National Park Foundation chief on protecting America’s shared spaces

[0:00] Today is Earth Day and America's national parks are marking the holiday with events encouraging [0:04] everyone to enjoy the outdoors. In 2025, U.S. national parks recorded more than 323 million [0:11] visits, the most ever. But as parks grow more popular, the Trump administration has proposed [0:16] cutting more than a billion dollars from the system, a move that could eliminate thousands [0:20] of jobs in an already understaffed workforce and threaten protections across more than 430 parks [0:27] nationwide. I spoke recently with Jeff Reinbold, who leads the National Park Foundation, about [0:33] the significance of the parks and how to sustain and safeguard them in the years ahead. Jeff [0:39] Reinbold, welcome to the NewsHour. Thank you. Thank you. So the National Parks Foundation [0:42] is inviting people to celebrate national parks all month long alongside Earth Month. How [0:47] are you thinking about this moment as a chance to reconnect Americans with their parks? Yeah, [0:53] April is a big time for national parks. You get people planning their vacations and, you [0:57] know, it's a longtime American tradition of visiting national parks. And so this is the perfect [1:02] year, particularly with it being the 250th anniversary of the country, to go out and see these parks [1:08] and visit them. You've spent decades working in and around some of the country's most iconic parks [1:14] and sites, the Flight 93 Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial. You mentioned America's 250th anniversary. [1:21] What are you hoping people consider and reflect on when they visit parks this year? Yeah, if you think [1:27] about it, there is nothing more American than our national parks, right? You take the American [1:32] story and the American spirit and the American landscape, and it's captured in the 430 plus [1:40] national parks that we have. And the entire story of America can be found there. Ken Burns had this [1:47] great line where he talked about the national parks are the Declaration of Independence laid across the [1:53] landscape. And I think that is really epic. Behind the popularity of these parks, there's some real [1:58] pressures. There are staffing shortages, aging infrastructure, there are climate challenges, [2:03] growing questions about access and equality. The work you do preserving these parks, what does that look [2:09] like in practice? Yeah, I've been in the park space for over 35 years, and there's always been some kind of [2:16] challenges. In some years, they're more acute than others and debates. At the National Park Foundation, we take the long view. We were created by [2:23] Congress to help the National Park Service. And regardless of what's going on in the country at the time, there are still problems that we had five years ago and 10 years ago that we haven't solved. [2:32] And so for us, we invest in those things that really make parks enduring, things that are going to make them last. So it's not just responding to the moment, but it's also the moments that are to come. [2:42] The White House, as you well know, they proposed slashing the National Park Service's budget by $1.2 billion. How serious a hit is that? And help us understand what that means on top of the previous cuts to the NPS. [2:55] Yeah, I think when you have something that is as beloved as the National Parks, the whole idea of the park system is incredibly audacious. You take the most important places and set them aside for the country. It has always been from the beginning, this public and private partnership. And over time, those roles change. And you'll see right now more people stepping up, voting, advocating for their parks by volunteering, by visiting, by donating. And that's a lot of what we do. [3:22] We want to make sure for these places that people care about, that they not sit quiet, that they get out there, that they help the parks, that they get involved. [3:29] What are the highest impact investments you're making right now? And where are you seeing the greatest results? [3:34] Yeah, that's one of the things since we were created by Congress to work with the National Park Service, we really have this unique position to find out where can you have an outsized impact. [3:43] And so a couple of the areas that might surprise people are one of the one that we're most invested in is around housing right now. [3:50] If you go to Grand Teton, for example, the cost of housing there has gone through the roof. [3:56] And we have rangers that are living in substandard housing or can't find housing. [4:00] That's not right. That's not acceptable. And so areas like that we invest in getting fourth graders out to parks. [4:07] A lot of the things that people come to expect and look for in parks are often provided by the private sector, either through the National Park Foundation or through this amazing network of over 400 partners on the ground who help individual units. [4:21] I've heard you talk before about how you are focused on innovation. Innovating is not a word that many people will associate with national parks. [4:27] People think of parks and they're timeless. They're historic. They're static even. [4:31] Yeah. But what is what is innovating in the national park space? What does that look like? [4:34] Well, it's interesting. You asked about the 250th before. There's a lot of people looking back. We're also looking forward. [4:40] How do you make the parks enduring? How do you make them last? If they are these symbols of America, how do we make sure they're there for future generations? [4:47] And in many cases, you see technology that the private sector has that the Park Service doesn't have access to. [4:54] And as we've gone out and talked to donors, there's a lot of interest in making sure the people that care for these places that we love, that they have the best. [5:03] And so we're out there looking for not only new technology, but new ways of thinking. [5:08] This was when I worked in the Park Service five years and ten years ago, we had the same needs. [5:12] And now is a chance we have to really focus people on what are those ways that we can help the parks think differently, think better for the challenges that lie ahead. [5:21] What is the most meaningful way people can contribute to the parks beyond just visiting? [5:25] Yeah, there's, you know, in some cases, if people are able, outright donations. [5:30] And sometimes there are incredibly large donations that make a very grand statement. [5:35] But often it is people that give recurringly, right? [5:38] It's the smaller gifts, whatever that may amount to, to know that they had a hand in caring for these special places. [5:45] But it can also be volunteering, right? [5:47] There are an incredible number of people that volunteer, help parks on a local level, or just visiting or embracing the national park idea, particularly in a year like this. [5:57] Dare I ask your favorite park? [5:59] Ah, that's a tough one. That's a tough one. [6:01] Or what parks really speak to you, resonate with you? [6:06] Yeah, well, you mentioned the Flight 93 Memorial before. That's one that's near and dear to me. [6:10] I had a chance to go there after 9-11 and help create that. [6:14] That's the fourth plane that crashed on 9-11 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. [6:18] But anytime I get that question, I think of who I visited them with. [6:22] And I think that's what a lot of people do. [6:24] I can still remember standing in the Sequoias with my wife for the first time and how that was moved. [6:29] Or my son at the edge of the Grand Canyon. [6:31] Or myself as a fourth grader sitting on the National Mall at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, trying to make sense of this amazing scene in front of me. [6:39] So I think it's a function of where you are in life and who you're with. [6:42] Jeff Reinbold, president and CEO of the National Parks Foundation. [6:45] Thanks for being here. [6:46] Thank you so much. [6:47] Support journalism you trust. [7:00] Support PBS News. [7:02] Donate now or even better, start a monthly contribution today.