"Find Your Park," the marketing campaign tied to the celebration of the National Park Service's 100th birthday, is being rolled out from coast-to-coast this week as individual parks invite you to not only connect with your favorite national park unit but also relate your favorite stories about that park.

A "park," the campaign tells us, can be more than a place, a destination. It can be "a feeling, a state of mind, or a sense of American pride." In a move to ease that connection away from a specific destination, the campaign's icon is the word "PARK," with the opening in the "P" shaped like the iconic Park Service arrowhead. No "national" needed.

This initial stage of the campaign is focused almost entirely on the millennial generation, those between the ages of 18 and 34.

"We want to connect with and create the next generation of park visitors, supporters, and advocates," Alexa Viets, the centennial coordinator for the Park Service, told an audience at the George Wright Society conference in Oakland, California, on Wednesday.

That's not to say other generations, supporters, and advocates are not important, she added, but "we need to create that next wave. This is a long-term play."

The idea, said Ms. Viets, is to build a new generation of park lovers, supporters, and advocates for the next "10, 20, and 30 years."

The campaign, developed by the New York firm of Grey Advertising, involves "centennial ambassadors" Bill Nye (scientist), Bella Thorne (TV and film actress), Roselyn Sanchez (TV and film actress), Terrence J. (TV personality) and Mary Lambert (singer/songwriter and LGBT advocate) with First Lady Michelle Obama and Mrs. Laura Bush serving as co-chairs of the campaign.

In the days and weeks ahead, 11 cities from around the country will be identified as models of urban areas with connections to the National Park System, and a partnership with the National Geographic Society will grow stronger and more evident, as will one with Brand USA, the marketing entity created in 2010 to encourage travelers from all over the world to visit the United States.

More and more events tied to the Park Service's centennial will begin appearing on park calendars. They'll range from programs such as a music festival in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and youth paddling programs on the Chesapeake Bay this year to a quilt exhibit, arts programming, and a rededication of the Roosevelt Arch at Yellowstone National Park next year.

As part of the campaign, a website -- findyourpark.com -- has been built to help folks find a park that meets their desire, whether it's for adventure, family fun, or cultural or scientific interests. On this site you can find National Park System units near you, a schedule of centennial events, a place to share your favorite park story or photo and view those of others, even a contest that could land you some great prizes. There's also a page where you can make a contribution to the National Park Foundation or your favorite national park friends group.

Running along the bottom of the site is a bar that promotes the centennial campaign's main sponsors to date -- American Express, Budweiser, Subaru, REI, Humana, and Disney -- though a click of a button allows you to make that bar disappear.

During a question-and-answer session following Ms. Viets' presentation, one park employee wondered why the centennial campaign was "focusing almsot exclusively on marketing and 4th graders," the latter a reference to a program to give all 4th graders this fall a year-long pass to national parks. Instead, he said, wouldn't it be a better investment to provide funding to enable parks to hire millennials for temporary or seasonal positions, roles that could give them a life-long love of the park and the ambition to perhaps work for the Park Service?

Ms. Viets pointed out that there is about $2 million in the Park Service's current budget for youth hiring programs, and also stressed that the marketing initiatives were being funded with private, not public, dollars. Beyond that, she said, the campaign is geared to generate a long-term increase in support for the national parks.

While the centennial coordinator said there will be surveys to see how the campaign resonates with the American public and monitoring of social media campaigns, she also said the Park Service currently has no plan to continue such a concerted campaign around the parks after August 25, 2016, the actual birthday date of the Park Service. Rather, the hope is that strong philanthropic partners will join the campaign between now and then and carry the movement on, she said.