NMU Team Surveys NPS Visitors About Climate Change

Northern Michigan University Professor Jes Thompson and some of her students recently wrapped up a series of stops at 20 U.S. national parks and 12 wildlife refuges, where they surveyed visitors on their perceptions of climate change in these natural areas. They are partnering with the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to use the data collected to increase public awareness of climate change, foster meaningful conversations with visitors, and develop educational materials for future programs.

Thompson said she was pleased they were able to carry out the federally funded research, which did make an appearance on a DOGE list of proposed cuts, but emerged unscathed. The field work began in January of this year and continued through the summer. Some of the survey locations included Everglades, Biscayne Bay, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Grand Teton and Rocky Mountain National Parks, as well as refuges in Colorado and Minnesota.

The project was actually a repeat of a study Thompson conducted in 2010, but it generated three times as many responses as the original, with 12,400.

"Comparing the data to responses from 15 years ago is going to be an interesting next step," said Thompson, who is also NMU's assistant vice president for sustainability. ""An initial look shows some things are trending the same. People who visit parks and public lands do tend to be more concerned about climate change.

"A really interesting finding that we had in 2010 is that their level of concern was not correlated to their political party affiliation. Unfortunately, we were not able to include that question about political party affiliation this time around for a direct comparison, but we do see that level of concern has stayed high among visitors. As expected, the younger audience is most concerned, but so is the oldest audience 75 and up. And the more educated they are, the more concerned they are."

Thompson said her team is working on technical reports that will go to the respective sites where they completed the surveys so each will have a deeper understanding of their visitors. The results will also be used to update internal trainings that the NPS' Climate Change Response Program offers across federal agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest Service, as well as state agencies, with the goal of better communicating climate change impacts.

"Different parks and public lands have different threats when it comes to climate change, so one of the assumptions is that the audience is not going to be receptive to these messages," she added. "What our research shows is that not only are they receptive, they want to learn more. In 2010, visitors indicated they wanted more websites, and QR codes had just come out, so they wanted to be able to scan information on their mobile devices. This time it flipped. People want interpretive signs and ranger programs. They want to talk to a human and hear the interesting stories. So that is a bit of a switch. The idea is that the agencies will start to use this to create better outreach materials."

It was during the pandemic when Thompson's colleagues at the National Park Service called and said they had been using her first study's data for 10 years and wondered if it was outdated. With everything happening in the world around 2020, they questioned whether people were tuning in differently, and if the NPS should take different approaches to programming, outreach and internal trainings around climate change communication. Thompson responded, "There's one way to find out." It took a few more years to secure the funding and get the survey approved by the federal government.

During the original 2010 study, Thompson's baby daughter Berkeley was along for the ride in a carrier on her mom's stomach. This time, the now 16-year-old freshman at NMU filled in as a research assistant when two other students were unable to join one of the trips. Berkeley's Spanish language skills proved useful in translating surveys and interacting with attendees at a Latino Nature Fest at one of the refuges. She also spoke Mandarin to a few visitors. She wrote an essay about working on the project. A portion reads:

"The data showed overwhelming concern for climate change in the parks, and the public desire for both more adaptive environmental measures and on-site information/engagement for visitors. This proves that, amidst cuts to the National Park Service and mass layoffs of its employees, the services which it provides remain invaluable to visitors, as they seek information on climate adaptations and the measures taken to protect these sacred places."

Rosie Mousseau, who graduated with her master's in interdisciplinary studies in August, helped Thompson manage a team of three undergraduate students: Sam Kearney, Carson Piette and Mack Geary. Her work served as the capstone for her thesis on visitors' perceptions of climate change in the national parks.

"Whenever we got to a new place, we met with the park or refuge manager," she said. "We discussed the questions their science teams have been asking, the climate change impacts unique to that place and the resources they're trying to protect so we were better informed before we began interacting with visitors," she said. "During the busiest parts of the day at high-traffic locations, we intercepted visitors and used tablets to do the surveys.

"Given some of the current events surrounding the NPS and science and climate change in general, we had anticipated maybe a bit more pushback from visitors, but those who took the time to speak with us were excited about what we were working on, and interested in talking to us about the impacts the study would have on the park system itself in terms of teaching people about climate change. They want to have these conversations, and they want funding to continue in these spaces that they enjoy with their families."

According to Kearney, participating in the research raised his comfort level and confidence in starting conversations with strangers from many different backgrounds and lived experiences. He also learned how to collect scientific data and will gain experience in the project's next phase writing papers and giving presentations. All will be valuable in his career, he added.

"We found that almost 70% of people surveyed believe that climate change will harm them personally a moderate or great amount," Kearney said. "The majority of the time, people didn't feel like they knew a lot about climate change impacts at the places they visited, but we had a lot of great conversations that helped educate people and get them thinking about it."

Thompson and the students will give a presentation on their project at the George Wright Society ParkForum 2025 at the University of Montana in October.

"I'm so proud of the students," Thompson said. "We got to see some amazingly beautiful places, but the work was demanding. They were so easy-going and willing to be rushed around and challenged in order to talk to thousands of people. The students were great at absorbing that, and did a wonderful job interacting at all different levels, figuring out a way to explain some of this complexity in a way that resonated with visitors."

Mousseau created a website for the project. It can be viewed here.