National park supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. last week. The National Park Partners Strategic Planning Session, held on November 2, 2011, sought to support the National Park Service and its preparation for the agency's Centennial in 2016. The three co-hosting organizations - the National Parks Conservation Association, National Park Foundation and National Park Hospitality Association - represented components of the puzzle that will make for a healthy parks system in 2016. The caliber of the participants, energy of the discussions and enthusiasm of NPS Director Jon Jarvis and other senior NPS officials during the meeting pointed to a remarkable level of sharing and learning at the meeting – and an important success overall.

A major topic of conversation at the planning session was the NPS' recently released A Call to Action and its 36 action points. A Call to Action details a plan to prepare the agency for its upcoming Centennial by increasing park visitation and otherwise strengthening the organization before 2016. The report is divided into four buckets: (1) Connecting People to Parks; (2) Advancing the NPS Education Mission; (3) Preserving America's Special Places; and (4) Enhancing Professional and Organizational Excellence. Breakout discussions during the planning session focused around each of the four buckets. You can access A Call to Action here.

Participants in the planning session developed clear goals for the upcoming America’s Summit on National Parks, to be held in January 2012. And the meetings’ participants provided some clear directions for the January summit, including:
1) the development of a unified statement of principles for the parks community to rally around, and an active plan to recruit signers and take the signed "pledge" to key venues, including the Congress and the political party platform hearings;
2) continued investigation of a campaign to convince all Americans that parks are for them;
3) use of the January summit, in a key political year, to relate our parks initiative to both major political parties, and to hone parks’ appeal to both parties;
4) a new idea - focusing on 2016 events, and developing and making available a logo or mark that help us with Centennial events and programs;
5) a call to make certain that the January summit is not a "one-off" - to think about a series of unified gatherings; and
6) use of the summit to move beyond talk about the need to diversify park visitors to action in achieving this goal.

To see a schedule of the day’s events, please click here. A list of participants is available here.