This fall, RE:PUBLIC and Outside have partnered on a series of on-the-ground reports from iconic parks, where our writers spent the late summer and early fall documenting the real-world effects of budget cuts, staffing shortages, and deferred maintenance across America’s public lands. RE:PUBLIC is a nonprofit journalism initiative that funds and co-publishes deeply reported stories about the future of public lands, working with leading media outlets to bring these issues to a national audience.

When we first started talking with the team at RE:PUBLIC about collaborating on a public lands package, we were circling the same question: What does it actually look like when America’s park system starts to crack? Not in abstract terms—budget lines or agency memos—but on the ground, where visitors and rangers see the effects firsthand.

That question sent three writers into three very different national parks: Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, and Rocky Mountain. What they found wasn’t always visible from the trailhead or a scenic overlook, but it told a deeper story about what’s really happening behind the glossy brochures and Instagram-perfect views.

Taken together, these stories offer an unfiltered look at the state—and fate—of our national parks, from the crowded roads of the Smokies to the privatization movement in Yosemite to the ranger stations of Rocky Mountain, where even the most dedicated staff are running on fumes.

—Abigail Wise, Brand Director, Outside