Celebrating 2024’s Top 5 Park Victories

Our mission is to protect and preserve our national parks through initiatives that ensure cleaner air and water, improved infrastructure, the protection of plants and wildlife — and so much more! Let’s take a moment to reflect on five exciting accomplishments for national parks in 2024.

1. Less Pollution + Cleaner Air = Better Parks

For years, NPCA and our partners have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen air quality standards under the Clean Air Act. It all paid off in 2024, resulting in strengthened regulations that will lead to reduced climate pollution and cleaner air for communities and visitors in and around our national parks.

2. Enhanced Visitor Experiences at Our Nation’s Most Popular Parks

The popularity of national parks has increased over the past few years. While it’s wonderful that there’s more interest in national parks, it has led to overcrowding and strained resources. In response, NPCA has advocated for timed-entry systems at Glacier, Arches and Rocky Mountain national parks, which have proven to reduce congestion, improve visitor satisfaction and allow park rangers to focus on education and safety.

As the fifth most popular national park in the country, Rocky Mountain National Park was in desperate need of a functional way to manage its 4 million annual visitors. NPCA joined park advocates and local businesses to plan for the future, permanently securing the park’s timed-entry system.

These successful timed-entry systems at national parks are just one example of our efforts to improve visitor experiences. NPCA was also a major force behind opening a visitor center at Stonewall National Monument, a park site that we helped to establish in 2016. The park’s new visitor center, which opened in June, features improved amenities and engaging exhibits that share the history of Stonewall.

3. Safer Spaces for Plants and Wildlife

NPCA played a crucial role in increasing protections for iconic park wildlife and endangered species this year.

We advocated for grizzly bears to be reintroduced to North Cascades National Park, successfully bringing the park one step closer to returning the species to its historic home. Nearly 700 miles away in Yellowstone, we collaborated with federal agencies, conservation groups, community members and Tribal partners to create a plan to restore bison to Tribal lands via the Bison Conservation Transfer Program.

The wildlife living in America’s largest park landscape remain protected as a legislative provision that would have approved the 210-mile Ambler mining road was removed from the National Defense Authorization Act. The proposed road would have bulldozed across Gates of the Arctic National Preserve, impacting critical caribou migration routes and crossing thousands of rivers and streams.

While NPCA has been working to conserve these iconic wildlife species, we’ve also been fighting to protect endangered plants and marine ecosystems in other parts of the country. Earlier this year, we fought for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend endangered species protection for the imperiled ghost orchid in Big Cypress. We also won the fight to implement a marine reserve zone in Biscayne to protect the park’s vibrant coral reefs and marine life in perpetuity, and we funded an invasive carp deterrent system on the Mississippi River to protect the Minnesota’s waterways and national parks.

4. Crucial Protection Against Harmful Human Threats

Park advocates took a huge collective step forward in protecting the incredible landscapes, wildlife and cultural treasures that make our national parks so special.

Following years of NPCA’s advocacy efforts, the Bureau of Land Management implemented new regulations that help prevent oil and gas drilling in and around critical wildlife areas, watersheds and culturally significant landscapes located within national parks. The bureau not only adopted a new Public Lands Rule to put conservation on par with extractive land uses like mining, but it also adopted a new rule that will protect national parks and surrounding landscapes from destructive oil and gas leasing.

After years of litigation, NPCA and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance reached a resolution with the National Park Service regarding off-road vehicles in Glen Canyon. The settlement includes a commitment from the Park Service to update regulations that prioritize the protection of the park’s ecological integrity and visitor experience.

5. Continued Park Improvements through GAOA Investments and Successfully Worked Toward Extending Them

NPCA has played a key role in securing funding for national park infrastructure improvements through the Great American Outdoors Act since its passage in 2020. The $6.65 billion of funding, which has since been used to repair roads, bridges and other facilities in parks such as Glacier, Yellowstone and Great Smoky Mountains expires next year. NPCA focused efforts on continuing to advocate for extending this funding to ensure the long-term sustainability of our national parks.

Edit: We’re thrilled to announce that we celebrated yet another victory after this blog and video were published. On December 16, 2024, President Biden designated the Frances Perkins National Monument, honoring the first female Cabinet member and a champion of labor rights. Perkins’ legacy includes Social Security, minimum wage and the 40-hour workweek.

This is only the 13th national park site dedicated to honoring women, but we know it won’t be the last! NPCA is proud to work with the Frances Perkins Center in Maine to make sure Perkins’ story is told.

We Must Still Defend These Victories

As we look to the future, your partnership with NPCA — and your support of our national parks — is more important than ever. We can’t wait to see what we’re able to accomplish together in the new year.

Thank you for your commitment to helping us ensure a thriving park system for years to come.

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