The United States has 58 protected areas known as National Parks, which are operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The U.S. National Parks are spectacular treasures, located all over the U.S., and should be explored by everyone. Visitors every year end their adventures with their own respect and appreciation for the awesome beauty that each and every park has to offer. With hundreds of destinations across the country, you can find plenty of National Parks and Monuments, Seashores, Historic Parks, and more. Everyone has an opportunity to travel to and explore one of these beautiful parks. From Acadia, Everglades, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and Zion National Parks to White Sands National Monument, it’s time to get out and enjoy the beautiful and scenic outdoors!
The U.S. National Parks contain:
• Habitat protection for 421 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals.
• 1.5 million archeological sites.
• 27,000 historic and prehistoric structures.
• 100 million museum items, including George Washington’s inaugural coat and Carl Sandburg’s typewriter.
• 17,000 miles of trails.
• The world’s largest carnivore, the Alaskan Brown Bear.
• The world’s largest living things, Giant Sequoia trees.
• The highest point in North America, Mt. McKinley (20,320 feet); in Denali National Park.
• The longest cave system in the world, Mammoth Cave National Park, with more than 365 mapped miles of caves.
• The country’s deepest lake, Crater Lake in Crater Lake National Park, at 1,932 feet.
• The lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, at 282’ below sea level.
Forty years ago, the United States took a leadership role in the creation of the World Heritage Convention and is proud to have 21 American sites honored by designation as World Heritage Sites. 17 of the 21 U.S. sites are units of the National Park System. Nominated to UNESCO by the U.S. for their outstanding cultural or natural vales, the American sites, include a diversity of iconic places such as the Grand Canyon, the Yellowstone National Park, the Mesa Verde National Park, as well as lesser known sites, such as the vast Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the northwestern Hawaiian islands inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2010. They are such outstanding universally recognized natural and cultural features that they attract the admiration and merit the protection of all people worldwide. They are a heritage Americans share with the world. The U.S. sites also embrace extraordinary natural wonders in the national parks: the world’s tallest trees at Redwood, the Earth’s longest underground passageways at Mammoth Cave, North America’s largest assemblage of glaciers and peaks above 16,000 feet at Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay, and the world’s greatest geyser system at Yellowstone. Similar superlatives can be applied to Carlsbad Caverns, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Hawaii Volcanoes, Olympic, and Yosemite.
The inscription of these 21 American properties as World Heritage Sites formally recognizes the respect they hold in the world community. They are linked today through the contemporary successor to the ancient list of wonders of the world–the World Heritage List.
For tourists planning trips to the United States, below is a list of the U.S. National Parks:
Acadia National Park, American Samoa, Arches, Badlands National Park, Big Bend National Park; Biscayne National Park, BlackCanyon of the Gunnison National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Channel Islands National Park, Congaree National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Death Valley National Park, Denali National Park and Preserve, Dry Tortugas National Park, Everglades National Park, Gates Of The Arctic National Park and Preserve, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Great Basin National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Haleakala National Park, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hot Springs National Park, Isle Royale National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Kobuk Valley National Park, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Mammoth Cave National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Redwood National and State Parks, Rocky Mountain National Park, Saguaro National Park, Sequoia National Park, Shenandoah National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Virgin Islands National Park, Voyageurs National Park, Wind Cave National Park, Wrangell – St Elias National Park and Preserve, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, Zion National Park
More information and Travel Guide to the U.S. National Parks is available at www.us-parks.com and www.us-national-parks.net
