Read the name of our publication, National Parks Traveler, and you might think it's a travelogue. True, we do cover travel in the National Park System, but our coverage goes much, much farther and much, much deeper.

• There are Congressional hearings that impact the National Park Service, and the National Park System. There are funding issues, search-and-rescue missions, wildfires, erupting volcanoes, climate-change impacts, wildlife matters, and more.
• There are stories around biology, botany, archaeology, paleontology, and even sociology. 
• Hurricane warnings, sea-level rise, drought, invasive species, additions to the park system, and crowding of the park system all merit coverage.
• And, yes, there are politics that impact the parks.

These stories could affect your vacation plans, send you down a career path, or merit the addition of a park or adventure to your to-do list. That's the Traveler's job, to bring those stories and issues to you. And it's not as easy as it might appear.

Why, you ask?

The National Park System stretches from the Pacific to the Caribbean, from Alaska to the Keys of Florida. That alone creates logistical issues.

On top of that, the National Park Service has few dedicated public affairs personnel to work with media, and so responses could take days and even weeks to arrive, if they arrive at all. Getting NPS officials to comment on the record on sensitive, or possibly embarrassing, stories can be difficult. More and more these days questions from the Traveler have to travel all the way to Washington, D.C., headquarters for an approved answer. And that adds to delays. 

Your support during our year-end fundraising campaign won't make the job easier, but it will help bring more hands to the task.

Ideally, we'd have a staff of three or four writers (currently, we have one), and a network of a half-dozen or so freelance contributors. We'd have beat writers covering climate change, NPS funding, wildlife, lodging and dining, and yes, even travel, and they would keep the editor busy with a steady flow of stories to bring to your attention.

Today, Giving Tuesday, help us bring more hands to the task with a donation to help us land a $5,000 matching grant from the National Parks Conservation Association. NPCA does a great job staying on top of the issues that impact the parks and the National Park Service, and the Traveler helps bring daylight, much-needed in some cases, to those issues and more.

Turning that $5,000 matching grant into $10,000 will help us commission more stories from freelance writers who work to keep you informed. It's that kind of support that enables the Traveler each year to bring you year-end reports on Threatened and Endangered Parks. It made possible this year's package of stories on the Southwest's drought and its impacts on parks in that corner of the country. 

Where else would you read in-depth reports on what's transpiring with the sea turtle program at Padre Island National Seashore, the saga of oil and gas exploration at Big Cypress National Preserve, or how the National Park Service has been preparing for 21st century wildfires? These stories often fall below the radar of national publications and broadcast channels, but they are the fodder that the Traveler tackles on a regular basis.

We also bring you, every week of the year dating back to February 2019, weekly podcasts that bring voices to those who work in the parks, those who find adventure in the parks, and those who manage the parks.

We have a long way to go to reach our goal of $100,000 before January 1, 2022. Your support today will move the needle in the right direction. We want to hear from NPS employees, from the concessionaires, from friends organizations, from the outdoors industry that depends on a healthy public lands environment, and from those of you planning your next national park vacation.

The Traveler is here for all of you. Our balanced news and information helps to protect the National Park System. With your support, the Traveler's voice will be here for generations to come. Its role in building awareness of the many issues facing the national parks can’t be minimized.