Did you know there is a National Park Week? This year it’s the week of April 22-30.
The History
In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the creation of the U.S.’s first National Park, Yellowstone.
But did you know the man credited with the idea of creating national parks was artist George Catlin? When he traveled through the northern Great Plains in 1832, he worried settlers’ migration west would gradually destroy the magnificent wilderness, wildlife, and Indian civilizations he saw. His idea to protect and preserve these areas didn’t catch on immediately, but with the romantic portrayals of nature’s beauty by writers and painters alike, the belief that wilderness was a challenge to overcome gradually changed.
California was the first to embrace this idea of protecting and saving areas of wilderness. In the 1860s, state leaders sought to protect Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove (a grove of giant sequoias). President Abraham Lincoln signed a law transferring this land to the state. (Years later, claims of mismanagement led to the state returning the land to the federal government, and Yosemite National Park was created.)
Did You Know…
- Mariposa Grove is the largest grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park. Two trees are among the thirty largest in the world.
- Grizzly Giant is the twenty-fifth largest giant sequoia tree in the world and the oldest in the Mariposa Grove at between 1900-2400 years old.
The Laws
On June 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act. This law gives U.S. Presidents the authority to create national monuments from federal grounds, protecting important antiquities and objects of scientific interest.
President Woodrow Wilson signed the “Organic Act” in 1916. This law created the National Park Service (NPS). In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order consolidating all National Parks, National Monuments, and other nationally recognized places into the NPS.
Did You Know…
- The Antiquities Act of 1906 has been used more than one hundred times since President Roosevelt signed it into law.
- Wyoming’s landmark, Devils Tower, was the first National Monument.
- The oldest parks in the NPS are the District of Columbia’s National Capital Parks begun in 1790.
National Parks
Since the NPS’s creation in 1916, it has expanded to 424 units. That’s more than 85 million acres in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. territories. These “units” (or “parks”) come in different shapes and sizes and are divided into at least nineteen naming designations. (Not all are National “Parks.”) The name designation (park, battlefield, monument, etc.) reflects the diversity of the NPS’s units. The following is a list of the various designations in alphabetical order with the number of units in each.
- National Battlefields (11)
- National Battlefield Parks (4)
- National Battlefield Sites (1)
- National Military Parks (9)
- National Historical Parks (63)
- National Historic Sites (74)
- International Historic Sites (1)
- National Lakeshores (3)
- National Memorials (31)
- National Monuments (83)
- National Parks (63)
- National Parkways (4)
- National Preserve (19)
- National Reserves (2)
- National Recreation Areas (18)
- National Rivers (4)
- National Wild and Scenic Rivers and Riverways (10)
- National Scenic Trails (3)
- National Seashores (10)
- Other Designations (11)
Did You Know…
- Thirty of the fifty states, as well as some territories, have National Parks. (But all states and territories have some type of national unit.)
- California has the most National Parks with nine. Alaska has eight, Utah five, and Colorado four.
- Alaska has the four largest National Parks. Wrangell-St. Elias, with over eight million acres, is the biggest.
- The Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri is the smallest National Park with only 91 acres.
- The most-visited National Park since 1944 is North Carolina and Tennessee’s Great Smokey Mountains National Park.
Wrap-Up
If you’re interested in learning more, check out NPS’s website. If you’re looking for more information about specific parks, here is the list of designations and the specific units in each. I didn’t review all 424, but I did look at the 63 National Parks and discovered I’ve visited at least 26 of them. (Remember these are only the national parks. Each state has its own state parks, too.)
If you haven’t visited a national (or state) park recently, why not plan a visit?
Did You Know…
- The National Park Service (NPS) also has an app where you can go to check out every park. You don’t even have to physically go to a park to enjoy it. You can experience them virtually with online resources.