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The National Park Service (NPS) is committed to providing a robust array of opportunities for service members*, veterans, and their families to experience parks as places of health and wellness, service and stewardship, education and recreation, employment and job skills training, and honor and celebration of their history and service. Through partnerships and collaborations with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and countless nonprofit organizations, the NPS will strive to achieve the goals and objectives outlined in this plan.
All 400+ national parks are natural and ideal places for engagement with active duty service military members, veterans, and their families. From the colonial Minutemen who stood in defense of their rights, homes, and families near the North Bridge to modern warriors on a ruck march through Denali National Park and Preserve, the history of the National Park Service is interwoven with that of the United States military. More than 100 national parks have direct connections to American military history, including frontier forts and Cold War sites, battlefields and national cemeteries, memorials and patriotic shrines. These special places pay tribute to service members and veterans and are reminders of their selfless service and sacrifice throughout the history of the nation and the values, ideals, and freedoms that the military protects at home and abroad.
This strategic plan describes the NPS work via six focus areas to engage service members and veterans at a scale not seen before on public lands and waters. Our priorities, strategic goals, and actions align with Department of the Interior priorities, which define the operational focus of this initiative and which will make the NPS a stronger agency providing better services and programs for veterans and military families. In doing so, the National Park Service is connecting with this important constituency in a new and deeper ways, strengthening already established networks that support this community, and acting as a conduit for positive change.
NPS Strategic Focus Areas:
Health and Wellness: Improve the overall health and wellness of service members*, veterans, and their families by offering park-based services and programs to address physical, mental, and spiritual health, and social well-being.
Service and Stewardship: Enhance civic pride and protect park resources by providing opportunities for continued public service through volunteerism while addressing deferred maintenance at the parks.
Education and Family: Increase awareness of, and participation in, National Park Service and partner education programs and outreach for educators and schools located on or near military installations.
Employment and Job Skills Training: Provide meaningful work experience on public lands and waters via service corps, internships, and/or employment that supports access to civilian careers in public, private or non-profit sectors.
Honor and Ceremony: Facilitate increased use of park sites for ceremonies that honor military service and achievements that celebrate active duty and veteran career accomplishments.
Performance Training: Provide inspiring and challenging opportunities for active duty service members to train for endurance, technical climbing skills, winter travel, wilderness navigation, strategic thinking, and more.
In addition the NPS plans to strengthen communication strategy, partnerships, and agency culture, which are critical to meeting the objectives of the program focus areas described above.
* Service members include all branches of the armed forces - Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Merchant Marines, National Guard, Navy, and Reservists.
Last updated: October 17, 2021