National Park Service Scraper

National Park Service Scraper

Scrape National Park Service data for parks, alerts, campgrounds, events, and fees, up to a million records per run. Every record comes with its official NPS fields, ready for CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML export. No login required.

The National Park Service publishes open data on every park unit, alert, campground, event, and fee, but there is no bulk download button. This Actor reads the official NPS API directly, filters by state, park code, or free-text search, and returns each record in one flat schema. You can export the whole catalog or a single park in minutes.

Who uses it	What they scrape National Park Service for
Travel and outdoor content teams	Build a current database of park units, alerts, and fees for trip-planning content.
GIS and mapping analysts	Pull park boundaries, coordinates, and campground locations for spatial analysis.
Researchers and journalists	Track closures, advisories, and event schedules across all NPS units.
App developers	Populate a park finder or camping app with official NPS data.
Marketing analysts	Monitor entrance fee changes and seasonal events by state or park.

What it does

This Actor collects records from the National Park Service API for parks, alerts, campgrounds, events, or fees, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🏞️ Five datasets: parks, alerts, campgrounds, events, and entrance or activity fees.
• 🗺️ State filter: limit results to one US state or territory, or pull all states.
• 🔍 Park code filter: pass comma-separated codes like yose,grca,zion for specific units.
• 📝 Free-text search: find parks by name or theme, such as volcano or civil war.
• 🔑 Optional personal key: use your own NPS API key for higher rate limits.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with National Park Service data

🗺️ Build a park finder database.

A travel app developer runs the Actor with endpoint=parks and no filters to get every NPS unit, then loads the rows into their app's search index.

🚧 Monitor closures and advisories.

A park operations analyst schedules a daily run with endpoint=alerts and stateCode=CA to catch new road closures or fire advisories in California parks.

⛺ Compile campground inventory.

An outdoor gear retailer pulls endpoint=campgrounds for all states to create a camping guide with official site counts and reservation links.

🎟️ Track entrance fee changes.

A travel blogger runs endpoint=fees with searchQuery=yellowstone to update their fee table before publishing a trip budget post.

📅 Aggregate park events.

A regional tourism board collects endpoint=events for their state to feed a shared calendar of ranger programs and star parties.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Official NPS data	Records come straight from the National Park Service API, not a third-party scrape.
Five datasets in one Actor	Switch between parks, alerts, campgrounds, events, and fees without changing tools.
Flat, export-ready rows	Every record is normalized to a single schema for CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
No login required	The public sample key works out of the box; add your own key for higher limits.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets National Park Service the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	National Park Service Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When National Park Service changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from the dataset selector, an optional state filter, park codes, and a free-text search, and filters run as each record is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "endpoint": "parks"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "endpoint": "parks"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.005 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.50
1,000 results	$5.00
10,000 results	$50.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the National Park Service Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to National Park Service through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/nps-parks-api-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your filters. If you set a stateCode and a parkCode that do not overlap, the API returns nothing. Try clearing the parkCode or searchQuery fields and run again.

Why did the run stop before reaching maxItems?

The NPS API may have rate limits. If you are using the public sample key, try adding your own personal key in the apiKey field for higher limits.

Why are some fields empty in my dataset?

Not every NPS record has every field. For example, some parks may not have entrance fees, so fee fields will be null for those rows.

Can I get data for a park by its common name instead of code?

Yes. Use the searchQuery field with the park name, such as 'Yosemite'. The Actor will return the matching park records.

Why did I get an authentication error?

If you provided a personal API key, make sure it is valid and has not expired. Otherwise, leave the apiKey field blank to use the public sample key.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an NPS API key?	No. The Actor uses a public sample key by default. You can optionally provide your own personal key in the apiKey field for higher rate limits.
Which datasets can I export?	You can choose parks, alerts, campgrounds, events, or entrance and activity fees from the endpoint dropdown.
Can I filter by state?	Yes. Use the stateCode dropdown to select a US state or territory, or leave it blank for all states.
Can I get data for specific parks only?	Yes. Enter comma-separated park codes in the parkCode field, such as yose,grca,zion.
What does the free-text search do?	The searchQuery field matches park names and descriptions. For example, searching volcano returns parks related to volcanic features.
How many records can I get per run?	You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000. The NPS API returns all matching records, so set it high enough for your use case.
What format is the output?	The Actor returns flat JSON rows. You can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset.
Is the data official?	Yes. All records come directly from the National Park Service API, not from scraping a website.
Can I run this on a schedule?	Yes. Use Apify's scheduler to run the Actor daily or weekly, for example to track new alerts or event changes.
Does it work for US territories?	Yes. The state filter includes American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by National Park Service. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.