5 Urgent Campaigns: What The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) Is Fighting For In 2025

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) remains the only independent, nonpartisan membership organization devoted exclusively to advocacy on behalf of the National Park System, ensuring America’s most cherished places are protected for future generations. As of December 2025, the organization is championing several critical, up-to-the-minute initiatives that define the future of American conservation, moving far beyond simple park maintenance to confront systemic challenges like the climate crisis and historical injustice. These efforts, detailed in the NPCA’s 2024 Annual Report and ongoing 2025 legislative efforts, showcase a bold strategic plan focused on connecting ecosystems, strengthening park management, and confronting the most significant threats to public lands.

The NPCA’s work is a crucial barometer for the health and accessibility of the 429 units within the National Park System. Their current focus is on high-stakes legislative battles, monumental historical designations, and science-based landscape conservation—all of which require immediate public and political attention. The following five campaigns represent the NPCA’s most urgent and impactful work as we head deeper into 2025.

The 5 Most Critical NPCA Campaigns for 2025 and Beyond

The advocacy work of the National Parks Conservation Association is multifaceted, tackling everything from congressional policy to on-the-ground ecosystem protection. These campaigns are designed to create long-term resilience for the parks and the communities that surround them.

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1. Commemorating the Dark Legacy: The Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument

One of the most significant and historically sensitive victories for the NPCA in late 2024 was the successful push for a new national monument designation. In December 2024, President Joe Biden established the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The monument is a monumental step in acknowledging the painful and often erased history of Native American Boarding Schools, which were established to forcibly assimilate tribal children and eradicate Indigenous culture.

• Historical Context: The site was formerly the flagship facility for the reeducation of tribal children, making it a powerful and necessary place for reflection and truth-telling.
• NPCA’s Role: The NPCA strongly advocated for the monument’s creation to protect and tell these difficult stories, ensuring the traumatic legacy is preserved as part of the American narrative.
• Impact: This designation represents a critical advancement in the NPCA's commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI), ensuring the National Park System accurately reflects the full, complex history of the nation.

2. Legislative Action: Pushing the "Protect Our Parks Act" and Staffing Crisis Solutions

The health of a national park is directly tied to the health of its staff and funding. The NPCA is currently prioritizing legislative efforts in the 119th Congress (2025-2026) to address chronic understaffing and funding shortages within the National Park Service (NPS).

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Key pieces of legislation the NPCA is tracking and supporting include the "Protect our Parks Act of 2025" (S.949). This bill is specifically designed to ensure the National Park Service is fully staffed and equipped to manage the increasing visitor numbers and growing threats to the parks.

• Staffing Crisis: Decades of stagnant funding have left the NPS struggling to hire and retain essential personnel, from law enforcement rangers to resource specialists. The NPCA’s advocacy is focused on securing sustained, dedicated funding.
• Safety and Infrastructure: Another related bill, the "Making National Parks Safer Act" (S.290), is also on the NPCA’s radar, aiming to improve visitor safety and park infrastructure across the National Park System.
• Advocacy Week: During National Park Advocacy Week, NPCA and its supporters travel to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress directly, making these legislative priorities a reality.

3. Confronting the Climate Crisis: The Landscape Conservation Initiative

The climate crisis is arguably the single greatest long-term threat to America’s public lands, affecting everything from water levels in the Everglades to wildfire frequency in the West. The NPCA's science-based response is the ambitious Landscape Conservation initiative.

This initiative moves beyond individual park boundaries to protect entire ecosystems. The NPCA is working to connect 20 critical landscapes across the country, ensuring that wildlife corridors and vital resources remain healthy even as the climate changes.

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• Ecosystem Connectivity: The goal is to protect and connect ecosystems so that wildlife, such as Alaska’s caribou, can migrate and adapt to shifting habitats.
• Clean Energy Solutions: The NPCA leverages the unique protections of national parks to mitigate greenhouse gas pollution and advance clean energy solutions on adjacent public lands.
• Water and Wildlife: This initiative scores massive wins for water and wildlife, protecting national parks from detrimental external developments that threaten the integrity of park resources.

4. Protecting Historical Integrity from Political Erasure

In a concerning development reported in 2025, the NPCA raised an alarm over a potential political move that could force the National Park Service to report information on slavery and climate change for potential erasure from national park interpretive materials.

The NPCA is acting as a fearless and outspoken defender against any efforts to whitewash or censor the historical and scientific narratives presented in the parks. The organization views the accurate and comprehensive telling of America’s history, including difficult topics like slavery and the undeniable reality of climate change, as a core part of its mission.

• Nonpartisan Defense: The NPCA maintains its nonpartisan stance by defending the scientific and historical integrity of the NPS against political interference.
• Public Education: This campaign is focused on ensuring that visitors receive well-informed, objective information, allowing them to understand the full context of the sites they visit.

5. Engaging the Next Generation of Conservation Leaders

The long-term success of the National Park System depends on cultivating a new generation of advocates and stewards. To this end, the NPCA has launched the Next Generation Advisory Council.

This council is a key component of the NPCA's Strategic Plan, focusing on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) to ensure the conservation movement is reflective of all Americans. By engaging younger, diverse voices, the NPCA is building a more resilient and representative base for future advocacy.

• Future-Proofing Advocacy: The council provides a platform for young leaders to influence NPCA policy, ensuring that issues like climate justice and equitable access to public lands remain central to the organization's mission.
• Diverse Stewardship: The NPCA recognizes that the modern public lands system must be inclusive to thrive, actively working to remove barriers to entry for underrepresented communities in conservation.

How the NPCA's Role as a Nonpartisan Defender Shapes Conservation

The National Parks Conservation Association’s unique status as an independent, nonpartisan advocacy group allows it to take on challenges that the federally-run National Park Service (NPS) cannot. The NPCA is not bound by the political constraints of a government agency, enabling it to be an outspoken critic or a powerful ally as needed.

From the early 20th century, the NPCA has been instrumental in the creation and protection of countless units within the National Park System. Today, this advocacy translates into fighting for dedicated park funding and management, opposing harmful commercial developments near park boundaries, and ensuring that climate science informs every major policy decision. Their work is a constant check on power, ensuring that the "people's parks" are never sold out for private gain or political expediency. The success of their 2025 campaigns will determine the environmental, historical, and legislative trajectory of America’s most iconic landscapes for decades to come.