Today, I’m a little more excited than usual about America’s best idea.
Why? Because of the National Park Service‘s new campaign, #FindYourPark. The NPS has embraced digital media, including Twitter, Facebook, Periscope, Facebook, and YouTube to create a campaign to get Americans interested in the parks, therefore encouraging everyone to find their favorite park!
This initiative is a collaboration between the Department of the Interior/the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation as a public engagement campaign focused on stirring up parks support for the NPS’s centennial celebration in 2016. Here’s more from the NPF:
The National Park Service and the National Park Foundation will team up with partners to produce programs, events, and activities that will drive broad awareness, deepen engagement, and increase support for America’s national parks, the work of the National Park Service, and its partners. In addition to making all 401 national parks go-to destinations, the campaign will highlight the historic preservation and outdoor recreation work the National Park Service does with communities across the country and the value it brings to Americans every day.
The Department of the Interior kicked off a week of events by using new live-stream app Periscope to bring NYC parks to your phone. They have also involved Michelle Obama and Bill Nye for promotions.
The Department of the @Interior is using @periscopeco to get people excited about #FindYourPark in NYC & it’s wonderful!
— Abbey Dufoe (@abbeydufoe) April 2, 2015
The NPS also has a social media campaign with the #FindYourPark hashtag, which has been used in 4,000 Instagram pictures as I write this. It’s also used on Twitter to share pictures of popular parks, but also those that may be a little less explored. This is part of a bigger push by the US government to get people involved in the outdoors. A few months ago, I blogged about the national forests doing the same thing with their #ItsAllYours campaign.
These initiatives are perfect for trying to get more people, namely kids, teenagers, and millennials, interested in parks all over the nation. Using hashtags, popular apps and social media is just the way to do this, so I’m glad to see that the NPS has embraced digital media instead of forgetting that it exists. People are bringing their phones into the parks, so we might as well accept it and try to get them to love parks through social sharing.
What’s my favorite park? I can’t pick, since I’ve been lucky enough to explore 15 of them. So, for this #FindYourPark, I’m gonna go with Glacier since it is in my backyard.
Want to find yours, or discover a new one? Click-through for this tool to help you find your favorite slice of America.
Abbey Dufoe 
Although I did part of my graduate school research in Everglades National Park, one of my all time favorites is Rocky Mountain National Park!