At the Traveler, our intention is to be more than just an aggregation site, but we need your help--Kurt Repanshek, founder and editor-in-chief.

How do you want to consume news about the National Park System? It's a question we ask from time to time to gauge whether we need to tweak anything in presenting that news.

We craft our approach in part with the belief that every one of the 419 units of the park system has a fan base, and so we try to cast our editorial nets are far as possible.

But there are a few challenges to that approach:

* Not all park staffs are created equal. The big parks -- think Yellowstone, Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains -- have staff dedicated to public relations and generating news releases. With that said, though, many of these jobs are collateral duties, and the media relations' role might not be at the top. Far and away, most parks don't generate a lot of media releases due to lack of staff. 

* Traveler, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization, has just one full-time person trying to corral this news, a person who also handles podcasts, social media, fund-raising, IT, and everything else that goes into maintaining a web presence that sees some 3 million readers a year.

* Trying to craft an in-depth feature can stretch from days into weeks and longer due to efforts to also draw news from as many parks as possible and breaking news stories (think mountain search-and-rescue).

That said, through begging, pinching pennies, great volunteers, and occasional freelance assignments, Traveler has been able to provide you national park coverage every day of the year. That coverage ranges from small items about campground openings or reservations to a regular diet of informative, instructive, and downright gorgeous photography columns by Rebecca Latson, inviting park profiles such as Bob Pahre's wonderful piece on Isle Royale, and the many park expositions donated by Jim "Stratto" Stratton.

But there are limits to what current resources allow us to provide. Recognizing those limits, are you interested in seeing as much news from around the park system as possible, and so fewer features, or more features and fewer daily items from the parks? If you want both, would you pay a nominal subscription fee, say $10-$20 per year, to ensure daily coverage of national parks and protected areas? 

Before you comment, keep in mind that Traveler's mission is to "inform the general public of environmental, scientific, and newsworthy developments surrounding, involving, and affecting these areas and their governing bodies."

In other words, we don't simply want to be a site running Park Service news releases. There are so many angles to covering the national parks these days, from climate change and politics (left and right) to burgeoning crowds, wobbly budgets, science, exploration, and adventure that to do so would be a disservice to you.

Content aggregation will be the downfall of media and the dumbing down of society. There are so many great stories in the park system to be told, but they take time, dedicated journalists, and resources.

If you agree with those last two sentences, tell us how you'd like to be served news and features about the parks, and donate to support this news coverage. If just 10 percent of our 3 million readers would do so, imagine the news and features we could provide you with.