Park Service Programs You Benefit From, But May Not Know About

Not everyone lives near a national park, but most people are touched by the work of the National Park Service — from preserving historic landmarks and installing new walking paths to protecting landscapes in local communities.

Folks just may not be aware of the National Park Service’s presence.

Through its community assistance programs, the Park Service provides resources and training for communities and local groups as they seek historic preservation, recreation and improved access to public lands, natural resource conservation, and education and stewardship.

Yet like national parks, these Park Service programs have experienced hiring freezes and staff losses, as well as proposed budget cuts by the administration that could decimate them. Communities rely on these programs, and Congress should continue supporting them — it makes economic sense.

These are public areas where people walk their dogs after work, play outdoors as a family or take their children to educational programs that teach them about nature and history. They boost local economies through tourism, create jobs and transform underused spaces into community assets.

When back-to-back hurricanes hit Louisiana’s Cameron Parish hard in 2020, for example, the Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program worked with FEMA and local organizations to help residents reimagine their parks and outdoor spaces. Together, they improved and added facilities to prepare for future storms and enhance ecotourism at the same time. In Nebraska, the Park Service manages Niobrara National Scenic River, which draws 80,000 people a year who canoe through the distinctive geological formations of the northern Great Plains — and spend $8 million in local communities while they visit. In Utah, the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area has increased tourism along major highways in six counties by restoring historic buildings and upgrading museums that tell the story of the first Mormon pioneers who settled the area in 1849 and became a factor in the expansion of the United States.

These are public areas where people walk their dogs after work, play outdoors as a family or take their children to educational programs.

Administered by the Park Service, these community assistance programs empower towns and cities by leveraging non-federal funds and long-term support from partner organizations. The programs are available to the public and community groups, including nonprofit organizations, businesses, educational institutions, and state, local and Tribal governments.

Here are a few of these community assistance programs and how they are making a difference.

National Water Trails System

National water trails strengthen conservation and restoration efforts by bringing together federal, state, local and nonprofit groups to create marked routes for kayaking, canoeing or rafting. The trails can be found on rivers, lakes, canals or coastlines. The National Park Service is among the federal partners who help communities designate, manage and find funding for them.

Among the 40 national water trails is a 41-mile section of the Cuyahoga River, which takes paddlers through Cuyahoga Valley National Park and urban centers. Once famous for catching fire and prompting the 1972 Clean Water Act, the Cuyahoga River now symbolizes environmental renewal.

Other national water trails include the 75-mile Lake Michigan Water Trail, which runs along the lake’s southern shore from Chicago to New Buffalo, Michigan, and has access points in Indiana Dunes National Park. The 150-mile Cascadia Marine Trail begins near San Juan Island National Historical Park and passes through coves and waterways south to Olympia, Washington, while the 99-mile Everglades Wilderness Waterway connects Flamingo and Everglades City, Florida.

One of the most recent additions to the water trail system is the Ohio River Way, which connects communities across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Designated this year, it links Appalachian wilderness, vibrant small towns and metropolitan centers, including Cincinnati and Louisville, while showcasing the region’s history — from the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Underground Railroad and early river commerce propelled by flatboats and steamboats.

National Wild and Scenic Rivers

What would California’s Yosemite National Park be without the Merced River rushing through the glacier-carved canyons, with its dramatic waterfalls and placid swimming holes? Or the Mid-Atlantic region without the Delaware River, which fuels economic growth and outdoor recreation and provides drinking water to 14 million people?

Both rivers, and more than 13,000 miles’ worth of U.S. waterways between them, are part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, which preserves rivers and tributaries in their free-flowing condition for present and future generations without impediment.

As one of four federal agencies that manage these rivers, the Park Service works with state and local governments and other stakeholders to determine whether a waterway is eligible for designation and then collaborates with partners on community-driven planning for how it is used and managed.

Congress created the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in 1968 in response to the harmful effects from dams, diversions, development and pollution. All but seven states have designated wild and scenic rivers, and although the system represents less than one half of 1% of the nation’s rivers it contributes 10% of U.S. drinking water.

Other well-known waterways in the system include the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River, which begins in Texas’ Big Bend National Park and lures anglers, hikers and whitewater enthusiasts along its 190 miles. Glacier National Park co-manages the 219-mile Flathead River, one of three wild and scenic rivers in Montana. U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke introduced legislation this summer to expand Montana’s wild and scenic rivers by 25%, saying, “These rivers support everything from family farms to fly shops, ranchers to rafters, and literally power our community.”

National Heritage Areas

Where history, culture and natural resources combine, you might find a national heritage area — a lived-in landscape that tells nationally important stories that celebrate our country’s diverse heritage.

Congress has designated 62 national heritage areas. For every federal dollar invested in them, there is over $5.50 in return on investment. President Reagan established these areas in 1984, and the bipartisan National Heritage Area Act of 2022 created standard criteria for their funding, management and designation.

In the past year, National Heritage Areas attracted about 2.4 million visitors to their events and leveraged $48 million in cash and in-kind support to carry out heritage projects and programs, according to the Alliance of National Heritage Areas. They preserved and maintained 166 historic sites and 9,167 acres of cultural landscapes and restored and maintained 12,336 acres of land. They improved community connectivity and access through 1,284 miles of trails, including 38 miles of new trails.

The Southern Maryland National Heritage Area, for example, supports the preservation and interpretation of Tribal, African American and 17th- and 18th-century colonial histories, as well as the region’s maritime and agricultural heritage. This year, it received state funding matched by other non-state funding to support Maryland’s first regional survey of African American heritage sites, laying groundwork for future National Register nominations and possibly a statewide survey. Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area encompasses 45 communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire steeped in natural beauty, the history of the American Revolution and the legacy of the revolutionary ideas. Each May, its Hidden Treasures Festival of Nature, Culture & History presents dozens of programs and events, organized by more than 50 partners, that connect visitors to the region.

Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program

From rural towns and urban neighborhoods to entire regions, the National Park Service–Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program (NPS-RTCA) has worked with communities on projects that create parks and trails, develop large landscape networks, restore rivers and wildlife habitats, and support natural disaster recovery and mitigation.

While not a grant-funding program, NPS-RTCA offers professional expertise in planning, design, natural resource management and organizational and partnership development. Its staff work side by side with local leaders to turn ideas into action.

Among its projects, NPS-RTCA in partnership with FEMA and local organizations has supported 109 long-term recovery projects in 67 communities, helping them rebuild physical space and restore a sense of connection and stability. In Letcher County, Kentucky, the program is helping plan green infrastructure and recreational spaces on former flood-prone properties along the North Fork of the Kentucky River — part of a regional strategy to strengthen resilience and stimulate economic growth.

NPS-RTCA has partnered with Native American, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native communities to identify priorities, honor culture and heritage, and shape a shared vision for their land. On the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, for example, the program is working with the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation to establish a new Tribal national park that honors cultural heritage and expands opportunities for recreation and conservation. In 2024, the project received a $1 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to study wildlife connectivity and ensure safe wildlife movement across a state highway that bisects the park.

In gateway communities bordering public lands, NPS-RTCA also helps align residents’ goals with those of the park. Together, they can develop solutions that protect resources while enhancing recreation and tourism. For example, near Grand Canyon National Park, the community of Tusayan, Arizona, implemented a shuttle system to relieve traffic congestion. Near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the community of Empire, Michigan, expanded trail networks to connect visitors with neighboring towns.

Land and Water Conservation Fund

Using zero taxpayer dollars, the Land and Water Conservation Fund invests earnings from offshore oil and gas leasing to help strengthen communities, preserve history and protect lands and waters. Since its inception in 1965, LWCF has helped fund over 46,000 projects in communities and neighborhoods across the country by providing matching grants to state and local governments.

In Minnesota, the LWCF has helped protect some of the state’s most special places: the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and the Saint Croix National Scenic River. In Oregon, the LWCF has rehabilitated parks and ballfields, beach and river access, and trail and wetland improvements, among other projects. In South Carolina this year alone, the state is receiving LWCF support for 21 recreation projects across the state for updating playground equipment, enhancing accessibility, improving sidewalks and walkways, and adding shade structures, new trails, picnic shelters and more.

LWCF also works with the Department of Defense to protect land surrounding military installations and boost disaster resilience for those facilities while improving access to outdoor recreation for military personnel and their families.

At Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, the LWCF is helping the neighboring city of Box Elder acquire land within a floodplain to create a new biking and hiking trail that will connect to existing trails and protect against erosion. The program is also partnering with the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation to purchase more than 300 acres near Fort Bragg, the country’s largest Army base by population with 57,000 military personnel and 23,000 family members, for expanded hiking through an old-growth longleaf pine forest.

Tribal Historic Preservation Program

When visitors explore park sites such as Colorado’s Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site or Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, many of the exhibits and much of interpretative education they see related to Indigenous peoples have been informed by Indigenous people, thanks to the work of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers over the past 30-some years. The Park Service’s Tribal Historic Preservation Program assists Native Americans in preserving their historic properties and cultural traditions through Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and through annual grant funding programs. There are 228 such offices of federally recognized Tribes across Indian Country.

The Tribal staff in these offices, known as THPOs, have advised, trained and enhanced the management and interpretation of national parks and helped return relatives and culturally significant objects back to their rightful homes.

Without collaboration with Tribal communities through this program, many sacred areas where Tribes continue to honor their ancestral traditions and customs — such as in Wyoming’s Devils Tower National Monument and New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park — would be lost. Native people would not have access to these lands, and crucial Native stories of the history of the lands would be missing.

Parks hold Native truth and protect Native history, but not without the work of THPOs, Tribal nations and advocacy from National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers continuously fighting for protection and preservation of parks.