National park partners

support the National park system through direct financial support and indirect support such as education programming, trail restoration, and scientific studies

A resilient community

park partners contributed over $400 million through direct and indirect support to national parks in 2021

An updated landscape analysis of the national park partner community 

The 2022 edition of the Park Partners Report provides a snapshot of the national park partner community, building on the 2015 and 2020 Park Partners reports. The report depicts changes in the community over time and highlights park partners’ current impacts, challenges, needs, and successes. Redstone collaborated with the National Park Foundation (NPF) to survey the park partner community, analyze and estimate total park-related impact, and recommend ways to support park partners as they advance the National Park Service’s (NPS) mission.   

Park partners showed remarkable resilience over the past two years  

National parks rose to new prominence over the last two years as more and more Americans looked to shared outdoor spaces for comfort and connection during the pandemic. The report and summary infographic detail the extraordinary collective impact of the park partner community, as well as opportunities to strengthen that community. Key findings include: 

  • With more than $400 million in support in 2021, the park partner community’s impact on NPS’s mission remained strong. In 2021, the community also generated more than $600 million in park-related revenue. 
  • Partners have a positive outlook on growth in the year ahead. Almost 90% of partners expect financial contributions to parks to meet or exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2022. 
  • Partners are increasingly limited by capacity constraints. Lack of internal and NPS staff capacity is a major challenge for partners. 
  • NPS and park partners can work together to: 
    • Build NPS capacity, including enhancements to policies and procedures as well as accelerating targeted hiring and training in the NPS workforce. 
    • Facilitate cross-partner learning and extend support to meet current partner needs. 
    • Identify emerging trends and address challenges of tomorrow. 

Learn more 

Do you have any questions about the report’s background, content, or implications for your own work? Please reach out. We’d love to help. 

    About the Authors
  • Lee Green

    Lee is a Director at Redstone and co-leads the firm’s Environment practice.

  • Beth Leuin

    Beth leverages data-driven insights to help clients advance a more equitable and sustainable world.