National Parks Conservation Association

NPCA has adopted an ambitious Strategic Plan to:

1. Protect national parks and their surroundings, including the resources within them, the larger landscapes around them, and the air and water on which they depend.

2. Fund parks sustainably, by securing adequate funding for the National Park Service, which cannot lobby on its own behalf, and identifying new funding strategies and revenue streams to augment the continuing decline in federal appropriations.

3. Mobilize advocates and political leaders to help expand, conserve, and support the national parks.

1. To protect national parks and their surroundings, NPCA will work to advance projects in at least three national park landscapes that increase the health of iconic wildlife species, marshal opposition to halt policies or legislation that would fragment or otherwise damage wildlife habitat; work with allies to advance the cleanup, transition or retirement of coal-fired power plants; and push for legislation that authorizes critical restoration projects that preserve, protect, and restore Great Waters landscapes. In addition, we will advocate for new or expanded sites that tell the American story and preserve valuable historic moments and natural areas. NPCA will actively support new national park campaigns that enhance ecological and cultural diversity and recreational opportunities in the park system; and collaborate with the Park Service as it develops a new plan to reflect a broad range of natural and cultural diversity.

2. To fund parks sustainably, NPCA will identify champions on Capitol Hill and in the Administration to propose/promote promising strategies, such as a change in the NPS fee structure, with significant revenue potential & oppose those that diminish NPS funding sources. Toward this end, NPCA will help launch a national Centennial Campaign to seek private philanthropic support for the parks. This effort, to be conducted with Presidential leadership, will constitute our major action in support of the the National Park System.

3. To cultivate and mobilize advocates and political leaders and increase the number of political champions who are positioned to influence national park policies and legislation within Congress and the Administration, as well as state and local governments. In seeking diverse new members and advocates, NPCA will create specific outreach efforts that focus, on urban national parks. With 85 percent of Americans living in urban areas by 2030, urban parks will soon provide most of the population with its first or only national park experience.

NPCA has a $38-million annual budget that supports the programmatic work designed to achieve our 3-year Strategic Plan. Our 148-staff, including 50 employees who are based in our 27 offices around the country, possess an unsurpassed depth of knowledge about the art of advocating on behalf of the national parks. The organization also has a solid financial foundation supported by a $29 million endowment and $5 million reserve.

Other assets include:
• Dedicated, engaged volunteer leaders who serve on our Board of Trustees, National and Regional Councils.
• Key staff with important and influential relationships within Congress and the Administration, as well as Gateway Communities and partner organizations.
• A formidable and well-connected legislative staff considered one of the most successful in Washington, D.C.
• An experienced and effective communications staff that regularly gains coverage in national and regional media outlets (traditional and online) around the country drawing attention to national park issues
• More than one million supporters and members, and a dedicated group of e-advocates who regularly contact Congress and other decision makers in support of park issues when asked to do so
• An effective litigation program that has had key successes in recent years including halting the nation's largest landfill outside of Joshua Tree National Park, and working to stop a 6,500-acre pig farm on the banks of a major tributary of the Buffalo National River in Arkansas.
• Hundreds of allies around the country who partner with us on issues ranging from oil and gas drilling outside of parks to tightening regulations affecting air in Class 1 (national park) areas.
• Solid relationships with the National Park Service personnel as well as community leaders around the country who work in partnership with NPCA on key national park issues.
• One of the few conservation issues that enjoys bipartisan support. National parks have broad appeal among both Democrats and Republicans and among Americans in every region of the country.

For 100 years, we have been advocating on behalf of our national parks, and our mission of protecting and enhancing America's national parks for present and future generations provides the foundation for all of our work. Some of these efforts are focused on specific parks; others are directed at policies or legislation that emerge in Washington, D.C., that could harm the National Park System.

NPCA succeeded, with the help of a strong coalition of supporters and allies, in halting a fracking operation outside Glacier National Park; played a role in halting a hydroelectric dam on Canada's Namakan River that would have affected Voyageurs National Park; defeated a proposal, after more than a decade of fighting, to create the nation's largest landfill on lands next to Joshua Tree National Park; advocated for legislation to authorize the acquisition and protection of nationally significant battlefields of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812; and helped to ensure that the Park Service would receive $240 million for bridges, roads, and transit services throughout the park system.

These are but a small selection of victories. All of these results help advance our long-term goals of protecting the national parks, and ensuring that they are well-funded and well-managed into their second century.

We are at our most effective when we engage our allies in key campaigns and have clear goals, and consistent messages. We ensure that our messages are amplified in key congressional districts and that the actions we ask of our advocates are clear. The nearly gridlocked political climate continues to be a challenge for our legislative work and will place even greater importance on our work on the ground in local communities and in the courts.