National Park Service comprehensive survey of the American public: 2018 – current initiatives

Resource Systems Group (RSG); Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center (WYSAC)

In 2018, the National Park Service (NPS) conducted its third Comprehensive Survey of the American Public (CSAP3), a nationwide telephone survey consisting of 25-minute interviews with more than 2,700 adult respondents across the United States. The survey obtained information on public attitudes and behaviors related to programs and services provided by the NPS, demographic characteristics, and recent visitation behavior. This third iteration of the survey also incorporated new modules focused on program awareness and youth engagement with the National Park System. The present report examines the CSAP3 data on program awareness and youth engagement to expand the idea of “engagement” beyond visitation and assess the relevance of NPS to a more diverse, urban, and technology-oriented American public. The new modules in the NPS Comprehensive Survey of the American Public in 2018 focused on program awareness found that fewer than half of the respondents reported that they had used or that their communities had experience with NPS educational programs, cultural programs, and recreational programs, across almost all questions. Reported levels of awareness and use were also compared across national park visitors/non-visitors and by race/ethnic group. Visitors reported higher levels of experience and use than non-visitors across nearly all questions about program awareness, while race/ethnic groups reported different levels of use and awareness of their community’s experience with NPS programs. These results indicate that NPS must continue to raise awareness about the programs and services available to people in their communities. However, a lack of awareness of certain NPS programs could also indicate that those programs are not offered in the communities where certain groups of respondents live; thus, NPS should assess the geographic provision of those programs to ensure that they are reaching underserved communities. Results regarding youth respondents are constrained by small sample sizes; however, they generally imply that NPS is maintaining its relevance to young people. For example, the majority of youth respondents (90%) indicated that “preserving national parks is important to me” was “very true.” Overall, results of CSAP3 indicate that NPS should maintain its focus on raising awareness, providing programs in underserved communities, and providing relevant content for all audiences in its second century of service.

National Park Service comprehensive survey of the American public: 2018 – current initiatives

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