If you know me well, you know that I am a believer in action over words. I rarely post something political or cause-based on social media unless I am actively involved in it. Zero judgement to those who feel that advocacy alone is their personal calling (or perhaps their only capacity), I am only speaking for myself here.
As of late, I have posted frequently about my concern surrounding budget cuts and the future of the National Park Service. I am among many in my community. I am stressed over the lack of care and staffing our beautiful parks are facing at this time and moving forward. There are a lot of resources that can help explain what impacts these budget cuts, lease terminations, and employee layoffs are having, and are estimated to have in the future. They will do so more eloquently than I can. I am not writing this post with intent to debate the political elements of it, I am writing to offer the only thing I know to be potentially useful at the moment-recommending ways to get involved if this topic matters to you too. Some of these recommendations are things I didn’t know about until doing more research, so maybe they will be insightful for you as well. At the end of the day, the reality is that things are changing that will impact land, communities, and ecosystems. We will see what the future holds, but the concrete things we have to work with right now are what has already occurred and what fresh calls to action and opportunities it has offered up to get more involved.
I have signed petitions, continue to do research and ask questions, and have written to my representatives even though I don’t know if it will ever be read by them personally. So, in the meantime, I will keep increasing my volunteer cadence, keep visiting the National Parks in my region and collecting trash from trails as I go. I will keep increasing my donation volume when I can and continue to seek ways to lend my time and energy to the lands I hold dear.
Here are ideas for getting involved if you feel the desire:
Donate: Donations help preserve the lands and historical sites protected by the National Park Foundation. Here is a direct link to the NPF donation site: Make A Gift – National Park Foundation
Volunteer: The National Park Service has a lot of volunteer opportunities- to include virtual volunteering! There are so many ways to get involved: Education, campground hosting, hands on work at sites, research, photography, event management, graphic design, work in language translation, help with academic archives, and much more! Do a search and see if there are things that interest you or align with your skills: Volunteer With Us (U.S. National Park Service).
Attend Park Events: Parks often host events like ranger talks, education programs or annual seasonal celebrations. Attendance increases your awareness and education, provides insight to goings-on in the park, and often involves vendors that support the park as well. Also, attendance numbers are often reported for program evaluation which can impact funding to the park.
Buy park merchandise: Proceeds from park gift shops go towards park funding! Many parks have online partner store options now, so you don’t necessarily have to visit to make a purchase! Take a look: National Park Online Gift Shop, Souvenirs | National Parks Partnership, Passport To Your National Parks – America’s National Parks.
Join fundraising groups or associated “friends” groups: These groups offer opportunities to advocate, educate, organize volunteering in small groups, and fundraise. You can often find them via a quick online search, by looking through the website specific to your park of interest, or by searching the name of the park and associated friend group. For example ” Friends of Zion National Park“. Other groups that I found in research: Grand Canyon Conservancy, Yellowstone Forever, Rocky Mountain Conservancy.
Write to your representatives: If you feel inclined to add your voice via writing to your representatives, I cheer you on. Some do not believe in the power of this notion. However, I do still believe in participation and speaking up. I’d rather try and fail than to have not added my voice at all. To each their own! Your first step is to research who your representatives are (can also visit Homepage | house.gov and U.S. Senate). Most government and administration sights have information directly related to writing to your representative. If you are unsure of how, here is a useful resource to guide you in the basics: Speaking up for public lands: how to write a letter to your representatives – Trust for Public Land
Informationally:
The House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources are two committees that directly affect the National Park Service.
Host a park clean-up: With staffing numbers hanging in the balance, and visitors still entering parks, typical issues like trash on trails will need additional support. You can organize and host your own group clean up event! I am on an app called Geneva in which people in our region post about local cleanup efforts frequently (that isn’t the point of the app, but it is used accordingly by members). If you don’t have an app that lends to this, it’s incredibly easy to reach out to friends and family, set a date and time window and make a difference. Don’t forget personal protective gear when handling other people’s trash and seek proper disposal bins at the park!
It is also important to remember to practice and educate others about Leave-No-Trace Principles in an effort to decrease the need to pick up trash to begin with. I used to take for granted that this principle was engrained in me from childhood. With that lens, it can be easy to forget that it is not something that everybody understands or has been taught. A lot of people genuinely don’t realize how their small action has big impact. It’s been my experience that its always worth approaching others when encountering bad practices in nature BUT with gentleness and very humble educational posture, rather than submitting to the instinct to show annoyance. I have been pleasantly surprised at how far this has gone in my own experiences approaching people in parks. I hope you find this to be true as well.
NPS Citizen Science Projects: I have quite a few friends who are bird watchers, so this one made me think of you! Did you know that there are programs where you can contribute observational data to the National Park Service research teams? I find this particularly cool if it’s something you already do for your own pleasure- you could help with Get Involved – Citizen Science (U.S. National Park Service) in the process! If you don’t already, and have an itch to try, it’s very approachable.
Adopt a Trail: If you have the time and desire, you can adopt a trail to help monitor and maintain with the National Park Service!
These are just some offerings of ways to get involved. I hope that one or two ideas may have sparked a fresh interest in you. Maybe we will run into each other volunteering or just out and about in the parks this year! Happy trails!
“There is nothing so American as our national parks…. The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt