Grand(pa) Canyon

It’s much more likely that if you are an old white person, rather than a millennial minority, you have been to a National Park. Here’s why:

•  The workforce of the National Park Services is 80% white (McCown, 2012)
•  The majority of visitors, often as high as 90% or more, are white, and 75% of them are at least 40 years - old (McCown, 2012)
•  There is a lack of transportation from poorer areas to the National Parks (McCown, 2012)
•  There is a lack of information and awareness of these parks reaching minority communities (McCown, 2012)
•  People of color are worried about safety and “unfriendly white people” (Perry, 2016)
•  Millennials are hesitant to spend time in nature because of the inability to be connected (Perry, 2016)

The importance of fixing this issue is more important now than ever. As our country and world are becoming increasingly diverse, it is important to market, and support all cultures and subcultures (Angell, 10/18). I would consider myself relatively wealthy, and I am also white. Though I am a millennial, I love the idea of National Parks, and would love to go any chance I had. I can’t imagine feeling unsafe, as many minorities do, and it makes me disgusted thinking that things go on the way they do, unsupportive of minorities, and no one is doing anything about it. Social relationships become a factor (Angell, 10/18), where suddenly my word of “this National Park is really cool, you should go” may not mean much to a minority. To be honest, feeling unsafe in a place like a National Park never even crossed my mind, it is a privilege that I take advantage of. Articles show that the National Parks aren’t even aware of this issue, so how can something like this be a motivation? So I am left to ask, how can I be aware and frustrated by this issue after a bit of research, while The National Parks aren’t even aware of their own wrongdoings? Their newest campaign, which I talked about in my previous blog, was aimed at marketing towards millennials, but did nothing to appeal to minorities, which I would consider the more pressing issue. Millennials at least are staying away from nature because of choice, or values. 

An example of how scarce minorities are. Sometimes they will use marketing to their advantage, and publicize the images that have more minorities, as a way of deception and form of false advertising. 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/rights-exempt/nat-geo-staff-maps/2016/09/NP_NextGeneration/NP_NextGeneration-1020.png

The Parks aren’t all ignorant though, and they have tried to make some advances on this front. In 2005 they devised a report called “Keeping Parks Relevant in the 21st Century,” (Perry, 2016) which indirectly involved appealing to millennials and minorities, though indirect appeal, in my opinion, is not substantial enough. They created diversity focused programs, including education of the parks. They began to translate material (McCown, 2012), though translating to Spanish is just scratching the surface. The education provided is about "the importance of the outdoors to a healthy lifestyle, transportation solutions for careless urban dwellers, and advice on easy and safe ways to enjoy the parks” (Perry, 2016). They also have 800,000 new Junior Rangers, meaning that they are succeeding, to an extent, in reaching the youth. There are a lot of benefits of the Parks, and not many sacrifices (Angell, 9/13), benefits that deserved to be accessible and shared. 

Here's an interesting map that breaks up visitors of the most popular parks by age and race.

http://www.hcn.org/issues/46.8/parks-for-all/diversity-f03-jpg/image

I think a good place to start, and an easy thing to do, would be to hire a more racially diverse staff. Then, using their insight, and perhaps going into minority communities, NPS can begin to develop plans to make minorities feel welcome and safe. Increasing transportation is another easy solution. In terms of appealing to millennials (Angell, 10/18), I don’t think the NPS should make any sacrifices to fit technology into the equation, as the whole point is distance from that. It is all about the experiential value (Angell, 10/1) of the parks, and if the millennials can’t handle that, than in my opinion that is for them to adapt to, not the parks. This way, NPS can continue to target customers who appreciate their service- there are certainly enough (or enough that can be easily acquired), thus creating a consumer culture (Angell, 10/18). 

If you're interested in reading more on this issue, check out this New York Times article, called "Why are our Parks so White?" 

Bibliography

Angell, A. (2017, October 1). Value. Lecture presented in MI, Ann Arbor.

Angell, A. (2017, October 18). Consumer Culture. Lecture presented in MI, Ann Arbor.

McCown, R. (n.d.). Engaging New and Diverse Audiences in the National Parks: An Exploratory Study of Current Knowledge and Learning Needs. Retrieved November 14, 2017, from http://www.georgewright.org/292stanfield_mccown.pdf

Perry, E. (n.d.). Barrier or bridge? The role of transportation in national park visitation by racial and ethnic groups. Retrieved November 14, 2017, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283165718_Barrier_or_bridge_The_role_of_transportation_in_national_park_visitation_by_racial_and_ethnic_groups