Bold Moves at 50

At age 50, the National Park Foundation is moving boldly to benefit the National Park System. Together with partners and supporters across the country, we’re hitting our stride.

Resources and Relationships

What began with an act of Congress and a mission to support America’s treasured places, the National Park Foundation has grown and evolved over five decades. We first gained experience and then expertise required to protect land inside park boundaries, build and strengthen the parks community across the country, and improve the visitor experience.

Some milestones include:

1970: The National Park Foundation preserves land at Blue Ridge Parkway, Gettysburg National Military Park, Death Valley National Park, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, Muir Woods National Monument, and Virgin Islands National Park

1974: The National Park Foundation sponsors an anthropological study of native Alaskan village life along 1,300 miles of traditional dogsled trading routes

1984: The National Park Foundation helps fund improvements to visitor facilities at Bryce Canyon National Park, Death Valley National Park, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Grand Canyon National Park, Mammoth Cave National Park, Olympic National Park, Padre Island National Seashore, and Zion National Park

1994: The National Park Foundation launches the first Friends Initiative to help build and strengthen local citizen organizations working at the grassroots level to support individual parks

2000: The National Park Foundation launches a new corporate partner program with five major companies

2007: The National Park Foundation hosts the Leadership Summit on Partnership and Philanthropy with hundreds of park community leaders in attendance

Fast forward to the past several years, when we really started thinking and planning for the future of the National Park Service. There’s nothing like celebrating the 100th birthday of your official partner to get you to think longer term.

As we invested more in connecting a wider audience to national parks and strengthening collaborations with local philanthropic organizations and other partners, we generated increasing levels of support for these places. Last year, we provided more than $126 million in support to vital national park projects. We conserved more than 89,000 acres of land, awarded 732 grants to 302 parks and public lands, restored and repaired 112 miles of trails, helped Yellowstone National Park strengthen relations with 26 affiliated Native American tribes, introduced 1,225 adults with disabilities to parks through Wilderness Inquiry canoeing activities, and made it possible for 614 young people to be hired at 42 national parks.

#WeAreParks

Due in part to the success of the Find Your Park/Encuentra Tu Parque movement, park visitation increased from 273 million visits in 2013 to nearly 331 million in 2016. And, we’re expecting 2017 to top that.

We’re thrilled to see the rise in attendance and also recognize the challenges it presents to these treasured places. Keeping that in mind, we’re focusing on raising awareness about lesser-known parks and experiences, channeling the momentum of public interest toward less congested and equally magnificent locations across the National Park System. Not only that, we’re also inspiring people to support and give back to national parks through our Centennial Campaign for America’s National Parks. With millions more people visiting these natural and cultural gems, we must now ensure they have what they need to not only survive, but also thrive into the future.

Part of that is helping people better understand the roles we all play in the national park story. Since the very beginning, private citizens and companies helped establish the national parks and it is up to us to keep that legacy alive. One of the ways we’re doing this is with a new effort to bring together a cross-sector collaborative of community leaders, students, veterans, conservationists, philanthropists, businesses, and others to determine how to collectively increase financial contributions and volunteer and service corps support to parks.

In our 50th year, we invite you to join us in making bold moves to support our national parks and help ensure they’ll be around for generations to come.

Together with the National Park Service and partners across the country, the National Park Foundation will be sharing stories of how its support, and park philanthropy in general, is making unique experiences possible and helping to protect the places we all love. You too can take part in the conversation using #WeAreParks. Learn more on the National Park Foundation’s blog.