National Parks Traveler

NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER IS THE ONLY MEDIA ORGANIZATION FOCUSED SPECIFICALLY ON EDITORIAL COVERAGE OF NATIONAL PARKS AND PROTECTED AREAS. IT PROVIDES FREE COVERAGE THROUGH ITS FLAGSHIP WEBSITE, NATIONALPARKSTRAVELER.ORG, A WEEKLY PODCAST SERIES, ITS APPLE NEWS FEED, AND ITS SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS. DURING FY21-22, TRAFFIC TO THE WEBSITE DIPPED 16.5 PERCENT FROM THE PREVIOUS FISCAL YEAR, BUT LOOKING ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS TRAVELER'S CONTENT GENERATED ~ 3.1 MILLION VIEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. WHILE THE BULK OF THE EDITORIAL COVERAGE STEMS FROM DAY-TO-DAY EVENTS ACROSS THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM, THE PAST YEAR SAW THE RISE OF ISSUES THAT DESERVED EXTENDED COVERAGE. FOR EXAMPLE, HOW INVASIVE SPECIES, DROUGHT, AND CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTED THE PARK SYSTEM ALL SPAWNED MULTI-PART SERIES. FEATURE COVERAGE OF INDIVIDUAL PARKS AND ISSUES RANGED FROM STORIES THAT EXAMINED HOW THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM MIGHT BE EXPANDED ALONG THE EASTERN SEABOARD AND IMBALANCES IN HOW INDIVIDUAL PARK UNITS ARE FUNDED, TO THE CHALLENGES YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK FACES AFTER 150 YEARS, STRUGGLES TO FIND ADEQUATE EMPLOYEE HOUSING FOR PARK STAFF, AND AN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS AMONG CORAL REEFS IN THE PARK SYSTEM. OF PARTICULAR NOTE, DOWNLOADS OF TRAVELER'S WEEKLY PODCASTS WERE UP 63 PERCENT YEAR-OVER-YEAR, WITH NEARLY 193,000 DOWNLOADS FROM MORE THAN 100 COUNTRIES. THE PODCAST IS ONE OF THE TOP 2% MOST POPULAR SHOWS OUT OF 2,955,564 PODCASTS GLOBALLY, RANKED BY LISTEN SCORE. ALONG WITH PRODUCING MORE THAN 1,100 ARTICLES AND PODCASTS FOR FY21-22, THE TRAVELER PRODUCED TWO EBOOKS DURING THE YEAR: ONE, CHANGING CLIMATE, CHANGING PARKS, THAT LOOKED AT HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WAS ALTERING NATIONAL PARK LANDSCAPES. THE OTHER WAS A READER SERVICE PRODUCT: THE ESSENTIAL RVING GUIDE TO THE NATIONAL PARKS, WHICH CONTAINED INFORMATION ON ALL NATIONAL PARK CAMPGROUNDS CAPABLE OF ACCOMMODATING RVS. DURING THE FISCAL YEAR THE TRAVELER ALSO PRODUCED ITS THIRD ANNUAL THREATENED AND ENDANGERED PARKS PACKAGE, A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES THAT LOOKS AT ISSUES ACROSS THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM THAT THREATENS THE INTEGRITY OF THE PARKS.