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2023 Annual Report

OPENING NOTE FROM CEO

A Letter To You

From Theresa & Elizabeth

We are so excited to share National Park Conservation Association’s 2022 annual report, Rooted in History, Preserved for the Future, with you. Each victory – outlined here and online is a testament to the commitment you have made to protecting and enhancing America’s national parks for present and future generations. Thank you.

We were grateful to begin in gathering in person once again. Across the country, our regional and field offices hosted service projects to bring people back into the parks. We convened NPCA supporters for our Annual Meeting Week in Washington, D.C. and met with congressional lawmakers on Capitol Hill to advocate for our national parks We launched our Veterans Council and expanded our Young Leaders Councils in cities nationwide. Although the 12 past 12 months have been full of incredible park victories and overdue reunions, we also want to recognize the losses, both for NPCA and for our parks.

On a more personal note, NPCA mourned the passing of Victor “Vic” Fazio, Chair of NPCA’s Board of of Trustees and longtime board member. Vic was a dedicated defender of national parks who fought for wild places both in his 20-year tenure in the U.S. Congress, in California state office and as a private citizen. But Vic was much more than an advocate for parks and climate. He was kind and compassionate man, generous leader, and a good friend to many. We miss Vic dearly and are honored to continue his legacy defending our national parks.

Through it all, you have continued to stand up and speak out for parks It is making a difference. From historic investments in climate resiliency to the establishment of new national parks that help tell a fuller, richer American history, your efforts are building better and brighter future for our national parks that will carry on for generations to come.

Theresa Pierno

President & CEO

Elizabeth Waddill

Board Chair

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MARO Tree Planting with Girl Scouts
Gateway National Recreation Area
Outdoor Afro Event at Biscayne National Park

Who We Are

Since 1919, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been America’s only nonpartisan, independent voice for the national parks. From opposing logging in Olympic National Park’s old-growth forests during World War II to advocating for new parks, such as Pullman National Monument, NPCA has fought to protect America’s most treasured places and preserve our most important stories.

NPCA founder Robert Sterling Yard knew that our parks needed a community of voices, independent of government, to speak out and protect them. Today, we are that community of voices. NPCA and our 1.6 million members and supporters are safeguarding the landscapes, stories and cultures that make up the unique fabric of our nation for the next century and beyond.

Over the last year, we have secured victories that will help national parks thrive. Congress invested $2 billion to restore waters in the Florida Everglades and across the Great Lakes region. The designation of Amache National Historic Site permanently preserves the experiences of Japanese Americans incarcerated in Granada, Colorado during World War II. Years of NPCA advocacy paid off when President Biden restored protections to three national monuments in Utah and off the New England coast.

As an organization, NPCA continues to find creative ways to engage a new and diverse coalition of park supporters. We launched our Veterans Council to provide an avenue for the military community to defend parks through service projects and advocacy. We hosted our first hybrid Salute to the Parks gala. You can learn about these victories, events and more online at our website.

Generations of park advocates helped create the national parks we enjoy today. With your help, NPCA can continue to preserve the stories of our past while strengthening the parks of today and planning for the parks of tomorrow.

FOR THE PARKS.

FOR US ALL.

FOREVER.

Impact Stories

New Parks

Avi Kwa Ame

After more than a decade of advocacy from Tribal leaders, NPCA, and our members and supporters, the Biden administration established Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in March 2023, preserving more than 500,000 acres of some of the most visually stunning, biologically diverse and culturally significant lands in the Mojave Desert. Avi Kwa Ame, the Mojave name for Spirit Mountain, is a sacred landscape to several Tribes, including some Yuman-speaking Tribes that pay reverence to the mountain as the center of their creation.

NPCA worked alongside Fort Mojave and other Tribal leaders and partners to amplify Tribal voices in their calls to permanently protect this piece of their cultural heritage. We helped unify a diverse coalition, ranging from gateway community members to the outdoor recreation industry, to call on members of Congress to designate the monument. In addition, our work on the ground with reporters in Nevada led to front page stories in the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post.

This victory establishes one the greatest desert conservation reserves in the world, completing landscape connections between Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Mojave National Preserve, and Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks. NPCA will continue to advocate for Avi Kwa Ame and the surrounding park sites to secure adequate funding and ensure that Tribal leaders are front and center for how best to preserve their ancestral land. 

Blackwell School

In September 2022, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Blackwell School National Historic Site Act. The new park site in Marfa, Texas, honors the stories of Mexican Americans who experienced school segregation from the late 19th century until the 1960s.
 
The Blackwell School was a segregated three-room schoolhouse for Mexican American children. Students who attended Blackwell often faced discrimination and cultural barriers, including punishments for speaking Spanish, sometimes with physical discipline.
 
Years after the school was shutdown, a group of Blackwell alumni formed the nonprofit Blackwell School Alliance to save the property and preserve the stories of hardship and their resilience and achievements in the face of discrimination. NPCA stepped in to support the Blackwell School Alliance and use our powerful advocacy across the nation and the Capitol to help lead the campaign, working closely with Texas communities, Blackwell alumni and their descendants.

This victory is a huge step toward NPCA’s goal of ensuring that national parks tell the stories of all Americans. However, the work is far from over. NPCA will continue to advocate for resources and funding so the Blackwell School National Historic Site is successfully preserved to tell the stories of the school, its students and generations of Mexican American families across the country.
Avi Kwa Ame Before
Avi Kwa Ame After

Emmett Till and Mamie-Till Mobley National Monument

We made history together! After years of tireless advocacy, a Park for Till is finally a reality. The site will forever ensure the world has another opportunity to learn Emmett Till’s story and experience Mamie Till-Mobley’s legacy. Thank you for helping make this vision a reality.

Defending Parks

Chaco Culture Mineral Withdrawal

NPCA and our partners achieved a hard-fought victory for Chaco Culture National Historical Park in June 2023 when the Biden administration announced a 20-year ban on new oil and gas leases on federal lands within 10 miles of the park. This ban not only reduces air pollution, thereby protecting public health, it also preserves thousands of Chacoan cultural and historic sites scattered across the larger landscape, including five “great house” where people from various clans congregated to trade goods, share ideas and celebrate events a thousand years ago.

For years, NPCA has worked alongside partners, from Pueblo and Dine leaders to conservation allies, such as Kurt Riley, NPCA board member and former Governor of the Pueblo of Acoma, to protect this sacred landscape. We mobilized our members and supporters, met with local, state and federal decision makers, and hosted a webinar with the U.S. National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites to educate audiences about the significance of the Chaco landscape. While we celebrate all that this temporary ban represents, our work to permanently safeguard this landscape continues.

In 2019, the New Mexico delegation introduced the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, which would prohibit natural resource extraction on 340,000 acres near the park in perpetuity. NPCA strongly supports this legislation, reintroduced in May 2023, and will continue to work closely with Tribes and key partners to see this measure approved.

Inflation Reduction Act by the Numbers

$500 million to hire new park staff, including scientists, preservationists and various specialists including in education and interpretation, natural resource
management and accessibility.  

$250 million for conservation and habitat restoration projects on public lands managed by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. 

$250 million for the protection and resilience of natural, cultural and historical resources, such as historic buildings and artifacts, by the Park Service. 

$200 million for National Park Service maintenance projects. 

$125 million to support endangered species recovery efforts in areas surrounding national parks. 

$1.8 billion for the U.S. Forest Service to help reduce the threat of wildfires. 

$2.6 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help conserve, restore, and protect coastal and marine habitats.

Pebble Mine

In January 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the proposed Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska. The project would have created a massive gold and copper mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, that would have threatened the most productive wild salmon fishery in the world as well as the world-famous bears of Lake Clark and Katmai national parks and preserves.

For over a decade, NPCA staff have collaborated and coordinated with Alaska Native leaders and residents, local citizens, business owners, and community groups to educate Alaskans about the implications of the proposed mine and mobilize them to protect this vast landscape. NPCA also assisted Alaska residents in sharing their stories about how the mine would have detrimental consequences to their livelihoods and traditions.

NPCA and our allies met with local and federal decisionmakers and pointed out the flaws in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ analysis on the negative effects of the mine. In partnership with a coalition of advocacy groups, we submitted technical comments as the proposal made its way through the approval process and called on our members and supporters to submit tens of thousands of public comments in opposition to the mine. NPCA also commissioned a study on the mine’s potential impacts to the area’s bears and its bear-viewing economy.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision is a key victory for safeguarding this region, but one that may very well face challenges in the future. NPCA remains committed to protecting Alaska’s national parks. When we stand up for our cherished landscapes and critical species, we are standing up for the values we hold dear.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Blue Ridge Parkway
Bears at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park
 A bear fishing at Katmi National Park
NWRO TMC Olympic Beach Cleanup – (C) NPCA
On the Hoh (C) NPCA
Bear Coast Trip Showcase – (C) NPCA
Square Inch of Silence Hoh Rainforest – (C) NPCA
AKRO Bear Coast Hike – (C) NPCA
AKRO Bear Coast Veterans – (C) NPCA
NWRO TMC Olympic Beach Cleanup – (C) NPCA
On the Hoh (C) NPCA
Bear Coast Trip Showcase – (C) NPCA
Square Inch of Silence Hoh Rainforest – (C) NPCA
AKRO Bear Coast Hike – (C) NPCA
AKRO Bear Coast Veterans – (C) NPCA
NWRO TMC Olympic Beach Cleanup - (C) NPCA On the Hoh (C) NPCA Bear Coast Trip Showcase - (C) NPCA Square Inch of Silence Hoh Rainforest - (C) NPCA AKRO Bear Coast Hike - (C) NPCA AKRO Bear Coast Veterans - (C) NPCA Blackwell School, Marfa, TX (c) Bob Kinkle The Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, MS where Emmett Till’s murder trial took place-(c) Alan Spears, NPCA Katmai National Park (c) davidkl Acadia National Park (c) F11photo Dreamstime Bears Ears National Monument (c) Arlene Hochman Waller Dreamstime Amache National Historic Site (c) Beth Schneider Photography Sequoia National Park (C) Anna Dudko
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AWARDS

Salute to the Parks

Award Winners

IIn March 2023, NPCA hosted our 41st annual Salute to the Parks, bringing together park protectors from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and several Tribal nations. Guests joined us at the National Building Museum, or virtually, for an engaging panel discussion moderated by Priya Nanjappa, NPCA’s vice president of Conservation Programs.

We celebrated so much of what makes our parks special and presented awards to three incredible park champions. You can read more about our honorees’ individual legacies and service to our national parks at www.npca.org.

Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks

Molly Hennessy-Fiske is an award-winning journalist based in Texas. Her reporting for the Los Angeles Times about the Blackwell School in Marfa, Texas, helped shine a light on this lesser-known, painful chapter of U.S. history. Her stories of the Blackwell School, one of our country’s newest national park sites, communicate the values of the National Park System and the significance of including all voices in our parks.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske
National Staff Writer, The Washington Post

Centennial Leadership Award

Mo Rocca is an Emmy-winning correspondent and television host who has dedicated his career to bringing history to life for his audiences. Rocca has furthered the National Park Service’s efforts of making parks more welcoming by sharing lesser-known stories that reach audiences across the country, inspiring new and diverse groups of park advocates. He has also written, directed and hosted features about our national parks, including a feature on CBS News about the military history at Dry Tortugas National Park and episodes on the podcast “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation” about wolf conservation in Yellowstone National Park and the sentiments that certain Americans held toward the establishment of this very park in the 1800’s.
Mo Rocca
CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent, Host of The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation and Host of Mobituaries

Centennial Leadership Award

David Vela retired in 2020 after 30 years with the National Park Service. As the first Latino to serve as the agency’s deputy director, he managed the Park Service’s $3 billion budget, its workforce of more than 20,000 employees and all of its park sites. Vela strongly champions diversity in the Park Service’s ranks and in our shared outdoor spaces.
David Vela
Former Deputy Director, National Park Service
Yellowstone Bourbon

National Park Defender Award

Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

During National Park Week 2023, NPCA named Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey the recipient of its second annual National Park Defender Award — an award that recognizes a corporate partner that goes above and beyond to create lasting impact in park protection. First crafted in 1872, the same year its namesake national park was designated, Yellowstone Bourbon is now run by seventh-generation distiller and national park advocate Stephen Beam.

Since 2018, Yellowstone Bourbon has partnered with NPCA on numerous campaigns to educate and inspire its customers to take action on behalf of parks, including NPCA’s Talking Parks campaign, the commemoration of Yellowstone National Park’s 150th anniversary and NPCA Park Talks. Yellowstone Bourbon heightened its efforts in June 2022 in the wake of record-breaking floods that devastated infrastructure at its namesake park and surrounding communities. With Yellowstone Bourbon’s help, NPCA and the Bozeman community raised nearly $100,000 to support the relief effort.

Yellowstone Bourbon became NPCA’s largest annual corporate donor, with contributions totaling $285,000 in fiscal year 2023. In addition to their generous donations and to further raise awareness of NPCA’s mission, Yellowstone Bourbon released a special-edition NPCA collector’s label on 60,000 bottles of Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, including a QR code that directed consumers to an NPCA.org landing page where they could learn more about park protection.

NPCA applauds Yellowstone Bourbon for being an outspoken corporate leader committed to protecting national parks and inspiring the next generation of park advocates.

2022 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award

Amache Preservation Society

During National Park Week 2023, NPCA named Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey the recipient of its second annual National Park Defender Award — an award that recognizes a corporate partner that goes above and beyond to create lasting impact in park protection. First crafted in 1872, the same year its namesake national park was designated, Yellowstone Bourbon is now run by seventh-generation distiller and national park advocate Stephen Beam.

Since 2018, Yellowstone Bourbon has partnered with NPCA on numerous campaigns to educate and inspire its customers to take action on behalf of parks, including NPCA’s Talking Parks campaign, the commemoration of Yellowstone National Park’s 150th anniversary and NPCA Park Talks. Yellowstone Bourbon heightened its efforts in June 2022 in the wake of record-breaking floods that devastated infrastructure at its namesake park and surrounding communities. With Yellowstone Bourbon’s help, NPCA and the Bozeman community raised nearly $100,000 to support the relief effort.

Yellowstone Bourbon became NPCA’s largest annual corporate donor, with contributions totaling $285,000 in fiscal year 2023. In addition to their generous donations and to further raise awareness of NPCA’s mission, Yellowstone Bourbon released a special-edition NPCA collector’s label on 60,000 bottles of Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, including a QR code that directed consumers to an NPCA.org landing page where they could learn more about park protection.

NPCA applauds Yellowstone Bourbon for being an outspoken corporate leader committed to protecting national parks and inspiring the next generation of park advocates.

Amache Preservation

Amache Preservation Society

FINANCIALS

EXPENSES

National Parks Thrive 46.5% 11.5% National Parks T ell Stories of All Americans 22.9% National Parks are e for Everyone 8.7% Management and General 10.4% Fundraising
Program Services National Parks Thrive National Parks Tell Stories of All Americans National Parks are for Everyone Total Program ServicesSupporting Services Management and General Fundraising Total Supporting ServicesTOTAL EXPENSES:Change in Net Assets: $25,212,063 $6,245,538 $12,426,147 $43,883,748 $4,719,049 $5,630,095 $10,349,144 $54,232,892 ($3,113,654)

REVENUES & EXPENSES

Contributions Grants Contributed Services Bequests Membership Dues Marketing Income Events Other Revenue Investment Income (Net)Change in Value of Charitable Gift AnnuitiesTotal Program Services $28,448,755 $3,990,883 $4,694,291 $5,342,649 $1,835,257 $1,424,405 $672,225 $248,106 $4,748,494 ($285,827)$51,119,238
-10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

ENDOWMENTS

Over the years, donors have sought to provide for the long-term fiscal stability of National Parks Conservation Association and its work protecting America’s National Park System. Some endowed funds have been created with gifts in honor or in memory of, special individuals. Endowed funds may be restricted for specific programs or aspects of NPCA’s conservation work. Such gifts are invested, and only a portion of the annual earnings is available for programs expenses each year, as directed by the Board of Trustees. 

Norman G. Cohen Park Education Endowment 

This fund, in honor of a former Board of Trustees chair, supports education activities for Washington, D.C.- area youth to help them appreciate and understand the parks.     

EDAR Endowment

Created by Armstrong Chinn, Jr., this is a permanent endowment fund to further NPCA’s mission for the protection and enhancement of the national parks.  

Frank H. Filley and Family Endowment Fund

This fund provides unrestricted support for park protection programs. 

General National Parks Conservation Association Endowment Fund 

This fund, initiated through the generosity of John and Jane Strandberg, provides perpetual support for NPCA’s current programs and park protection initiatives.  

Gretchen Long Endowment

Members of the Board of Trustees established this fund to honor former Board of Trustees Chair Gretchen Long for her outstanding voluntary leadership and service to National Parks Conservation Association. 

Stephen T. Mather Aware for Excellence Endowment Fund 

Endowed by Booz Allen Hamilton, this award is presented annually to employees of the National Park Service for exemplary service. The endowment is named for the first director of the National Park Service and cofounder of NPCA.  

Northeast Regional Office Endowment

This fund was established to support NPCA’s work in the Northeast region.

Park Protection Endowment

Funded by an anonymous donor, this endowment was established to enhance NPCA’s long-term financial base and further the organization’s goals of protecting and enhancing national parks.

Kathryn B. Sehy Memorial Endowed Internship

This endowed internship was established in memory of Kathryn B. Sehy by her husband, Lawrence Sehy.

H. William Walter Endowed Internship Program

This fund was created to support and NPCA internship program for college and graduate students to gain experience at a park conservation organization and possibly pursue a career in the field.

Yellowstone Conservation Fund Endowment

This fund was created as a permanently restricted endowment for the purpose of broadly supporting NPCA’s work to protect the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Ruth Hammett Memorial Desert Protection Endowment 

Created to honor the life and legacy of Ruth Hammett, a longtime supporter of NPCA and our national parks, to support the work of the California desert region. 
 

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Donors & Supporters

Our dedicated and passionate supporters have made the victories in this report possible. We are pleased to recognize the numerous individuals, foundations and corporations that have provided philanthropic support to NPCA. We are so grateful for your role in ensuring NPCA can remain a strong leader for our parks.

Donor Lists
Photo & Author Credits