What is Climate Change?  •  How Parks are Being Affected  •  What Parks are Doing

What Parks Are Doing About Climate Change

Our national parks offer a unique opportunity to draw attention to America’s priceless heritage at risk, and to showcase opportunities to protect our shared cultural and natural resources.

The Climate Friendly Parks program of the National Park Service provides parks with the tools and resources to address climate change.

Climate Friendly Parks Work To:

• train staff on the issue of climate change,
• manage and reduce their own environmental footprint, and
• show visitors ways they can be a part of the solution.

More than 50 parks have joined the Climate Friendly Parks program and are working to become models of environmental stewardship that can inspire millions of Americans to do their part in the fight against climate change.

By the end of 2010, a visitor to any park in the Pacific West Region will be supporting a Climate Friendly Park member park. These parks and other member parks across the country work hard to address their impact on the changing climate. In Climate Friendly Parks from the California coast to Maine, staff are measuring the greenhouse gas emissions from park operations and looking for ways to conserve energy and water, recycle, and use alternative, renewable energy sources to decrease their parks’ impact on our changing climate.

Zion National Park: A climate friendly park

The new park visitor center at Zion reduces energy use by nearly 75 percent—eliminating more than 300,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

It relies on solar power for 30 percent of its energy and natural light for 80 percent of its lighting. It also features low-energy air-conditioning and a passive solar heating system.

A propane-powered shuttle system begun in 2000 replaced 5,000 private vehicles per day at the park—eliminating more than 130,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The park has also adopted the use of environmentally friendly building materials, nontoxic cleaning supplies, and has increased recycling efforts.

Elsewhere in the National Park System

• Apostle Islands National Lakeshore: a new park boat, the Nanookaasi (Ojibway for “hummingbird”), runs on biodiesel.
• Channel Islands National Park: has switched to 76 renewable energy systems in water pumping, communications, and resource-monitoring devices to eliminate the use of more than 28,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year.
• Yosemite National Park: Visitors receive a strong message about reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) when they enjoy the free shuttle service on Yosemite National Park's hybrid buses. Operating since spring of 2005, the buses significantly increase fuel efficiency, and reduce particulate matter and nitrous oxide emissions.
• Assateague Island National Seashore: asphalt roads and parking lots were resurfaced with crushed clam shells and walkways and decks are being maintained with 100 percent reclaimed lumber.
• Acadia National Park: the Island Explorer, a propane-powered shuttle bus service, has carried more than 2 million visitors to the park from local inns and campgrounds, eliminating the use of 800,000 vehicles in neighboring Mount Desert Island since its inception in 1999. White Sands National Monument: Solar energy powers the Heart of the Sands Nature Center.
• White Sands National Monument: Solar energy powers the Heart of the Sands Nature Center.
• Glacier National Park: the park’s historic red buses now run on alternative fuels and have inspired a program where employees ride “red bicycles” between buildings.

Click here for a list of Climate Friendly Parks in the National Park System.

To learn more read:

• A Climate of Change by Jeff Rennicke
• Climate Change and National Parks
• Fact Sheets: Responding to Climate Change in National Parks
• Climate Change Education
• California Clean Air and Climate
• Fact Sheet: Protecting Our Natural Resources from Climate Change

Or listen to:

• Park Stories: A Clean Commute: Visitors to Sequoia National Park in California are often awed by the impressive trees, but dismayed by the pollution that clouds the park's scenic views and harms wildlife. Fortunately, the nearby town of Visalia has an innovative solution, and is encouraging visitors and residents to get on board!
• Park Stories: The Canaries in the Coal Mine: In this edition of Park Stories, host Jim Williams walks among the Joshua trees and wildlife in Joshua Tree National Park, explores the changes to this fragile desert ecosystem being wrought by global warming, and introduces us to some of the local park experts, advocates, and friends trying to make a difference for the park they love.