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LATEST NEWS
- National Parks Benefit Obama’s Tourism Initiative and Support Economies Nationwide
May 10, 2012
- Clean Air Groups call on EPA to require Clean up at Minnesota’s Dirtiest Coal Plant
May 9, 2012
- Free March for Parks Event Celebrates Natural Beauty and African American History at Biscayne National Park
April 27, 2012
About the Center for Park Management
We help NPS employees be as effective as possible so that they can focus on what matters most: protecting our national parks.
At the Center for Park Management (CPM), our goal is to promote and enhance the management capacity of the National Park Service (NPS). Working collaboratively with NPS leaders and managers, we develop programs and strategies that help the Service be its most effective. Protecting our nation’s greatest cultural and natural resources is an enormous undertaking, relying on the presence of engaged employees, effective management tools and appropriately allocated financial resources. By helping the NPS be as effective as possible, employees are better equipped to focus on what matters most: protecting our national parks.
Our History
In 1998, NPCA partnered with the National Park Service to launch the National Parks Business Plan Initiative (BPI). This program paired MBA students from the country’s top business schools with NPS park managers and staff to assess existing management procedures and develop business plans to improve the short and long-term management of financial resources within each park. In 2002, this successful program was spun off and is now operated solely by the National Park Service.
Building on the knowledge and insight gained through our work with the BPI program, NPCA formally established the Center for Park Management in 2002.
CPM's work focuses on developing and executing programs to improve field managers' understanding and use of organizational, operational, and financial management tools for the long-term benefit of both park resources and visitors.
CPM is a proponent for management excellence in the NPS. Our role is to act as an agent of change for NPS management practices. Better managed parks are better protected parks, as savings--in both dollars and time--are used for resource protection, education, and interpretation.
Read Our Report
Best Practices in Friends Groups and National Parks
As budgets have grown tighter in recent years, partnerships have become the way for parks to accomplish more with less. Most parks look to their Friends Group for access to resources that would otherwise be unavailable. CPM conducted discussions with various Friends Groups and members of the Park Service to determine the successful partnership ingredients. Seven best practices and related examples are explained to help parks and partners establish fruitful relationships.
For more information on this report contact center@npca.org.
