This volume provides an in-depth, qualitative analysis of volunteers and volunteerism in the U.S. National Parks Service (NPS). Over the course of the 50+-year history of the Volunteers-in-Parks (VIP) program, there has been no systematic research undertaken about the history or impact of volunteers serving in parks. This book corrects this deficiency, filling a large gap in the scholarly literature and advancing theory on volunteerism within a critical space in the nation’s environmental, historical, and cultural infrastructure.

Using a combination of participant observation and interviews with more than 200 volunteers and park staff, the volume introduces new insights on the value and management of volunteers in support of broader societal goals while also delving deeply into the tensions that emerge when public institutions are reliant but cannot afford to be dependent on volunteers.

The book will be of use to scholars and students studying public administration, nonprofit management, and environmental conservation or cultural preservation as well as practitioners of volunteer management and community engagement across the spaces of public parks, museums, and other places of environmental, historical, or cultural significance.

Thomas Andrew Bryer is the Founding Director of the Center for Civic Lands and Democratic Stewardship and Professor in the School of Public Service at Old Dominion University. Prior to that until August 2026, he was a Pegasus Professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida (UCF). He is also a Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities at Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania, and Visiting Professor in the Centre for Social Responsibility at Edge Hill University in the United Kingdom. Dr. Bryer is author or editor of ten books, and PI or co-PI on grants valued at more than $4million. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Lithuania from 2015-2017 and a Fulbright Specialist in Russia in 2018.