Our national parks, other protected areas and cultural sites trace their lineage to the late 1800s in a rapidly developing and changing United States. This unique preservation idea eventually was replicated around the world.

Many of the places past generations of Americans decided to protect have achieved iconic renown on a global scale. Cultural places preserved as icons of a human story, which is both awe inspiring and often representative of painful cultural conflict, the significance of which was assumed to be universal. Then there are the great natural areas of exemplary beauty and wonder—now inlands of increasingly smaller populations of the truly wild things (plants and animals) comprising the final vestiges of an earthly wilderness representing a once expansive and primeval North American landscape. It is perhaps irreparably altered by the consumptive course taken by our national journey over the past two centuries.

Throughout the 20th century the popularity of national parks seemed relatively assured, as visitation reached the 300 million mark. Recent trends, however, witnessed during the last quarter century appear to cast a shadow over this popularity and raise important questions concerning the relevancy of parks in a changing nation and world.

Park managers and scholars point to indications that the adoration of our national parks “may be too closely tied to a narrow cultural, ethnic and racial demographic” within our society—whose methods and means of relating to our national heritage have never been completely shared by the greater proportion of Americans. The cultural groups comprising our citizenry most commonly referred to as “minority” stand poised on the threshold of becoming the citizen majority within our country.

In addition to the great demographic change that will culturally alter the United States in the 21st century, there are serious indications that all young Americans have become disconnected from possessing rudimentary knowledge of the past. Further, they may lack significant understanding of and meaningful interaction with nature.

The focus of this year’s Ranger Rendezvous and Professional Conference, scheduled for Oct. 10-15 at the Crowne Plaza Williamsburg, will be a forum to examine the question whether parks are becoming irrelevant to American society. If indeed this is so, what are creative and viable strategies to effectively reverse the trend?

Plenary and concurrent sessions of the Rendezvous program will address the issue of relevancy in a changing world:
• how to create vital connections with communities
• methods for engaging youth
• ways of implementing effective civic engagement
• how best to keep experiences on national parks resilient and relevant to people engaged with change

As a steward of one of our country’s iconic cultural places, challenged with making sure the relevancy of a 150-year-old Civil War still matters to the changing face of our nation, I invite you to join me in historic Williamsburg. (Please see page 21 for more information.)

ANPR will host its 34th annual gathering and explore meaningful ways of “Making Sure Parks Matter” for all citizens who strive daily to conduct their journey through an ever-changing collective American experience.

— Stacy D. Allen
ANPR President