With your support, National Parks Traveler can increase its coverage of mountain goats at Glacier National Park and delve deeper into issues across the National Park System/Kurt Repanshek

National Parks Traveler brings you more than just news from around the National Park System.

For instance, we also offer:

Book Reviews

Trail descriptions

Park profiles

Photography columns

3-day itineraries

Op-ed columns

Editorials

Beyond those fixtures, four times a year we publish Essential Park Guides. These full-color digital magazines explore how to enjoy the park system through the four seasons. You might read how to spend three days in a particular park, or enjoy an in-depth feature on a park (our fall guide coming out August 15 looks at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument), or learn about a road trip that connects a small handful of park units.

We are in the midst of an ambitious $50,000 fundraising drive so we can build on this content. For example, Essential Guides range in size from 40-50 pages, but with your support that can grow to 60-75 or more pages per issue, bringing you more content from around the National Park System.

News coverage is not inexpensive. Travel costs alone can be crippling. But there are also bills for cameras (video and DSLR), recorders, computers (laptops and desk tops), pens and paper, and all the requisite website costs (hosting services, technicians, layout, etc.) Writers, photographers, and videographers all have bills to pay, too. And someone has to be at the keyboard every day watching for breaking news and creating new content.

But those who love the national parks appreciate the need to stay informed on their management.

So far we have opted not to move to a subscription service, as we hope to reach as many people as possible to spread news and wonders about the National Park System and cultivate advocates and stewards for the future. With your donations, we not only can continue to provide free, daily coverage of the national parks, but broaden that coverage and build a stronger community of park lovers and supporters.

One thing we want to make clear: We’re not simply travel writers looking for expense money. We do, though, believe articles about how you can enjoy these wondrous realms can also introduce you to the issues confronting the parks specifically and the environment in general.

Our reputation has led other media to watch, and in many cases follow, us. Recently The Guardian, in a feature on threats to the national parks, cited our coverage regarding concession operations on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. In the past, the New York Times has relied on our reporting to editorialize on controversial legislation attacking protections at Yellowstone and Theodore Roosevelt national parks, and the Washington Post has followed us on Yellowstone stories.

Sustaining an online media outlet these days is not easy, not when roughly two-thirds of online ads flow to Google and Facebook. Our goal at the Traveler is to solidly establish an enduring nonprofit publishing organization focused entirely on national parks the world over.

You can donate by clicking on the $50,000 fundraising link above, clicking on the Support National Parks Journalism button in the upper right-hand column, and even by choosing National Parks Traveler as your favorite charity when shopping on Amazon.

When it comes to journalistic coverage of the National Park System, the Traveler is the leader. With your ongoing support, we can expand the depth and breadth of that coverage significantly.