Healthy Parks Healthy People US

National Park Service Director Announces Healthy Foods Strategy

SAN FRANCISCO--()--National Park Service (NPS) Director Jon Jarvis has announced a major new service-wide Healthy Foods Strategy, to provide healthy food options to all national park visitors.

Jarvis made the announcement as part of this week’s Healthy Parks Healthy People US conference, a forum in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area co-sponsored by the Institute at the Golden Gate and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Attended by more than 100 leaders in health care, the environment, nonprofits, government, and business, participants discussed how the NPS can most effectively help drive health and wellness initiatives in America’s local, state, and national parks, and how parks can promote healthy lifestyles.

“The food we eat plays a critical role in our health, and providing healthy food choices is one way the NPS is working to promote healthy lifestyles,” Jarvis said. “The Healthy Foods Strategy will help ensure that our 281 million annual visitors have access to healthy, sustainable, and high-quality food at reasonable prices, while reducing our overall impact on the environment.”

“This initiative furthers one of our goals of Healthy Parks Healthy People US, to educate visitors on food and potentially influence the choices they make after they leave the parks,” Jarvis added.

The first step in the NPS Healthy Foods Strategy is a partnership with the Center for Disease Control Epidemiological Service to conduct a baseline survey of the nutritional value of the food served in America’s national parks. In looking at the availability and cost of healthy foods in various regions of the country, NPS aims to make informed decisions regarding healthy foods in its concession operations and build healthy food requirements into concession contract requirements.

The NPS has already started evaluating the health and sustainability of the food served in parks. The new healthy and sustainable food program piloted at Muir Woods in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area is one of the first examples of how park concessions can effectively support healthy food choices. Food for the Parks, a new report featuring case studies from the National Park system, has been developed by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy’s Institute at the Golden Gate: www.instituteatgoldengate.org/foodfortheparks.

Modeled on the international Healthy Parks Healthy People movement that started in Australia, Healthy Parks Healthy People US complements President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, a multi-agency effort that has sparked a national conversation on how to conserve open spaces and reconnect Americans to nature.

For more information on Healthy Parks Healthy People US, please visit www.nps.gov/public_health/hp/hphp.htm or www.instituteatgoldengate.org.

Contacts

National Park Service
Howard Levitt, 415-561-4730
howard_levitt@nps.gov
or
Institute at the Golden Gate
Kat English, 415-403-0800
kenglish@mackenziesf.com

Release Summary

National Park Service (NPS) Director Jon Jarvis has announced a major new service-wide Healthy Foods Strategy, to provide healthy food options to all national park visitors.

Contacts

National Park Service
Howard Levitt, 415-561-4730
howard_levitt@nps.gov
or
Institute at the Golden Gate
Kat English, 415-403-0800
kenglish@mackenziesf.com