Christopher Jarvi receives “Legends Award”

Christopher Jarvi, Associate Director for Partnerships and Visitor Experience, received the American Recreation Coalition’s (ARC) Legends Award for his efforts to advance the NPS’s philanthropic efforts, policy, and service to the public. The Legends Award, presented since 1991, celebrates accomplishments in the field of outdoor recreation.

In extending his congratulations, Acting Director Dan Wenk said, “Chris has exemplified the agency’s effort to engage the public as citizen stewards of our national parks and public lands.”

Over his career, Jarvi has developed and expanded programs that improve young people’s connections with nature.  In partnership with the Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, and the Student Conservation Association (SCA), he has created opportunities for young people, especially those who would otherwise have no experience with the outdoors, to leave their video games behind and experience nature first hand.

His work, with Department of the Interior officials and solicitors, the Office of Inspector General, congressional staff, and friends groups and cooperating associations, to revise NPS policies on donations and fundraising ensured that the NPS mission was at the forefront and decision making remained at the local and regional levels.

Jarvi has also improved the Volunteer in Parks (VIP) program. Using the information from a two-year study, he and his staff increased volunteer participation to more than five million hours of service annually across the country.  These volunteers help to conserve rivers, parks, trails, and wildlife.  All of these accomplishments are important steps toward bolstering tourism in the national parks.

Other recipients of the ARC 2009 Legends Awards and their respective agencies are: James Jennings, Bureau of Land Management; Jay Leasure, Bureau of Reclamation; Dan Johnson, Federal Highway Administration; Miles Johnson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Kelly Blackledge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Laurie A. Thorpe, U.S. Forest Service.