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It’s easy to think they’ve always been here. You walk into a visitor center in a national park and there’s the store. Shelves of books you won’t find anywhere else. Locally made art. Field guides. A child picking out her first patch, plush, or postcard. It feels like part of the park itself. But these stores didn’t just appear. They grew out of a mission to help people connect more deeply to the places they were visiting.

Back in 1916, the National Park Service was established to care for a small but growing group of parks, including Hawaiʻi National Park which, at that time, included both Maui and Hawaiʻi Island acreage. As more people began visiting these new public lands across the nation, they wanted more than just a quick look. They wanted to understand what they were seeing—the wild landscapes, the history of the people there, the stories of the past and ideas about the future. National park staff were overwhelmed by the tides of visitors exploring "America's Best Idea", and couldn’t manage it all alone. In 1920, the Yosemite Museum Association was founded and stepped in to help. They began offering books and educational materials to visitors, creating a new kind of partnership, one that focused on education, connection, and support.

Read more: Carrying the Story Home: From Books to Belonging, How National Park Stores Came to Be

If you plan to visit the National Park of American Samoa, you may meet HPPA's Melekuini in the fascinating visitor center and park store. This U.S. national park in the South Pacific is remote, but it is visited by cruise ships all year long, as well as dedicated independent travelers. HPPA loves to tell the story of this incredible place, our partner, through the products we sell and the park programs and projects we help fund with those proceeds. You may pick up a fun fruit bat shirt or a coconut crab puzzle kit, and while you're there, you may meet this remarkable person. Here is her story.

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I started working for the Hawaiʻi Pacific Parks Association at the National Park of American Samoa on September 19, 2025. Before that, my journey in the park first began when I became a KUPU conservation intern with the National Park Service. At first I worked in trail maintenance, caring for our native plants and spending long days out in the forest. That experience really deepened my love and respect for the land. Later, I transitioned into park interpretation, where I was able to connect with visitors and share what makes this place so special. I later interned with the American Conservation Experience, where I gained even more skills and helped lead the dendrology program. During my term, I earned certifications in Oxygen Use, Emergency First Response, CMS, and FEMA. Those opportunities strengthened both my skills and my confidence. Altogether, these experiences helped me realize that I wanted to continue working in a national park, protecting the environment while sharing knowledge and Samoan culture with others.

Read more: Meet Melekuini: Rooted in Culture at the National Park of American Samoa

If your 2026 plans include visiting our national park partners in Hawaiʻi, lace up your hiking shoes and get ready to wander. From cool, fern-shaded forests to sandy footpaths tracing lava rock coastlines, national park trails in Hawaiʻi offer something for every pace and interest. With routes ranging from short and gentle to long and rugged, inspiration is never far away. And our park stores carry maps and guides to help you find your way.

Read more: Hiking Hawaiʻi Is a Walk in the (National) Park

National Park Service (NPS) Ranger Jon Jokiel recently retired from Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park on Hawaiʻi Island, one of three national parks on the west coast of the island that interpret, protect, and preserve Hawaiian sites, culture, and values. We asked him to reflect a bit on his career and on his thoughts about how the park's long partnership with HPPA helped to support the important work of this national historical park. HPPA runs the visitor center park store and also supplies direct aid to the park for programs and projects.

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I grew up in the community of Kaneohe on the island of Oʻahu. My father was a marine biologist and he helped start the University of Hawaiʻi Marine Lab on Coconut Island, so during my childhood I was in the ocean a lot of the time. I was surfing, swimming, diving, and playing with my brothers. I did not think I would specifically be a park ranger someday, but I think I knew I would do something related to protecting and working in an outdoor environment. Then I moved to the Pacific Northwest as an adult and really immersed myself in the outdoors—hiking and exploring the North Cascades and Olympic Mountains. Seeing NPS park rangers out there on the trails really appealed to me, and I admired the work they did helping others protect and interpret the environment.

Read more: Guiding Hands and Lasting Memories: Retired NPS Ranger Jon Jokiel on the Power of Park Programs...

Every holiday season, our online shop hub (based inside Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park) becomes a flurry of activity as people across Hawaiʻi, the U.S., and beyond choose gifts that support the national parks of Hawaiʻi and American Samoa. And behind each order is a real person who cares deeply about where your purchase goes and what it supports. Hi! I’m Kiry Galapir, and I’ve been part of Hawaiʻi Pacific Parks Association since 2007, joining the HPPA ʻohana just before an eruption of Kīlauea Volcano! Today, I manage the lively world of online orders and our commitment to sustainable packing. When you place an online order, I am the one who makes sure you get your package.

Here’s a peek at how your holiday national parks gifts and other purchases make their way from our warehouse on Hawaiʻi Island to your doorstep:

• Coffee First

Every good packing day begins with a cup of coffee—fuel for the season’s steady stream of thoughtful shoppers.

Read more: Where Gifts Give Back: Behind the Scenes at HPPA’s Online Shop

It’s always fun to talk about bats in October. Here at HPPA, where we love bats, we like to call them “sky puppies”!

Our six partner national park sites in Hawaiʻi are all places where you can try to catch a glimpse of the cute little fuzzball known as the Hawaiian hoary bat. “Hoary” means frosted, like “hoarfrost”, and here it describes a mature bat whose deep, glossy, brown fur is tipped with white. These bats can also have a tan collar and ears, with fancy black ear tips. Their Hawaiian name is ʻōpeʻapeʻa (oh pay uh pay uh) and they are pretty small—only 24 grams when fully grown. That is about the same weight as a AA battery. Their little wingspans max out at just about a foot wide. Small bats like this are called “microbats”.

Because of the difficulty of reaching these remote islands for just about any animal, the ʻōpeʻapeʻa is the only native land mammal in Hawaiʻi, and listed as an endangered species. Most scientists say that it is closely related to the North American hoary bat, and arrived in the islands a ~10,000 years ago, probably pulled along by the winds of a huge storm or series of storms.

Read more: Going To Bat for Bats

Do you know about The National Park of American Samoa? It is not only the most remote national park in the National Park Service system, it’s also located below the equator. What a biodiversity and cultural gem it is!

Rainforest to Reef

This park spans three islands—Tutuila, Taʻū, and Ofu—and protects tropical rainforest as well as some of the most beautiful coral reef you will ever see or experience (if you go, which you should). A kaleidoscope of fluttery, brightly-colored reef fish dances beneath the sea surface. The stunning, extensive reef has over 900 species of fish, and is also famous for its giant clams. Both the endangered hawksbill and the threatened green sea turtle nest on the park’s beaches and forage in its lagoons—hawksbills prefer sea sponges, and green sea turtles prefer algae.

Two different species of flying foxes, also called fruit bats, might soar gracefully overhead if you’re lucky, on their way to the forest to munch on fruit. Called Peʻālofa & Peʻāvao in Samoan, these large fruit bats are the park’s signature species. As the bats move through the forest they, er, distribute the fruit seeds, which makes them a highly valued forest-building critter. Around the HPPA offices we call them “sky puppies.”

Read more: Below the Equator: The Almost-Secret Wonders of the National Park of American Samoa

On Tuesdays on the sunbaked, windswept Kohala coast of Hawaiʻi Island, at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site, you might hear the low murmur of laughter. Under the lānai (porch, patio) of the visitor center, Ed Dowling is laying out smooth black (lava) and white (coral) pebbles in round little depressions on a gridded board that he may made by hand, himself.

This is kōnane—sometimes casually referred to as “Hawaiian checkers,” though it’s closer in spirit to chess or Go. It’s a traditional game once played by the Hawaiian aliʻi (royal chiefs) to hone their strategic minds (it was also a favorite gambling game). The rules are deceptively simple: leap your opponent’s pieces, one by one, until no moves remain. But what begins as play quickly sharpens into a contest of wits.

Read more: Playing the Game of Hawaiian Royalty: Kōnane with Ed Dowling at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic...