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Whether it's hiking, climbing or a road tripping to a national park, being outdoors can be a lot of fun. For communities of color, 

When the National Park Service (NPS) celebrated its 100 years of service in 2017, 

revealed that 78 percent of the park’s visitors were white, 7 percent were African-Americans -- far below their national population -- with Latinos, Native Americans and other nonwhite visitors notably invisible in the great outdoors.

NPS has acknowledged the need to make park spaces more accessible to communities of color; groups such as 

 and other community-based organizations have been established across the country to increase diversity in outdoor spaces. But access problems still exist.

 about diversifying the outdoors and encouraging communities of color to travel.

Verna Volker is the founder of Native Women Running and a member of 

Angelou Ezeilo is the CEO & founder of the Greening Youth Foundation and author of 

Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leader

Caitlin Murray is the founder of Purposeful Nomad

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

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For communities of color, lack of accessibility and historical trauma can be barriers to enjoying the thrills of nature. MPR News host Kerri Miller explored how to diversify the outdoors.

Diversifying the outdoors

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