Razoo Giving Guide: National Parks

The Grand Canyon is one of the seven wonders of the world, and the surrounding area, known as the Colorado Plateau, is home to 55 national parks and protected lands, including Bryce Canyon and Zion Park. This dramatic landscape is one of the most remarkable places on Earth—but it’s in constant need of protection.

The Grand Canyon Trust works to conserve this amazing landscape, fighting Congressional bills such as one that would allow uranium mining in the area, and promoting programs that focus on environmental clean-up, river and forest restoration, and reducing air pollution. The Trust also offers exciting volunteer excursions into the depths of the Grand Canyon to assist the conservation movement. If you can’t make it down there, though, a donation to the Grand Canyon Trust will keep the area clean and beautiful for the next time you make the trek.

Photo credit: James Marvin Phelps

In 1919, just three years after the National Parks system was created, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) was established to serve as an independent voice for national park support, free of political influence. Nearly a century after its creation, the NPCA is a powerful advocacy organization with more than 340,000 members and supporters passionate about maintaining care of the country’s national parks. The organization compiles data on the status of the national parks, and promotes campaigns to create more government funding for the National Parks System. A contribution to NPCA will help raise awareness of the national parks and ensure their continued protection for generations to come.

Photo credit: Wolfgang Staudt

With more than one million members, the Nature Conservancy is the largest and most powerful conservation-focused nonprofit group in the world. Since its founding in 1951, the group has kept more than 117 million acres of land safe from development, working everywhere from the Alaskan wilderness to the coral reefs of Australia, and establishing America’s newest national park, Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes. With such a large, organized group, you can make a donation to a chapter working on environmental conservation in your own home state, or simply direct your gift to wherever it’s needed most.

Photo credit: Bruce Tuten

Instead of spending your high school summers working at the local mall’s food court, wouldn’t it have been wonderful to spend a month in Alaska’s Denali National Park, clearing trails by day and sleeping beneath the stars at night?

Thanks to the Student Conservation Association, young people have thousands of opportunities to volunteer and work in America’s national parks and forests, learning about the importance of land conservation and gaining an appreciation for the outside world. To help the Student Conservation Association continue to reach America’s youth and engage them in the conservation movement, donate now.

Photo credit: Jeff Hawkins

As America’s oldest national park, established in 1872 by Theodore Roosevelt, Yellowstone is one of the most iconic landmarks in the United States. Sprawling out across three states, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, the park is home to bears, bison, wolves, elk, and a wide range of other native wildlife, as well as the famous “Old Faithful” geyser. The Yellowstone Park Foundation works to support this majestic historic landmark by promoting historic restoration, safety and accessibility initiatives, education, resource protection, trails, and wildlife conservation. A gift to this organization will make sure that Old Faithful keeps on flowing for centuries to come.

Photo credit: rampix