US - National Parks

In the United States there are (as of January 2009) 58 National Parks, all managed by the National Park Service, a federal agency dependent on the Department of the Interior.

Logo of the United States National Park Service.svg
The National Park Service manages a total of 391 protected areas, but only 58 are officially designated as the National Park. Other areas are designated as National Historic Landmark, National Monument, National Preserve, National Historic Site, National Memorial and others.

The first national park in the United States was Yellowstone National Park, established by President Ulysses Grant in 1872. It was also the first national park in the world. The last in order of creation is the “Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve” in Colorado, established in 2004. National parks serve to safeguard endangered fauna and flora and maintain green areas that otherwise with progress of man in housing construction for it wherever they would be lost. In the national parks you can observe the magnificent aspects of nature respecting the environment.

Most visited:
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 9.3 million visitors
Grand Canyon National Park: 4.3 million
Yosemite National Park: 3.2 million
Yellowstone National Park: 2.9 million
Olympic National Park: 2.7 million
Rocky Mountains National Park: 2.7 million
Zion National Park: 2.6 million
Cuyahoga National Park: 2.5 million
Grand Teton National Park: 2.4 million
Acadia National Park: 2.1 million