By WNPF’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee

Every May, the National Park Service celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. There are several NPS units in Washington where visitors can learn more about and celebrate these communities, including the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial, and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the Wing Luke Museum, and the Panama Hotel in Seattle.

Washington’s National Park Fund is committed to funding projects that help promote access to the Parks by underrepresented and historically marginalized communities—including projects that help diversify the NPS workforce so that it better reflects the communities where the Parks are located. In recent years, we raised funds for two programs at Olympic National Park that are designed to provide opportunities for youth from diverse backgrounds to explore NPS careers and gain experience – one program will provide 20-week internships (with housing) for five youth interns, and the other to provide a ”foot in the door” for three individuals with paid seasonal entry-level positions. You can find more park priority projects that we fund here.

Join Washington’s National Park Fund, the National Park Service, and our state’s three largest national parks in honoring Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Learn More & Be Inspired

For more information and inspiring stories regarding Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month, check out the National Park Service’s NPS Celebrates! page on Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

For more information, check out these recommended resources:

• The Minidoka and the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial page on the National Park Service website
• AsianPacificHeritage.gov, the Asian/Pacific Heritage Month website hosted by the U.S. Library of Congress
• “Remarkable National Park Stories of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders” by the National Park Foundation
• Outdoor Asian, a community organization with roots in Washington State whose mission is “to create a diverse and inclusive community of Asian & Pacific Islanders in the outdoors (read the story by Crosscut)

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Cover photo: Visitors to Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial honor and recognize the members of their community who spent part of their lives in American concentration camps because of their ancestry. Photo courtesy of NPS.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 1, 2022 and updated on May 1, 2024