding, pollution, overuse . . . and much more.
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Tom Kizzia Tom Kizzia tells the story of Papa Pilgrim in his new book, Pilgrim’s Wilderness. A longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, he has written about Alaska conservation issues for 35 years.
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Page Our Accountability The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is committed to using every dollar you donate efficiently and effectively. Our careful stewardship of your financial support is why we receive such high ratings from charity watchdog organizations, including meeting all of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance Standards for Charity Accountability.
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Partner Events 2026 Climate Ride Events Join the movement and bike, hike or run for our national parks at one of this year's Climate Ride events.
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Ken Ilgunas Ken Ilgunas is the author of “Walden on Wheels,” “Trespassing Across America” and “This Land Is Our Land.” He lives in Scotland.
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Park Kenai Fjords National Park Kenai Fjords National Park offers hiking, kayaking, and the opportunity to see a glacier up close.
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Page Give A Gift Membership Share your passion for the parks by giving someone special an NPCA membership.
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Page Memorial & Tribute Giving Honor the memory of a loved one, commemorate a milestone or celebrate a special occasion while providing a lasting legacy for America’s national parks.
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Page Our Commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion These values lie at the heart of who we are, what we do and how we do it.
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Page Our Values The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is committed to fostering a workplace of excellence to achieve our mission to protect and enhance national parks. Our Core Values of Commitment, Inclusion, Integrity and Respect promote a diverse, ethical and innovative culture and make NPCA an effective organization and a great place to work.
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Fact Sheet Valles Caldera National Preserve The Valles Caldera National Preserve’s unmatched combination of geological wonders and superb recreational values make it worthy of inclusion in our National Park System, with interpretation by America’s elite storytellers—our national park rangers.
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Page Privacy Policy National Parks Conservation Association ("NPCA ," "we," or "us") respects the privacy of personal information. We want you to understand what information about you we may collect and how we may use, share and retain that information.
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Page Contact NPCA NPCA's Washington, D.C., headquarters is in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly building in the Gallery Place-Chinatown neighborhood. NPCA has received Gold LEED certification for its D.C. headquarters.
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Victory Local Stakeholders Give Strong Protections to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks Plan finds a unique balance between conservation, recreation, and energy development, and shows just how much Utahans love their national parks.
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Report Making Connections: Building a Healthy Future for Shenandoah National Park And Its Gateway Communities Drawing on economic data compiled by state and federal agencies, interviews with local residents and leaders, and a variety of research reports and assessments, this report outlines three findings:
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Neil Mortine Neil Mortine is chairman and CEO of Fahlgren Mortine, an award-winning integrated communications company. Fahlgren Mortine helps brands engage in ways that are precise and meaningful through work that dares to make a difference and remaining accountable for getting measurable results.
Pagination