Visitors to America's National Parks and Wildlife Refuges Want to Learn About Climate Change

MARQUETTE, Mich - A national study led by researchers at Northern Michigan University (NMU) and Slippery Rock University (SRU) finds that visitors to America's national parks and wildlife refuges are more concerned about climate change than the general public, eager to learn more about it during their visit, and largely not getting the chance.

The NMU team included student researchers Rosie Mousseau, Mackenzie Geary, Sam Kearney and Carson Piette and was led by co-principal investigator Jes Thompson, who is also assistant vice president for sustainability at NMU.

The study, Visitor Perceptions of Climate Change, surveyed 12,400 visitors face-to-face at 20 National Park Service sites and 12 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges across the country between January and August of 2025, in partnership with both federal agencies. The study builds upon a previous study the same research team conducted in 2010-2012 at 16 parks and refuges, allowing the researchers to track how visitor attitudes have shifted over the past 15 years.

Nationally, park and refuge visitors are considerably more worried about climate change than the average American. Using an audience-segmentation approach modeled on the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication's Six Americas study, researchers found that 75% of national park visitors and 74% of wildlife refuge visitors fall into the "Alarmed" or "Concerned" categories, compared with 54% of the U.S. population overall. When asked to name their single biggest concern about the specific site they were visiting, more visitors pointed to climate change than to any other issue (e.g., overcrowding, water pollution, invasive species, etc.).

That concern comes paired with a strong desire to learn. Sixty percent of visitors agreed or strongly agreed that they would like to learn more about climate change during their visit, and roughly 70% said sharing climate information should be a high priority at the site. That appetite isn't new: in the team's original 2011 survey, 68% of visitors said the same thing.

When asked what they most wanted to learn about, visitors wanted to know how climate change is affecting everything - the highest ratings for wildlife (83%), plants and natural features (82%), but even impacts to facilities and infrastructure (56%) are of interest. Visitors' preferred way of receiving that information has also shifted since 2011. Fifteen years ago, websites were the most-requested medium. In 2025, on-site exhibits are the top choice (68 percent), followed closely by informal conversations with rangers and staff (67 percent), with websites falling to third (63 percent).

Despite that interest, the study found a wide gap between what visitors want and what they're getting. Eighty-nine percent of visitors said they did not receive any climate change information during their visit. Similarly, only 39% noticed any on-site efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as solar panels, electric vehicles, or LEED-certified buildings. Overall, visitors are supportive of efforts to mitigate climate change, 69% said they agreed or strongly agreed with such efforts at the parks and refuges.

The survey also found that climate change is already shaping how people visit these places. Sixty-four percent of park visitors and 62% of refuge visitors said they had visited a site specifically to see iconic features or species that could disappear because of climate change, such as glaciers or Joshua trees. More than half of all respondents said extreme weather had led them to change their planned activities (58%) or the timing of a trip (54%), and roughly a third said they had canceled a trip (34%) or visited a park or refuge less often (31%) as a result.

"Over the past fifteen years we've heard staff say that they're not certain visitors are interested in learning about climate change during their visit," said Dr. Jes Thompson, co-principal investigator at Northern Michigan University. "What we found then, and what we're finding again now, is the opposite: visitors are worried, they're paying attention, and they want someone to talk with them about it. The question isn't whether visitors want this information - it's why we're still not delivering it to them."

"This data gives park and refuge staff something concrete to work with," said Dr. Shawn Davis, co-principal investigator at Slippery Rock University. "Visitors aren't asking for a lecture on atmospheric science - they want to know what's happening to the wildlife and landscapes they came to see, and they want to know what actions they can take to help. That's an actionable roadmap for interpretation programs."

The research team presented these findings publicly for the first time during Science in Your Pocket, a webinar hosted August 6 by NASA's Earth to Sky program, which trains interpreters, educators, and communicators to translate NASA Earth science for public audiences.

A recording of the presentation is available through NASA Earth to Sky's event page: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/1d8cd938-d230-4446-bb28-fd41f2d0227b.

ABOUT THE STUDY

Data collection took place from January through August 2025 using face-to-face intercept surveys administered on tablets via ArcGIS Survey123 at trailheads, visitor centers, and campgrounds. Researchers collected approximately 400 completed surveys at each of the 32 sites, for an overall response rate of 76 percent (75 percent at national park sites and 79 percent at wildlife refuges), yielding a 95 percent confidence level with a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent.

The study was funded through a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) task agreement with the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (award numbers PP22AC0014-00 and P24AC02137-00). The survey protocol was approved by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (control number 1024-0291) and the Northern Michigan University Human Subjects Review Board (study number HS-24-121). It follows a 2011-2012 survey of 4,181 visitors at 16 sites, funded by the National Science Foundation's Climate Change Education Partnership and conducted in partnership with the National Parks Conservation Association, NPS, and FWS.

FULL REPORT

Full copies of Visitor Perceptions of Climate Change: National Park System and Visitor Perceptions of Climate Change: National Wildlife Refuge System, including individual site-level reports, are available at nmu.edu/shine/visitor-perceptions-climate-change-us-national-parks-wildlife-refuges-research.