Wild South: New Group Launches Campaign to Create More National Parks Across America

Veteran public lands advocates announced the launch of the New National Parks Project (NNPP), a DC-based initiative that will wage a national campaign to expand America’s National Park System. The New National Parks Project will help bring together national park advocates so they can speak with a united voice that will be heard in Washington.

“We need more national parks. Everyone deserves to have a park nearby,” said Susan Tixier, Director of the Project’s Southwest Office. “Everyone needs the chance to experience the adventure of the out-of-doors, where the unpredictable can happen — where there are bears and eagles, wild rivers and avalanches, crashing thunder and blissful silence, butterflies and blinding sunlight. This is the America our ancestors experienced — it’s a vital part of our national heritage.”

Proposals for new or expanded parks include the Maine Woods, West Virginia’s Blackwater Canyon, Washington’s Mount St. Helens, Oregon’s Mount Hood, California’s Giant Sequoia, Pinnacles, Los Padres, and Tejon Ranch, New Mexico’s Valles Caldera, and Utah’s Glen Canyon.

The New National Parks Project comes at a time of renewed interest in national parks. The Ken Burns PBS documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is receiving an enthusiastic public response. With the approaching National Park Service centennial celebration in 2016, the Obama administration is showing a level of interest in protecting and expanding national parks that has not been seen in decades.