WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The National Park Foundation (NPF) celebrates the many ways corporate partners have supported its mission throughout the year. America’s more than 400 national parks and millions of park visitors benefit from the private philanthropy NPF and its corporate partners make possible. Partner support helps to protect these national treasures, enhance the visitor experience, and connect people to parks.
Here are a few examples of the programs and projects that NPF’s corporate partners helped support in national parks this past year:
Protecting Vital Ecosystems
NPF supported critical wetland restoration efforts at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Jacksonville, Florida that will help improve coastal resilience at the park by implementing a nature-based solution known as a pervious oyster shell habitat. The new habitats will increase the resiliency of shorelines and coastal ecosystems, decreasing erosion, improving water quality, and helping to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Connecting Kids to Parks as Classrooms
NPF funded new and expanded learning opportunities to connect kids to parks through the Open OutDoors for Kids program this school year. Nearly $3 million in grants will support programs combining in-person, virtual, and hybrid park experiences for students across the country. Open OutDoors for Kids is offering innovative new pathways to make park experiences more accessible, ensuring more students are able to enjoy, understand, and connect with nature and cultural heritage in meaningful ways.
Engaging Historically Excluded Communities
In its inaugural year, NPF’s ParkVentures program supported equity-focused outdoor leaders and organizations by providing grants for programs and activities to help people create and strengthen life-long relationships with national parks. ParkVentures granted over $1 million to 58 grantees supporting diverse leaders and organizations working to remove barriers for communities that have been historically excluded from parks, and to make parks more accessible and welcoming to all.
Park Improvement and Accessibility
Thanks, in part, to corporate support, visitors to Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. will be able to experience new, state-of-the art exhibits, designed with universal accessibility in mind. NPF is helping to renovate Lincoln Memorial, which will involve design, fabrication, and installation of accessible exhibits, as well as enhanced security, modernized infrastructure, and improved visitor circulation. The project will also install a large viewing window into the dramatic undercroft below the Memorial, a space previously unavailable to visitors.
Keeping Parks Green
NPF and our corporate partners are also helping to make these national treasures more resilient and sustainable for the benefit of parks and people. This past year, NPF provided funding to install water refill stations in eight parks across the country and invested in renewable and alternative energy projects to enhance infrastructure resiliency, as well as recycling and waste reduction efforts to improve sustainability within national parks.
Making Parks More Climate Resilient
In 2022, NPF provided nearly $5 million to support service corps programs across the country. Many of the service corps programs are helping parks to be more climate resilient while at the same time helping people deepen their environmental stewardship. From addressing habitat degradation and invasive species to engaging in trail restoration, service corps are responding to the impacts of climate change in real time.
The National Park Foundation would like to acknowledge and thank the following partners for supporting our mission to protect and enhance America’s national parks for present and future generations: L.L.Bean, Nature Valley, Subaru of America, Tupperware®, Union Pacific Railroad, adidas TERREX, American Airlines, American Express, Arconic Foundation, Asset Marketing Services, BarkBox, Carhartt, The Coca-Cola Company, The Coca-Cola Foundation, Columbia Sportswear, EVOLVE Plant-Based Protein, Free People, GE Lighting, a Savant company, H3 Sportgear, Harland Clarke, J.Crew, Kinder Joy, Kohl’s, Lenny & Larry’s, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, Niantic, Parks Project, Pendleton Woolen Mills, Publix, REI Co-op, Sierra, Stericycle, Sun Outdoors, Tango Card, Tom’s of Maine, U.S. Park Pass, Winnebago Industries and Winnebago Industries Foundation.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
The National Park Foundation works to protect wildlife and park lands, preserve history and culture, educate, and engage youth, and connect people everywhere to the wonder of parks. We do it in collaboration with the National Park Service, the park partner community, and with the generous support of donors, without whom our work would not be possible. Learn more at nationalparks.org.
SOURCE National Park Foundation
