Last updated: August 4, 2026
Article
National Historic Trails Interpretive Media Opportunities
The National Trails Office Regions 6, 7, 8, (NTIR) offers a variety of interpretive media opportunities to help share your trail site and history with the public. This page contains traditional and digital media opportunities.
Many opportunities are hosted on the National Park Service trail websites NPS.gov, and the National Park Service (NPS) app.
If you have any questions, please contact the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, 8.
Many opportunities are hosted on the National Park Service trail websites NPS.gov, and the National Park Service (NPS) app.
If you have any questions, please contact the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, 8.
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Places Asset
For a trail site to be featured on NPS.gov and the NPS app it requires a Places asset. A National Historic Trails Places asset is a type of webpage on NPS.gov that is created to share about a trail site.
Each trail site has only one Places asset and that information is shared on both NPS.gov and the NPS app.
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Exhibits with Audio Description
When creating a wayside exhibit (interpretive panel/exhibit) there is a legal requirement that the exhibit is fully accessible (Section 508). Part of this process is creating an audio description of the exhibit so people can hear the exhibit instead of just seeing it. This involves reading the text, describing the images, and more, in order to create an equivalent experience.
The National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, 8 accomplishes this by creating audio description files (audio files) for all physical exhibits.
The audio description can be accessed by:
1) Tactile QR code on the physical exhibit
2) NPS.gov (trail websites)
3) Places asset (webpage) for the trail site
4) NPS app
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Videos
Videos provide an opportunity to tell a story about your trail site or significant trail history. Videos are created with closed captions and audio description, enabling them to be experienced by the widest audience. Videos are shared on the trail websites, NPS.gov.
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Trip Itineraries
People are often looking for day or multi-day trips that travel the trail. Having your trail site included in a digital trip itinerary for your area is a great way for people to find your site and to connect with similar sites in the area.
A Trip Itinerary is a webpage on the NPS.gov (National Park Service) trail websites. State by State site itineraries are also found on the NPS app.
The first step to include your site in a trip itinerary is a Places asset. Once this has been completed interpretive staff will work to identify what trip itinerary or itineraries best match your site.
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Historical Articles
Take a deeper dive into the historical significance of your site! Creating an article about your site's history is a great way to share additional information beyond the Places asset. Sometimes it can't all be said in 3000 characters! A historical article is a webpage on NPS.gov. and includes, text, images, and other digital media elements.
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Guided Walking Tours
Does your site have a walking tour to visit multiple trail sites or significant trail features? A Guided Walking Tour is a digital interpretive media product that involves the creation of mutliple webpages, audio files, static images (photographs), location information and NPS app specific required information.
The tours are available on both the NPS app and NPS.gov.
You can also find the NPS app version of the guided walking tour by vising the Santa Fe National Historic Trail on the NPS app, and clicking, guided tours.
Note: not every site will be appropriate for a Guided Walking Tour, which are time intensive to produce. Please contact the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, 8 for more information.
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Digital Exhibits
Are you interested in sharing more about the history of your site? Are there features, artifacts, or themes that would be best represented using a variety of digital media? Digital Exhibits are webpages on NPS.gov that use digital multi-media to share this type of information.
Traditional media, like a wayside exhibit or panel, will serve the public who can physically visit your site. Digital Exhibits will reach a world-wide audience and share your site information with visitors who may not be able to physically visit. They are also built accessibly so they are available to all who are interested in learning.
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StoryMaps
StoryMaps are tools used to tell compelling stories in a visually appealing and immersive manner. They combine real geo-spatial data, images, text, and other multi-media in one cohesive platform. StoryMaps are featured on NPS.gov.
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Publications
Each NHT has an NPS-style brochure with map. It can be requested by emailing us. NTIR also designs publications on a limited basis, such as brochures, rack cards, desk aids, and signs. Contact us if you are interested in more information.
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Exhibits
Most of the orientation and interpretive exhibits produced by NTIR are outdoors. Outdoor exhibits in unstaffed locations offer flexibility, self-paced learning, and constant access. They connect visitors with the landscape, encourage exploration, reduce staffing demands, and make interpretive content available anytime. If you are considering contacting us for an exhibit project, the content below will help you prepare (or see if you're ready to get started!).Exhibit Project Preparation
Click through the menus to learn more about the exhibit planning, design, and fabrication process for NTIR-designed exhibits, which are guided by NPS standards.
An interpretive exhibit is a concise outdoor sign conveying site-specific stories, natural or cultural insights, and orientation information, helping visitors understand and appreciate a location’s significance while exploring independently. It is place-based, meaning it relates to the resources or story at a specific location. The exhibit can be upright or low profile based on its purpose at the site.
The process below helps us plan interpretive media projects.
If you can’t answer all of the Needed Information (bullet below) questions, more discussion is needed prior to submitting your project request. Don't worry, we're here to help!
As you develop your ideas, also ask yourself these questions:
If you can’t answer all of the Needed Information (bullet below) questions, more discussion is needed prior to submitting your project request. Don't worry, we're here to help!
As you develop your ideas, also ask yourself these questions:
- Will it be engaging to most people?
- Does it express multiple perspectives?
- Is it site specific?
- Is there a clear hierarchy of information?
- Is everything proposed for the panel connected?
- Are all graphics high quality?
- Does it demonstrate why something matters?
Exhibit projects take up to two years to complete, from initiation to delivery.
Commitment to the full length of the process, along with a good team, audience and resource knowledge, and clear messages, is essential to the creation of interpretive media. What message do you want to convey?
Workflow: Receive project request and needed information, request reviewed and timing determined, project startup, site analysis and research, project plan, design, review, production file creation, fabrication, prepare the site and install, create project record, and maintenance.
The Needed Information (bullet below) provides a snapshot of what you want to accomplish with the product, focus your content, and identify missing elements.
Commitment to the full length of the process, along with a good team, audience and resource knowledge, and clear messages, is essential to the creation of interpretive media. What message do you want to convey?
Workflow: Receive project request and needed information, request reviewed and timing determined, project startup, site analysis and research, project plan, design, review, production file creation, fabrication, prepare the site and install, create project record, and maintenance.
The Needed Information (bullet below) provides a snapshot of what you want to accomplish with the product, focus your content, and identify missing elements.
When planning your project, make clear the relationship of your site to the national historic trail. In addition, the following guide NTIR's decision-making process.
- Choose welcoming sites — visitors not familiar with your area will feel comfortable driving or hiking to the site
- Accessible — most visitors can easily experience the resource at a site that is easy to find and allows for safe mobility
- Safe — only sites with a safe pull off and good visibility can be chosen
- Iconic — show the diversity of trail resources in your area and choose the best examples of each
- Site name
- Your name and contact information
- Site physical location
- Site contact information (email, web)
- Resource at that spot (not just in the area)
- Topic (one umbrella topic)
- Goal (one sentence)
- Audience (who will visit this place?)
- Trail connection (one sentence)
- Theme (what are the connections people could make to your story)
- Summary story (one paragraph)
- List of graphics options
- Do you have funds to contribute to this? If so, are there spending deadlines?
- Is approval to install required, and if so, has approval been received?
- Is it accessible?
View the final exhibit in the landscape: Cherokee Garden.
Site name: Cherokee Garden at Green Meadows Preserve
Site physical location: 3780 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs, Georgia 30127
Site contact information: john_doe_678@website.com, websitename.website.com, 555-555-5555
Topic (one umbrella topic): Plants that the Cherokee used for medicine, food, shelter, tools, art and ceremonial purposes in their homelands.
Goal (one sentence): Our mission is to educate the public about the Cherokee dependence upon plants for their survival.
Audience: General Public
Trail connection (one sentence): The Removal severed the Cherokee relationship to the native plants that they depended upon for survival.
Theme (what are the emotional and intellectual connections people could make to your story):
The loss of medicine and food sources they used for hundred of years
The loss of their sacred and ceremonial plants
The fear of how they will survive in an unknown land
Summary story (one paragraph):
At the time of the Removal, the Cherokee way of life was uprooted. They lived very close to the Earth and used over 600 plants for medicine, food, shelter, weapons, tools, art and ceremonial purposes. Not only did they cultivate crops but they also gathered native medicinal plants from the nearby woodlands. The Cherokee believed that the Creator gave them the land and entrusted them with its care. It was traumatic when they had to give up these plants and the land that they relied on for centuries. These plants represent the culture and heritage of the Cherokee.
List of graphics options:
Photos of the “Seven Sacred Plant of the Cherokee” are attached and are to be used in a montage in the upper right portion of the sign.
Funding: Do you have funds to contribute to this? If so, are there spending deadlines?
The park has xxxxx dollars to contribute. Example: Funds must be spent by month/day/year.
Is approval to install required, and if so, has approval been received? Remember that on federally managed lands the National Environmental Policy Act applies and requires that analysis is done prior to any ground disturbance.
Yes, we have permission to install from Cobb County and the Friends of Green Meadow Preserve.
Site name: Cherokee Garden at Green Meadows Preserve
Site physical location: 3780 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs, Georgia 30127
Site contact information: john_doe_678@website.com, websitename.website.com, 555-555-5555
Topic (one umbrella topic): Plants that the Cherokee used for medicine, food, shelter, tools, art and ceremonial purposes in their homelands.
Goal (one sentence): Our mission is to educate the public about the Cherokee dependence upon plants for their survival.
Audience: General Public
Trail connection (one sentence): The Removal severed the Cherokee relationship to the native plants that they depended upon for survival.
Theme (what are the emotional and intellectual connections people could make to your story):
The loss of medicine and food sources they used for hundred of years
The loss of their sacred and ceremonial plants
The fear of how they will survive in an unknown land
Summary story (one paragraph):
At the time of the Removal, the Cherokee way of life was uprooted. They lived very close to the Earth and used over 600 plants for medicine, food, shelter, weapons, tools, art and ceremonial purposes. Not only did they cultivate crops but they also gathered native medicinal plants from the nearby woodlands. The Cherokee believed that the Creator gave them the land and entrusted them with its care. It was traumatic when they had to give up these plants and the land that they relied on for centuries. These plants represent the culture and heritage of the Cherokee.
List of graphics options:
Photos of the “Seven Sacred Plant of the Cherokee” are attached and are to be used in a montage in the upper right portion of the sign.
Funding: Do you have funds to contribute to this? If so, are there spending deadlines?
The park has xxxxx dollars to contribute. Example: Funds must be spent by month/day/year.
Is approval to install required, and if so, has approval been received? Remember that on federally managed lands the National Environmental Policy Act applies and requires that analysis is done prior to any ground disturbance.
Yes, we have permission to install from Cobb County and the Friends of Green Meadow Preserve.
This workflow was established to work with partners to have the interpretive staff at NTIR design exhibits - from planning to design to fabrication. Our branding includes use of the recognizable NPS black band and our partnership trail logo.
Examples:
Alcove Springs
Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge
If you are interested in working with us in a different framework and want to include the trail or the copyrighted logo, reach out to National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, 8.
Examples:
Alcove Springs
Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge
If you are interested in working with us in a different framework and want to include the trail or the copyrighted logo, reach out to National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, 8.
To help with visitor orientation and to provide accessibility features such as audio description, a Places page (see example above) is required at project start up. We will work with you to create content that encourages visitation and greater understanding of your site.
Example at Trail of Tears Commemorative Park:
Places page
Audio Description article
Example at Trail of Tears Commemorative Park:
Places page
Audio Description article
Long term maintenance and evaluation follow the excitement of installing and unveiling the product. Will you be able to:
- Monitor it?
- Keep it clean?
- Replace it in 10 years?