Visitors heading to Rocky Mountain National Park on Tuesday will find more than free admission. They will also encounter national park advocates asking them to speak up for the people who keep the parks running.
The National Parks Conservation Association will hold a National Day of Action event near the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday as part of a nationwide effort to build public support for National Park Service employees and park staffing.
The event falls on the National Park Service’s 110th birthday and during National Park Week, Aug. 22 to 30. This year’s theme is “Celebrate America’s Story,” marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Entrance fees will also be waived at national parks on Tuesday for U.S. citizens and residents. Nonresidents will pay regular entrance fees and any applicable nonresident fees.
David Lamfrom, vice president of regional programs for the National Parks Conservation Association, will travel to Estes Park for the event. In an interview with the Estes Valley Voice, Lamfrom said that about five NPCA staff members are expected to set up a table in the First Amendment area near the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center.
Lamfrom emphasized that NPCA does not consider the event a protest. “This is basically civic engagement,” he said.
NPCA representatives will talk with park visitors and local residents about their experiences with Rocky Mountain National Park, ask people to sign a petition supporting park staffing, and invite visitors to write cards thanking National Park Service employees.
The organization is holding similar events around the country.
“We’re going to have events across the nation on the 25th,” Lamfrom said. “We’re going to be showing up to our national parks” to bring together people who care about the parks and encourage them to support park employees and hiring.
Supporting park employees
The National Day of Action focuses heavily on National Park Service employees, whom NPCA describes as the people who maintain trails, conduct search-and-rescue operations, greet visitors, provide educational programs, and perform much of the work that makes national parks function.
Lamfrom said staffing shortages can be difficult for visitors to recognize. A visitor who encounters fewer rangers, for example, may assume a park made a management decision rather than understand that the agency has fewer employees available.
He said some park employees are now performing work that previously would have been divided among several people.
“We also have to appreciate and respect those people who are in many cases doing two or three jobs right now,” Lamfrom said.
Thanking those employees is one part of the campaign. The other is trying to translate public support for national parks into sustained advocacy.
NPCA is encouraging people to contact members of Congress, participate in local park advocacy, and sign a petition supporting National Park Service staff. The organization plans to deliver petition signatures to the administration as part of the Day of Action.
Lamfrom acknowledged that a single event is unlikely to produce an immediate change in federal policy. Instead, he said, NPCA sees tomorrow’s events as one part of a broader effort to educate visitors, amplify their concerns, and build sustained public pressure.
“We’re trying to get their attention, and we’re trying to let them know how the public feels about these issues,” he said.
A century of national park advocacy
The National Parks Conservation Association is an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1919, three years after Congress created the National Park Service.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NPCA was established to serve as a citizen watchdog for the National Park Service and advocate for the protection, preservation, and enhancement of the National Park System.
The organization, which has more than 1.9 million members and supporters, works on issues ranging from park funding and visitor experience to wildlife, water, air quality, climate change, energy development, landscapes, and the preservation of historic and cultural resources.
Its work extends beyond public education. NPCA advocates before Congress and federal agencies for funding and policies affecting national parks, including efforts to protect park boundaries and address development that could threaten park resources. The organization also uses litigation and other legal action when it believes park lands, wildlife, natural resources, or federal conservation laws are at risk.
That advocacy role distinguishes NPCA from the National Park Service itself. NPCA is not a federal agency and does not operate national parks. Its mission is to advocate on their behalf and, when necessary, challenge government decisions affecting them.
Lamfrom said NPCA has performed that role for more than a century.
“We’re an organization that’s dedicated to protecting national parks, and that’s the reason that our organization exists,” he said.
An invitation to Estes Park
At Rocky Mountain National Park, NPCA staff will talk with people leaving the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and ask about their experiences in the park and the issues that matter to them.
Lamfrom said those conversations are as important to NPCA as collecting signatures and messages of support.
“We’d love to connect with them,” he said of Estes Park residents. “We’d love to hear their perspectives and learn from them.” Local knowledge, he added, is “crucial.”
Lamfrom and other NPCA representatives also plan to meet with several local partners during their visit, although those meetings were still being arranged when he spoke with the Estes Valley Voice.
NPCA is not planning a formal public presentation or town hall while in Estes Park. Instead, the organization is concentrating tomorrow’s public outreach at Beaver Meadows and using the visit to meet with community partners and learn more about local concerns.
Those concerns can extend beyond staffing. Rocky Mountain National Park’s timed-entry reservation system, visitor access, crowding, and the challenge of balancing recreation with protection of park resources have generated considerable local discussion.
Lamfrom compared the complexity of managing a heavily visited national park to running a small city. Parks must deal with infrastructure, waste and wastewater systems, employee housing, public safety, and other services that visitors may rarely consider.
Operating a park requires people to maintain both those systems and the natural and cultural resources visitors come to experience, he said.
National Park Service employees are also unusual in the depth of commitment many bring to their careers, Lamfrom said.
“These are people in many cases who have … dedicated their whole lives” to protecting these places, he said. “It’s not just a job.”
For Lamfrom, Tuesday’s event is intended to make those connections — between parks, employees, visitors, and gateway communities such as Estes Park — more visible.
He personally invited residents who care about Rocky Mountain National Park to stop at the NPCA table between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
“If folks want to talk about the park and park issues, come visit us,” Lamfrom said. “We would love to connect with folks and to listen and learn from them.”
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