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Making the great outdoors even greater

A plan to restore national parks and more 

We have a new opportunity to better protect, restore and in a few cases expand America’s national parks and other special places.

President Obama recently announced an initiative to focus new resources and energy into protecting our country’s natural legacy. Which places and projects will be on the list? That will be determined in part by public input, so we’re helping to organize thousands of citizens to make their voices heard in order to:

• Restore Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, where park officials have been forced to close trails and scenic overlooks of the Blue Ridge Mountains due to inadequate funds.

• Expand Big Bend National Park in Texas to include the stunning Christmas Mountains just outside its northwest border; and expand Mount Rainier National Park in Washington to include the Carbon River Rainforest, one of our last remaining rainforests, to create a wildlife corridor stretching from the park to Puget Sound.

• Protect Glacier National Park in Montana and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. In both places, the stunning scenery, waterways and wildlife are threatened by toxic drilling and mining projects proposed just beyond their borders.

• Complete Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine by securing funding to purchase nearly 1,000 acres of land within the perimeter of the park that are currently vulnerable to private development.

• Repair the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri where, due to funding shortfalls, eroded stream banks and beat-up trails have degraded the outdoor experience for visitors.

To get the attention of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (who oversees the national parks), Congress (which controls the budget of the national parks), and state officials (whose support will be critical for these projects), our citizen outreach staff will engage tens of thousands of Americans this summer.  

Priority places (clockwise from left): The Boundary Waters, Big Bend National Park, Glacier National Park, Acadia National Park, the Carbon River Rainforest near Mt. Rainier.