Roughly 85 million acres of US territory are set aside by federal law for preservation, areas designated as national parks—roughly equal to the size of Germany.
In the United States, there are at least 19 different types of national parks, including those like Wyoming’s Yellowstone—the premier site—as well as monuments, rivers, trails, battlefields and more.
There are 63 areas officially designated as national parks with over 400 additional smaller units, including the Grand Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains, Acadia, and more (see map). Hunting and logging are generally banned in the parks, though regulated extractive activity is permitted in national preserves.
In 2023, roughly 325 million people visited America’s national parks, an increase of 4% from 2022.
History
In 1872, Yellowstone was established as the first national park dedicated to the general public’s enjoyment and recreation.
In the late 1800s, the sale of a mummified Indigenous child to the Denver Historical Society sparked a broader trend in hunting for archaeological artifacts from historic Native American settlements and sacred sites.
The resulting plunder of sites located on government-owned land led to the adoption of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which extended federal control and protection to historic artifacts on public land.
In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt consolidated management of the nation’s patchwork of parks, monuments, and historical sites under a newly centralized National Park Service. Historic preservation became one of the agency’s primary directives.
The National Park System now oversees sites in all 50 US states as well as territories, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Management
When Yellowstone was first established as a national park, Wyoming—where it is primarily located—was a US territory. Without a state government to oversee management, responsibility fell to the federal government via the military.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued the Organic Act, creating the independent agency of the National Park Service. The act established the “dual mandate” of park system management: balancing the preservation of resources while also making them available for public enjoyment.
The 1963 Leopold Report streamlined wildlife protection practices, advocating for science-based policies that preserved park lands in their 19th-century state.
A follow-up report was issued in 2012, emphasizing the need for park management to adapt to current and future conditions such as the effects of climate change and the environmental impact of tourism.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park consistently ranks as the most-visited national park, with nearly 14 million visitors in 2023. A distant second was Grand Canyon National Park with just under 5 million visitors.
Biscayne National Park features the largest number of animals; it is home to more than 1,000 wildlife species. South Carolina’s Congaree National Park is densest in terms of biodiversity—each 40-square-mile block holds an average of 362 wildlife species and 804 plant species.
Roughly 83 million acres of the United States is set aside as federal National Parks land, an area equivalent to the total land area of Germany. From the original Yellowstone Park to the hundreds of small monuments and memorials, learn the essentials on this portion of America dedicated to public enjoyment and recreation with our quick explainer video.
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The history and impact of national parks is more complex than can be summed up in a single article. The authors of Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and The National Park Idea have curated this list of nonfiction books that examine American national parks from a variety of perspectives, including National Park Service workers; the unsung women who helped make national parks a reality; and the indigenous tribes who were displaced to create the parks.
Part of Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea film series, this video follows students from Las Vegas and Miami as they visit national parks. In Death Valley, the students get hands-on lessons in geology before setting up camp for the night. In Biscayne, they canoe through secluded groves and past coral reefs. The effect the visits have on the children—and their teachers—is profound.
While America originated the idea of a national park system, it quickly spread across the globe. Now, some of the world’s most recognizable vistas, from the Grand Canyon to the Plitvice Lakes, are preserved for future generations to explore. These parks boost local economies through increased tourism and job creation, but also have negative effects, including wildlife destruction and overdevelopment. This article explores both sides of the relationship between national parks and sustainable tourism.
Not going on vacation any time soon? Get your fill of incredible scenery with this collection of 17 different virtual tours of national parks around the world. Catch the Northern Lights over Abisko National Park in Sweden, or explore the famous red sand dunes of Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. You can even get up close to an active volcano at the Hawai’i’ Volcanoes National Park.
Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer speaks to PBS NewsHour about his push for the more than 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to its indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes that the federal government give control of this land to a consortium of tribes, who would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans. He points to both the tribes’ experience with managing the land before the arrival of European settlers and their long history of working with the US government as proof that there is 'no one better equipped to manage parks than tribes.'
Nobody knows the national parks better than the rangers who live and work in them. Each episode of this podcast series introduces a different employee to speak about a specific aspect related to the park they love. Topics range from a ranger at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial discussing Japanese internment during World War II, to the real story of the Lewis and Clark westward expedition.
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