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FEATURED PARK
Glacier National Park, Montana
Glacier National Park in Montana is often called the "Switzerland of North America" for its snow-capped mountains, rugged peaks, deep valleys, and breathtaking views. The park covers 1 million acres and features its namesake glaciers, glacial lakes, and numerous waterfalls. Today, the park is one of the last remaining pristine landscapes in North America.
Unfortunately, scientists predict the last of the park's glaciers will disappear in 2030. In 1850, there were an estimated 150 glaciers in the park--today there are only 26. The park also faces threats from a proposed coal mine in the Canadian headwaters of the Flathead River, which flows south into the United States, to form the park's western boundary. With your help, NPCA is working to protect this magnificent place, home to abundant and rare wildlife, such as the grizzly and lynx, so it will remain one of the world's great treasures. As part of our park protection work, NPCA recently guided a group of conservation photographers on a tour of the region to document what is at risk. And only weeks earlier, National Parks magazine editor Scott Kirkwood spent a week in the park as part of a media tour in preparation for the park's 100th anniversary next spring.
Watch the slideshow > >
OUR LATEST REPORT
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
 Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska was established to protect the spectacular landscapes and pristine watersheds necessary to protect Bristol Bay sockeye salmon and other wildlife that symbolize the untamed nature of Alaska, including brown bears, wolves, and caribou. The park also provides opportunities for subsistence uses (e.g., hunting, fishing, berry picking, and woodcutting) by local rural and native residents.
NPCA's Center for State of the Parks recently reviewed Lake Clark National Park and Preserve's natural and cultural resources. According to this assessment, the park and preserve's natural resources are in "excellent" condition (score of 91 out of 100), while cultural resources received the highest score of any of the more than 60 parks assessed to date (score of 84 out of 100).
The very fact that the natural landscape is in such good shape while supporting the rural lifestyles enjoyed by local subsistence users and community-based commercial fishermen is a testament to National Park Service management and the relationships it has developed with local communities. But these rural lifestyles are at risk from an emerging industrial mining district, anchored by the proposed Pebble Mine, located just outside Lake Clark park boundaries. Predicted mining impacts to the park and preserve are many and include degraded air and water quality (with associated impacts on fisheries), displacement of wildlife and birds, and disturbance of traditional ways of life. Visitor experiences, for tourists and sportsmen alike, may be permanently diminished by the industrial fragmentation of an otherwise boundless Alaskan wilderness landscape.
Read the full report > >
Read the recent article in
National Parks Magazine > >
NPCA AT WORK IN THE PARKS
NPCA Petitions United Nations to Protect Glacier
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to Investigate Threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
 In late June, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee voted to send a fact-finding mission to Canada to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park posed by energy and mining proposals in the adjacent Flathead River Valley. Citing concerns about the threats posed by mining and energy development within the Flathead Valley, the 21-member committee voted unanimously for a 2009 World Heritage Centre mission that will "evaluate and provide recommendations on the requirements for ensuring the protection" of Waterton-Glacier.
"This is an important step forward," said NPCA's Will Hammerquist, who attended the session in Seville, Spain. "The United Nations recognized that both Canada and the United States have a global responsibility to protect Waterton-Glacier, the world's first international peace park."
"Public concern and action made this positive action a reality," added Hammerquist. In recent months over 50,000 citizens from Canada and the United States, including NPCA members and e-activists, sent emails and letters to both the Canadian and U.S. governments asking for immediate action to protect Waterton-Glacier.
NPCA AT WORK IN THE PARKS
Safeguarding National Parks and Their Wildlife from Climate Change
 On June 26, the House of Representatives enacted historic climate legislation. The American Clean Energy Security Act of 2009, also known as ACES, was introduced earlier this year by Congressmen Waxman (D-CA) and Markey (D-MA), and ultimately secured 219 votes to pass the House. The bill will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from major polluters, help the nation transition from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy, and safeguard our parks and natural resources--including plants, fish, and wildlife--from disruptive climate change that is already underway.
National parks are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and are already experiencing a significant increase in wildfires, drought, flooding, a loss of glaciers, and displacement of wildlife. ACES will provide the National Park Service with new tools and resources to safeguard the parks and their wildlife from these climate-related impacts.
NPCA and our members helped ensure that these critical natural resource protection provisions remained in ACES as House leaders negotiated changes necessary to win passage of the bill. More than 10,000 national park supporters like you contacted their representatives to request support for the bill and insist on strong natural resource protections.
The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is now holding hearings on climate change and is expected to vote on a bill before the end of September. A Senate floor vote could occur sometime this fall. NPCA staff members are meeting with Senators to educate them on the importance of safeguarding national parks and their wildlife from climate change. We appreciate your support that helped keep natural resource protections in the House climate bill, and we hope we can count on your support once again as climate legislation nears a vote in the Senate.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
Order Your Companion Book and DVDs Today
 Ken Burns' latest documentary, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, will be released in September 2009--but you can pre-order the companion book and DVDs today! The 12-hour documentary will air on PBS stations during the last week of September.
Filmed over the course of more than six years in nature's most spectacular locales--including Acadia, Yosemite, the Everglades, and Gates of the Arctic--the film tells the story of people from every conceivable background who devoted themselves to saving precious portions of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded Americans of the full meaning of democracy. Read more about their stories in an interview with Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan in the spring issue of National Parks magazine.
If you pre-order a copy of the DVD or companion book by September 1 (for receipt in October), you and NPCA can both benefit. Just visit www.kenburnsnationalparks.com and enter promotion code NPCA2 at check out, or call 617.300.2612 and mention NPCA. You'll receive a 15 percent discount on the book or DVD, or a package containing each of them along with the film's soundtrack. A percentage of the proceeds benefits NPCA's park-protection efforts.
NPCA AT WORK IN THE PARKS
Valley Forge Controversy Resolved
 For years, the historic landscapes of Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania were threatened by inappropriate development. Now an innovative agreement will end two years of controversy over the location of the proposed American Revolution Center.
On the eve of Independence Day weekend, the American Revolution Center (ARC) and the National Park Service (NPS) announced an agreement that includes a land transfer. In the transfer, NPS will receive the American Revolution Center's 78-acre property at Valley Forge. In exchange, the Park Service will provide ARC with a site several blocks from Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
The agreement, announced on July 1, 2009, will allow visitors to enjoy a new American Revolution museum on an appropriate site in a historically rich area, while also protecting the historic landscape of Valley Forge National Historical Park for our children and grandchildren. NPCA looks forward to providing any help we can to each group as they implement this agreement.
We would like to thank everyone who helped ensure this important land at Valley Forge NHP was protected, including those who generated and agreed to this innovative solution. We look forward to continuing to work with you to protect Valley Forge, and to strengthen connections between Valley Forge and historic Philadelphia.
Questions? Contact Cinda Waldbuesser, NPCA's senior program manager in Pennsylvania, at 215.327.2529 or cwaldbuesser@npca.org.
TRAVEL WITH NPCA
Exploring Hawaii's National Parks
January 23-31, 2010 and November 6-14, 2010
 NPCA is delighted to announce our 2010 travel season with tours to some of America's most iconic parks, including parks in Hawaii. With two Hawaii departures - January and November - you have the opportunity to meet expert biologists, naturalists, and cultural specialists who will guide you through six of Hawaii's seven national parks. Learn more about volcanic activity on the Big Island of Hawaii, spot a humpback whale mother as she teaches her calf to breach just off Maui, and participate in an authentic Hawaiian family luau on each of these trip departures.
For more information please call 800.628.7275, email us at travel@npca.org, or go online to www.npca.org/travel.
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