Grand Canyon National Park - Cooperating Association (U.S. National Park Service)

The Grand Canyon Association is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1932 to support the educational goals of the National Park Service at Grand Canyon.

The association provides financial support to Grand Canyon National Park. They publish canyon related books and fund exhibits, research, free publications, and naturalist programs. They provide support for the park's research library.

The association also operates, the Grand Canyon Field Institute. The institute offers a wide variety of courses including Geology, Natural and Human History, Archaeology, Botany, Backcountry Skills, and more! Classes for every skill level. Call (928) 638-2485 to get your free 2007 catalog.

When Grand Canyon National Park's Chief Naturalist Eddie McKee formed the Grand Canyon Natural History Association (GCNHA) in February 1932, he envisioned a small organization to support the educational and research efforts of the Park's Naturalist Division. The little seed planted by McKee 75 years ago has grown to serve the increasing number of visitors and assist with the increasing complexity of park operations.

Edwin D. McKee

McKee envisioned the role of the association as being to stimulate and encourage scientific research; to develop natural history and cultural exhibits at Yavapai Observation Station and elsewhere; to publish Grand Canyon Nature Notes, which contained original research and natural history observations; to publish monographs of larger research projects; to build up and maintain a Grand Canyon reference library; and to offer Grand Canyon publications to visitors. those were some pretty tall marching orders for an organization that had only $5,792.00 in income in 1939, with almost all of that contributed to Grand Canyon National Park to promote the association’s mission. With low overhead and a dedicated staff of NPS employees and volunteers, GCNHA kept all of McKee's priorities progressing.

Over the years, the association’s mission and methods have remained largely the same, although the scale has changed dramatically. Today's Grand Canyon Association (GCA) operates bookstores in the park (as well as one in the Kaibab Plateau Visitor Center in Jacob Lake, Arizona), works with the National Park Service to publish The Guide and many other free publications (some 1.8 million copies in 2006), publishes books and other materials about Grand Canyon National Park and the surrounding region, supports research in the park, and funds acquisitions for the park's research library. GCA also leads experiential learning trips into the park through the Grand Canyon Field Institute; sponsors lectures on Grand Canyon topics in Flagstaff, Prescott, and Glendale, Arizona; and serves some 9,000 members through our annual Members' Gathering at the South Rim each fall, our membership newsletter Canyon Views, and other special opportunities and offers.