Round-up Donations Add Up to Big Support

"Would you like to round up to support research and education for the park?"

NPS / Andrew Kuhn

Canyonlands Natural History Association (CHNA) is the congressionally authorized bookstore partner for the Southeast Utah Group (SEUG) of national parks. They partner with and supports Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, as well as Bears Ears National Monument and some areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service. CNHA runs bookstores in park visitor centers, where they provide educational and interpretive materials for visitors to purchase. Twenty percent of the income from all their sales is donated to the public lands they support.

CNHA recently launched a direct donation program called "round-up." When a visitor makes a purchase, the clerk asks if they’d like to round up their purchase total to the nearest whole dollar amount and donate the difference to the park. Many visitors agree, as it doesn’t add much to their total. But this program brought in over $120,000 in 2019—100% of which went straight to funding SEUG parks.

Some of the projects CNHA funds with round-up money are:

• Canyon Country Outdoor Education (CCOE): CCOE provides schoolchildren in Grand and San Juan counties with field trips to their local national parks and public lands to foster understanding and appreciation of the region’s cultural and natural resources. CNHA round-up money helps fund buses, supplies, and paid interns for this program.

• Research Stewardship & Science: Park scientists study and monitor natural resources throughout the parks. CNHA round-up funded projects on the Green and Colorado rivers in 2019 and 2020, as well as programs on invasive species and supplies for further research.

• Astronomy Programs: CNHA round-up money purchased telescopes, red lights, and other educational materials for night sky programs so that visitors can better appreciate naturally dark skies. All four SEUG parks have been recognized by the International Dark Sky Association.

• Backcountry Safety Videos: These videos cover topics such as four-wheel driving, backpacking, climbing, rafting, and canyoneering in the park, to help visitors understand regulations and safety before their visit.

• Building improvements, such as purchasing water bottle filling stations and historic structure monitoring.

CNHA collects the donations through their round-up program, but they couldn’t do it without the generosity of park visitors like you. If you’ve shopped at a bookstore in one of these parks, thank you for your support! Your purchase allows Southeast Utah Group parks to do even more to protect and preserve canyon country.