National Parks Traveler

"Essential Coverage of Essential Places"

That's not just a catchy slogan we came up with to fill some space on the National Parks Traveler's menu bar. They are words that drive our mission to bring you broad and diverse coverage of national parks and protected areas.

Over the years, that slogan has translated into stories on the efforts to drill for oil beneath Big Cypress National Preserve, articles that looked at the threat oil trains pose to units of the National Park System, and pieces exploring efforts by private interests to own lands within national parks.

We've also debuted annual lists of "threatened and endangered" units of the National Park System. These year-end story packages have examined the problems of invasive species in the park system, told you how climate change is impacting whales at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska and inundating parts of Fire Island National Seashore in New York, and explored funding imbalances that impact smaller units of the park system.

But we've also brought you stories on the Northern Lights as seen from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada's Northwest Territories, taken you off the well-beaten paths through the National Park System to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Scotts Bluff National Monument, and Sunset Crater National Monument, just to name a few, and showed you how to experience the cypress domes of Everglades National Park and led you down through history on two of the freedom trails in Boston.

As the only news organization that focuses daily on national parks and protected areas, we have come to fill a much-needed niche in news coverage.

As the leader of a national parks advocacy group representing current, former, and retired NPS employees, I do my best to stay informed of news and information involving our national parks and public lands. In my experience, National Parks Traveler has been an invaluable resource. The articles are informative and timely, incorporating content from multiple points of view. The Traveler also does a tremendous job of compiling and condensing information from sources both within and outside of the NPS. I am thankful to have a reliable news source that helps readers stay informed about actions and events across the National Park System. -- Mike Murray, Chair, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks

If you value this coverage, if you've come to see it as vital in staying informed not only on how to enjoy national parks and protected areas but on understanding the threats they face, please help us keep you informed with a donation.

Our readers and listeners are vital to keeping the Traveler online. Your donations enable us to commission more freelancers across the country to bring you stories as diverse as the hunt for cigar orchids in Big Cypress National Preserve and tracking carniverous plants in Big Thicket National Preserve to venturing into the Valley of 10,000 Smokes in Katmai National Park and Preserve.

As someone who appreciates the national parks and the natural resources they preserve and the stories they tell, please help us continue reporting on these essential places by committing to a monthly donation to the Traveler, whether you can afford $10 a month or $100.