Environmental Stewardship

The NPS preserves over 80 million acres of land throughout the United States for current and future generations of the American public. The NPS is charged with stewardship of these lands and a goal of the NPS is to promote public stewardship through education and engagement.

A variety of social science research inquiries are designed to help park managers better understand how people practice stewardship on NPS lands and the effect of recreation uses on the landscape. The NPS social science program works with university researchers and organizations such as Leave-No-Trace to answer these types of research questions.