Search results for “Enhancing the Visitor Experience”
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Magazine Article Weeding the Grand Canyon The search for an invasive plant, ghosts of the past and belonging on a journey downriver.
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Blog Post Park Advocates in Chicago See Future Possibilities in the Past at Lowell, Massachusetts Chicago’s south side is home to some of America’s most fascinating and important stories. The Pullman Historic District is where, in 1880, George M. Pullman built the country’s first planned model industrial town. It was also home to the nation’s first African-American union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the pivotal “Pullman Strike” of 1894. These important “firsts” speak to Pullman's national significance and why so many Chicago leaders have come together to work to establish it as the city’s first national park.
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Blog Post Love Is in the Parks 5 NPCA staff members share their national park love stories.
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Blog Post NPCA Urges Congress to Avoid Across-the-Board Budget Cuts to National Parks NPCA and other public interest groups concerned about the impact of looming budget cuts to federal programs delivered a letter to Congress and the Obama administration last week urging decision-makers to avert sequestration—the steep mandatory budget cuts that will go into effect this January if lawmakers do not act to prevent them.
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Blog Post Hunting in the National Park System? Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill known as the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act which, if passed in the Senate in its current form, could allow hunting in units of the National Park System that currently do not permit it. NPCA strongly opposes this provision of the bill.
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Blog Post The Final Frontier? Every U.S. state is home to a national park site, but this was not the case for most of the history of the National Park System. In 2013, President Obama used the Antiquities Act to create a national park site in the very last state to have one.
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Blog Post The World’s First National Park Cave National parks protect the country’s most treasured landscapes, including a wealth of natural resources under the Earth’s crust. The United States was the first place in the world to designate a cave as a national park.
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Magazine Article Through the Looking Glass Photographer Michael Falco captures dreamy Civil War landscapes using a device even older than the battles themselves: the pinhole camera.
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NPCA at Work Support Storm Recovery Funding for the National Park Service Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria devastated communities. They also caused unprecedented damage to national parks. Hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to repair these parks and protect the National Park Service budget, which is already underfunded and cannot absorb the huge cost of hurricane recovery.
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Blog Post Check Out The National Parks Band That Supports National Park Lands If you're like me, you love the peaceful sounds of national parks. Here's a chance to check out the inventive sounds of The National Parks—indie-folk artists Brady Parks, Sydney Carling, and Paige Wagner who make up the up-and-coming band one musician described as "the Lumineers meets Of Monsters and Men."
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Blog Post 5 Inspirational Stories from the Parks Through their spectacular landscapes, magnificent wildlife and rich history, national parks have inspired generations of visitors. But often, it is the people within those parks who move us most. Here are five personal stories of determination, selflessness and healing that show how parks can bring out the best in people.
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Magazine Article The Price of a Feather More than a century ago, the discovery of a hidden bird refuge in the Everglades led down a path of greed, vanity, and murder. And that’s just the beginning of the story.
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Blog Post It's the Best Year to Enjoy National Parks: 10 Reasons Why It's the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, with opportunities to celebrate the parks throughout 2016. From planting a “Centennial Forest” in Texas to counting species of plants and animals on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., here are 10 ways to take your appreciation for national parks to historic levels in 2016.
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Blog Post Preserving the Stories of Atomic City: A Q&A with Denise Kiernan A new book shares some of the fascinating history behind the young women who unknowingly helped build the first atomic bomb at what could soon become the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
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Blog Post What the Park System Needs for Its Birthday: Repairs This Sunday is the 103rd birthday of the National Park Service, yet so many of the 400-plus national park sites in the agency’s care need critical maintenance and repairs. Legislation exists that would help fix this problem — Congress just needs to vote on it.
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Blog Post César E. Chávez National Monument an Excellent First Step Toward Honoring the Influential Labor Leader NPCA commends President Barack Obama for announcing on Monday that he will designate a César E. Chávez National Monument in Keene, California, as the 398th site in the National Park System—the first national park unit to recognize the work of a contemporary Latino American. This designation is an excellent first step toward honoring Chávez and a fitting way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
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Magazine Article The Voice of Glacier Ranger Doug Follett reflects on 50 Years at Glacier National Park.
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Press Release New Colorado River Study Finds Water Uses Impair the Health of National Parks in the Southwest NPCA report finds alterations to natural water flows damage national parks
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Magazine Article In The Footsteps of a Dream Relive the history of the civil-rights movement in Alabama and Georgia.
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Magazine Article The Retirement Cure Making the most of retirement with a 40-foot RV, a patch of dirt and full-time seasonal volunteer work in the national parks.
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Blog Post The Man Who Tackled El Capitan with His Bare Hands World-renowned athlete Alex Honnold, star of the new National Geographic film "Free Solo," talks with NPCA about his historic rope-free climb, his passion for Yosemite, his leave-no-trace ethic and his connection with the natural world.
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Policy Update Comments on the Energy Policy Modernization Act NPCA’s positions on several potential amendments to and provisions in the Energy Policy Modernization Act, as submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
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Policy Update NPCA position on legislation before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources NPCA shared the following positions with members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining ahead of a legislative hearing scheduled for November 18th.
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Read the book Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape This story is adapted from Lauret Savoy's 2015 book, "Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape."
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Magazine Article The Soundtrack NPCA teams up with The National Parks—the band—to share some music and raise money for park protection.
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Blog Post Be One in a Million: Take the Summer Park Challenge! Kids need the outdoors, and the outdoors needs kids. Pledge to help get a million kids into national parks and other natural spaces this summer.
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Magazine Article The Forgotten March The 1932 veterans’ protest in Washington had a lasting impact on America but disappeared in the dustbin of history. The Park Service is working to change that.
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Magazine Article The Dog Trainers of Cat Island During World War II, the U.S. Army attempted to train dogs to hunt Japanese soldiers. The secret experiment on an island off the Gulf Coast did not go well.
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Magazine Article Protecting the Homeland Former Principal Chief James Floyd of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation speaks about his connection to Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park and the need to further preserve the site.
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Blog Post 9 Parks That Tell the Story of Slavery and Abolition On June 19, the nation commemorates the end of institutional slavery in the U.S. These national parks are part of that long journey to freedom.
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Blog Post Trivia Challenge: The Only WWII Land Battle Fought in North America Next year will be the 75th anniversary of the only land battle fought in North America during World War II. That battle, one of the war’s deadliest, took place at what is now a national park site. Can you guess which park?
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Magazine Article Secrets of the Seabirds What can tracking sooty terns reveal about the threats seabirds face and the health of the ocean?
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Video Protecting the Rim of the Valley In Los Angeles’ backyard, just beyond the hustle and bustle of the city, a nature escape awaits. Watch this video by National Parks Conservation Association and Nature Valley.
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Park Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac Located on an island in the Potomac River, this memorial to our 36th president is accessed by car or foot from sites in Virginia, including the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
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Report The Alaska Citizen's Guide to Natural Gas Permitting This Guide highlights opportunities where citizens can influence agency decisions that affect the impacts and conditions of natural gas development. It encourages Alaskans to take an active role in preserving our public lands and to better ensure a well-informed, site-specific and historically-aware use of natural resources.
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Report Center for State of the Parks: Bryce Canyon National Park Current overall conditions of Bryce Canyon’s known natural resources rated a “good” score of 81 out of 100. Overall conditions of the park’s known cultural resources rated 39 out of a possible 100, indicating “poor” conditions.
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Report Center for State of the Parks: Catoctin Mountain Park Current overall conditions of Catoctin’s known natural resources rated a “good” score of 82 out of 100. Overall conditions of the park’s known cultural resources rated 64 out of 100, indicating “fair” conditions.
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Podcast Episode The Show Must Go On The only national park site dedicated to the performing arts has been quiet for over a year, but a new chorus of singers is stealing the show at this Virginia venue: a feisty, sex-crazed swarm of Brood X cicadas.
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Podcast Episode The Healing Ceremony For the last four years, Bears Ears National Monument has been at the center of a critical fight over Indigenous land rights. This awe-inspiring, culturally rich site was part of the largest removal of federal public land protections in U.S. history. But now that the monument is restored, could it serve as a model for Tribal collaboration in our parks?
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National Park Service Photos from the Stonewall Uprising See 1960s photos of Stonewall and the early days of the gay rights movement through a virtual exhibit by the National Park Service.
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NPCA at Work Fragile Treasures Threatened in Chaco Culture National Historical Park The growing demand for oil and gas in northwestern New Mexico has the potential to impact the cultural and natural resources of Chaco Culture National Historical Park--including the quality of its world-renowned night skies. Flaring of natural gas and an increase in intensive artificial lighting from construction activities, vehicle traffic and operation of support facilities can all affect the quality of the night skies both at the park’s higher elevations and inside the historic canyon.
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Gary Ferguson Gary Ferguson has written for a variety of publications, from Vanity Fair to The Los Angeles Times. He’s the author of 22 books on science and nature, including two books focused on Yellowstone: Walking Down the Wild and The Yellowstone Wolves: The First Year. This essay was adapted from his new book, The Carry Home, published by Counterpoint Press.
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Park Flight 93 National Memorial This site preserves the crash site of Flight 93 commemorates the passengers and crew who, on September 11, 2001, gave their lives to thwart a planned attack on the nation's capital. Visitors can learn about the lives of these brave men and women, see a marble wall inscribed with their names, and walk through a grove of 40 memorial trees planted in their honor.
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Michael Engelhard Michael Engelhard works as a wilderness guide in the Grand Canyon and Alaska’s Arctic. He is the author of Where the Rain Children Sleep: A Sacred Geography of the Colorado Plateau.
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Park Fort Monroe National Monument Nestled at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Fort Monroe played a pivotal role in ending slavery in America, when it became known as "Freedom's Fortress" during the Civil War.
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Mark Schrope Mark Schrope is a freelance writer living in Florida, where he is finishing a book about the science and environmental impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. His work appears in publications such as Nature and The Washington Post.
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NPCA at Work Maglev Train Is More Harm than Good A proposed high-speed train from Baltimore to Washington would harm a national park, a national wildlife refuge, the Chesapeake Bay and numerous nearby communities — and charge expensive ticket prices to save commuters 14 minutes of travel time.
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NPCA at Work Don't Divide Our Habitats, Ecosystems and Communities Oppose new walls and fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Staff Rob Smith Rob serves as the Regional Director of NPCA's Northwest Regional Office in Seattle, Washington. Rob’s environmental work has included work on land and wildlife protection, climate change, and air quality through lobbying officials and organizing local support for conservation measures.
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Letter Position on Colorado National Monument Draft Bill NPCA’s position on a proposed citizens draft bill to elevate the venerable Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction to national park status.
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Park Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial includes a statue of the president in an outdoor Memorial Plaza set amid an 88-acre forest with nature trails.
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Park Gauley River National Recreation Area The Gauley River National Recreation Area hosts world-class whitewater opportunities. More than 60,000 visitors come here each year for whitewater rafting.
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Aimee Lyn Brown Aimee Lyn Brown is a freelance writer in Oregon. She spent her childhood in the Pacific Northwest, and made her first trip to Crater Lake National Park before she could walk.
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NPCA at Work Don’t Risk Wild Land and Fish for a Massive Mine Near Lake Clark Plans for a massive open-pit mine threaten wild salmon and bears at two of Alaska's wildest national parks.
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Report Northeast Regional Office Field Reports NPCA's Northeast Regional Office produces an annual newsletter. These field reports provide timely updates and perspectives on issues of interest to our members and supporters in New York, New Jersey and New England.
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