Interpretive programs refer to the National Park Service (NPS) programs, services, and media intended to help visitors understand the significance of resources in the national park system and to encourage stewardship and safe, appropriate use.[1][2] In NPS policy, interpretation and education are treated as core functions of visitor services delivered through both in-person programs and non-personal media such as exhibits, publications, audiovisual and digital products, and other interpretive tools.[1][3]
NPS interpretation commonly includes ranger-led talks, walks, demonstrations, and informal contacts, as well as planned educational activities and materials that support visitor understanding and engagement.[1][3] NPS policy distinguishes between personal services (delivered by people, including employees and trained partners) and non-personal services (delivered through media and facilities), and calls for interpretive services to be provided by trained personnel who use current information from research and other sources.[1][3]
Interpretive practice in U.S. parks has also been shaped by broader heritage-interpretation theory, including principles associated with Freeman Tilden and the interpretive profession that developed in the mid-20th century.[4][5]
History
Educational and interpretive work in U.S. national parks developed in the early 20th century through "nature guiding" and related visitor programs and expanded over time into a formalized function within the agency.[6] Scholarship and agency histories describe the growth of interpretive services alongside the rise of visitor facilities, staffing models, and organized training for park interpreters and educators.[6][7]
In the postwar period, interpretation increasingly adopted methods from mass communication and exhibit design as parks expanded visitor infrastructure and interpretive media.[8] A major institutional development was the establishment of the NPS Harpers Ferry Center as a service-wide center for interpretive media and related technical services; the center opened in 1970 and became a central producer and coordinator for interpretive planning and media services across parks.[9][10][11]
Program delivery
Ranger-led and staff-led programs
Personal services include scheduled and unscheduled interpretive contacts (such as talks, guided walks, demonstrations, and interpretive roving), as well as educational programming developed for specific audiences and settings.[1][3] NPS policy also recognizes that interpretation and education may be delivered by trained volunteers and partners under appropriate agreements and planning frameworks.[3][12]
Media, exhibits, and other non-personal services
Non-personal services include interpretive media and facilities such as visitor-center exhibits, wayside exhibits, publications, audiovisual programs, and other products designed to support visitor understanding when staff are not present or to extend interpretive reach.[1][3] Harpers Ferry Center provides service-wide support for interpretive planning and technical production and maintenance of interpretive media (including exhibit and wayside systems and publication services).[9][13][14]
Planning and standards
NPS guidance calls for interpretive and educational efforts to be planned and managed as part of overall visitor experience planning and to align with park purposes, resource conditions, and visitor needs.[1][3] Comprehensive Interpretive Planning (CIP) is a planning framework used to set long-range interpretive direction, define audiences and objectives, and determine an appropriate mix of personal services and media for achieving interpretive goals.[15][3]
Training and professional development
NPS policy requires that employees who provide interpretive services meet national standards for interpretation and education, with training and professional development treated as essential to program quality.[1][3] Service-wide training and competency frameworks for interpretation and education have also been described in internal planning documents and program business plans.[16]
Professional recognition for interpretation within the agency includes annual awards for excellence in interpretation and education.[17]
Research and evaluation
NPS policy calls for measuring visitor understanding, appreciation, safety, and satisfaction as part of managing the quality and quantity of the visitor experience.[1] Studies of NPS interpretation have examined how interpreters obtain and convey current scientific and resource information and how interpretive work connects park management, research, and public audiences.[18]
Gallery
National Park Service interpretation and education
Tilden, Freeman (1957). Interpreting Our Heritage. University of North Carolina Press.
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