Impact Grants

PROJECT TITLE: Improve and Protect Acadia's Dark Night Sky

This project replaced outdoor lighting at Acadia's park headquarters with full cut-off fixtures that prevent light pollution and help preserve the night sky. This project is promoted in partnership with similar pilot projects in the gateway communities to show the NPS's commitment to night sky preservation.

PROJECT TITLE: Animas River Trail; Monument Section

Animas River Trail and Interurban Loop, encompasses the connections of Aztec Ruins National Monument’s diverse natural, cultural and historic resources through a trail network. It connects neighborhoods and parks with the Aztec Ruins, the Animas River, and the historic downtown district and designated open space lands. This project focused on one segment of trail necessary to connect the monument.

PROJECT TITLE: Improve CCC National Historic Landmark District Buildings

This project developed a better methodology and tools to efficiently repair beams in the Bandelier CCC NHL District. The previous method required large quantities of special epoxy which is difficult to control damages the historic fabric. The new methodology eliminated the use of chemicals and decreased repair time and costs by 75 percent.

PROJECT TITLE: Provide Interpretive Volunteer Training to Re-establish Living History Program

This project re-established the living history interpretive program at Booker T. Washington NM by providing professional training in both first-person interpretation and in historical demonstrations for 15 volunteers via a field immersion trip to Sturbridge Village. Funding also provided five period outfits and supplies for volunteers to interactively learn during the craft demonstrations training.

PROJECT TITLE: Friends Don't Let Friends Break Biological Soil Crusts

Visitors to Canyonlands come to the park often with no familiarity to the biological soil crusts that underpin its healthy desert ecosystem. This grant provided the framework to develop, create and distribute a series of creative and informative pamphlets, given to visitors to the park, that introduce soils crusts and hiking behaviors that protect this valuable park resource.

PROJECT TITLE: Launch the Volunteer Center

This project allowed Cuyahoga Valley National Park to open a Volunteer Center by supporting its IT needs. The Volunteer Center, a collaborative project between the NPS and Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association, provided a physical space and greater visibility for the park's volunteer program.

PROJECT TITLE: Death Valley FISHES (Fishery Investigations for Students through Hands-on Environmental Science)

This grant transformed an existing curriculum-based field trip program on desert pupfish biology into a citizen-scientist initiative. Community college, elementary, middle, and high school students contributed to inventory and monitoring efforts focused on the poorly understood but ecologically barometric Salt Creek pupfish, a project directed by Iowa State University researchers and park science and education staff.

PROJECT TITLE: Improve Fort Davis Community Recycling Center

This grant helped build the first recycling pad and electrical service for Jeff Davis County, TX and created the foundation for a small recycling station in Fort Davis. Improvements to the recycling program were necessary to reduce the excess in the landfill and reinstate a sense of resource stewardship in the community.

PROJECT TITLE: Snowshoe Hare Studies near Wiseman Village, Alaska

National Park Service and University of Alaska Fairbanks are collaborating on a long-term project to examine the population ecology of snowshoe hares in the Brooks Range. This grant purchased GPS collars to track hare movements near mineral licks. This telemetry data will helped researchers understand the importance of the mineral licks during times of high population densities.

PROJECT TITLE: Fund Grand Canyon National Park Employee Bike Share Program

This grant supported the Bike Share program at Grand Canyon National Park providing bicycles, used in lieu of vehicles, for work related trips. The project supported the climate friendly parks initiative by reducing emissions and fuel consumption; encouraged employees' physical fitness; encouraged positive visitor interactions;  and provided data on use patterns and infrastructure gaps to aid in implementing visitor bike share or rental.

PROJECT TITLE: In Pursuit of Liberty

This grant supported a living history program featuring Thomas Jefferson, introducing students in grades 5 through 12 to the paradox of liberty and slavery coexisting in the 18th century. Using the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson engaged the students in a dialogue about a contradiction woven throughout America's past and relevant to America's present.

PROJECT TITLE: Little Rock Central High National Historic Site Teacher Institute

This project was able to bring teachers together from all across the United States to learn about desegregation, the Central High Crisis and the civil rights movement.

PROJECT TITLE: Restoring Rare Lady's Slipper Orchids at Mammoth Cave National Park

This project was able to directly restore populations of rare Yellow Lady's Slipper Orchids to Mammoth Cave National Park. Yellow Lady's Slippers was at risk in Kentucky due to loss of habitat and illegal poaching. The project was able to utilize biology intern students from Western Kentucky University to plant 200 mature, viable plants directly into a suitable habitat in the park.

PROJECT TITLE: Uncovering Community: Public Archeology at Manzanar

This grant funded public archeology at Merritt Park, a Japanese-style zen garden. Volunteers learned about archaeology and history as they uncovered and restored the historic landscape. Viewed as a source of pride to the WWII internees, Merritt Park became a source of pride for contemporary communities, as well as a physical link to the past.

PROJECT TITLE: Transportation for School Eco-Force Environmental Clubs

Provided van and bus transportation for six hundred Eco- Force Environmental Club students from twenty partner middle and high schools that visited Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site during the 2009-2010 school year. The site introduced many students to the National Park Service and connected them to Dr. King's legacy.

PROJECT TITLE: Bethune Leadership Institute for Boys and Girls

The project's goal was to teach leadership skills to elementary school children that drew upon the examples of Mary McLeod Bethune. The project also utilized the diverse resources available within the National Capital Parks East Region and abroad. This was achieved through the combination of off-site visits to the school and field trips to various sites.

PROJECT TITLE: “Making Friends” Partnership Training

The National Park Service is in constant need of dynamic, knowledgeable and effective partners. The “Making Friends” Partnership Training provided much-needed opportunities for those seeking to establish and maintain effective “friends groups” to learn more, share ideas, and network.  This effort will benefit the National Park Service and individual parks for years to come.

PROJECT TITLE: Strengthen and expand the Park's Ranger-in-Training Adventures program

Low-income youth from local communities were given opportunities to participate in the Park’s Ranger-in-Training Adventures.  The educational adventures provided the youth with hands-on activities and connection to their local park.  The grant from the National Park Foundation allowed New River Gorge rangers to purchase much needed equipment, gear and supplies to make the program possible.

PROJECT TITLE: La Pa'ani (Children's Games)

In honor of the Makahi season, which means time of peace, approximately 150 fourth grade students from five local schools come to the park to celebrate for the annual La Pa’ani (children’s games).  They were taught traditional Hawaiian crafts, competed in ancient Hawaiian games, learned the significance of the park in Hawaiian history.  Supplemental funding for the event was provided by the National Park Foundation.

PROJECT TITLE: Denver Youth Naturally (DYN)

NPF partnered with Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK), a nonprofit that works to strengthen the connection between youth, families and national parks. With a grant from NPF, ELK's Denver Youth Naturally (DYN) project made it possible for youth aged 8-18 and their families to visit and experience Rocky Mountain National Park. By nurturing a connection to the park, the program inspired the youth in academic studies, leadership, stewardship and career exploration.

PROJECT TITLE: Make Bilingual Media Available at Sequoia-Kings Canyon (SEKI)

NPF partnered with the park’s SEKI program, which makes bilingual media and interpretation available in the park. Since the majority of residents in neighboring counties are Spanish speaking, this program has encouraged a relationship between the park and the local communities. A grant from NPF enabled the SEKI program to expand its bilingual offerings with new exhibits and handouts, further enhancing the park experience for non-English speaking visitors.

PROJECT TITLE: Connect Visitors to Park Resources via Webcams

NPF partnered with the park to upgrade its aging webcam system in the Big Meadow’s area of the park. The webcam system, which provides park images and weather data, is very popular with the public. With a grant from NPF, the park was able to significantly improve the equipment and technology, resulting in enhanced quality and a better diversity of live webcam images.

PROJECT TITLE: Re-establish Wetland Plant Species Diversity to Improve Water Quality

NPF partnered with the park to help re-establish an artificial wetland area within the park. With a grant from NPF, the park was able to erect a deer enclosure fence along the perimeter of the wetland. This perimeter will encourage the diversity of plant species within the wetland, which will protect the groundwater and surface waters of the Platte River, and improve visitor safety.

PROJECT TITLE: Virgin Islands National Park Rangers-in-Training Camp

NPF partnered with the park to help fund its first-ever education and career development camp for high school students in the U.S. Virgin Islands. With a grant from NPF, the park was able to purchase educational supplies and cover camping fees associated with the camp.  Led by park rangers, the camp provided resource education and encouraged land stewardship values, as well as exposed the students to career opportunities within the National Park Service.