Theresa Ho climbs Turtleback Dome in Yosemite. The Park offers yearround activities that are good for the environment and good for visitors. DNC Parks and Resorts | Contributed Most people equate Yosemite and other national parks with environmental health. Now, there is a program that applies the Park’s environmental mission to the health of the people who visit.

The Healthy Parks, Healthy People (HPHP) program incorporates active living, environmental sustainability and well-being for all species. The initiative works to reintegrate human health, both physical and mental, and environmental and ecological health into the mission of public parks and lands.

Although HPHP is a National Park Service (NPS) program, it works with national, state and local parks, as well as businesses, healthcare leaders and scientists.

Yosemite is the perfect place to experience how the program works.

“The nature of Yosemite and all national parks encourages individuals to participate in outdoor activities all year around,” said Yosemite’s spokesperson Kari Cobb. “By protecting places like Yosemite, the public has unfettered access to some of the world’s greatest recreation areas.”

Yosemite residents and their children enjoy an afternoon walk in the valley. Jill Ballinger | The Gazette This winter has been an unusual example of just how accessible the Park’s wilderness areas can be to the public. For the first time, the Tioga Road was open well into January, and the frozen lakes of the high country attracted droves of visitors who might never have made the trip to witness the phenomenon.

Those visitors didn’t just experience the view. They played hockey, ice skated, and explored. In Yosemite Valley, hikers had normally inaccessible trails at their disposal for months longer than they usually would.

Even the rangers get the chance to get out and enjoy the Park. Above, Scott Gediman prepares to snow shoe. DNC Parks and Resorts | Contributed The HPHP program took about a year to develop, and in April of last year, it was unveiled. The steering committee assembled by NPS “discovered we are in the midst of a movement that has profound potential,” wrote Charles Higgins, director of the NPS Office of Public Health.

“We recognize this effort is not about the National Park Service, but rather how we can be a catalyst and lead by example to serve a broader cultural shift,” Higgins continued. “At its heart, this plan is based on a foundation of collaboration, innovation and partnership.”

The NPS strategic action plan for HPHP sees a shift in attitude. “As a society, we are just beginning to focus on the fact that the health of the environment, the health of our parks, and human health are interconnected,” the plan states. “Each cannot thrive without the others.”

Families can enjoy the slopes at Badger Pass for adventure and good exercise.. DNC Parks and Resorts | Contributed Some of the evidence that supports the philosophy is the unique benefits of getting outside and being active. When outside, people tend to exercise longer and in a more vigorous manner. Natural light has known therapeutic effects, and research suggests that being outside can have positive effects on everything from stress to attention disorders to rates of healing to social cohesion and lower crime rates.

The program’s guiding principles help define the NPS role to linking public health and the doors. Some of those principles include promoting health and well-being as an interrelated system linking human health to natural landscapes and including activities that contribute to physical, mental and spiritual health and social well-being.

The NPS seeks to provide equitable access to open spaces and natural places while maintaining a commitment to improving public health will be mirrored in internal program for its own workforce.

For visitors, experiences like skiing, snowshoeing and hiking can foster an appreciation for the environment and its preservation for future generations. At the same time, the people enjoying those activities get the physical benefits of outdoor exercise and can learn about personal and environmental health.

In Yosemite, so many of the activities that visitors and residents enjoy are already serving those guiding principles. Efforts continue to expand them.

“Every year Yosemite National park offers free entrance for visitors during National Park Week (NPW),” Cobb explained. This year, it takes place from April 21 to 29.

“For NPW, Yosemite picks a theme that encourages visitors to participate in fun, physical activity, such as hiking, biking, and swimming,” Cobb continued.

“These activities help show people how physical fitness and outdoor activity benefit health. It also encourages people to participate in activity in America’s national parks,” she concluded.