11 Facts About National Parks

1. A national park is defined as a reserve of government-owned natural or semi-natural land that is restricted from most development. Instead, it is set aside for animal and environmental protection, along with general recreation and pleasure.
2. The first national park established in the world was Yellowstone National Park in 1872.
3. The National Park System covers more than 84 million acres of land in U.S. states and territories.
4. The only state without a national park is Delaware.
5. The largest national park is the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska, which covers 13.2 million acres. The smallest is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, which covers a scant 0.02 acres.
6. There are 394 national parks in America, which includes national monuments, seashores, recreation areas, historic sites, military parks, and battlefields.
7. In 2010, over 281 million visitors visited national parks in the United States.
8. Visitors can only reach Alaska's Kobuk Valley National Park by foot, dogsled, or snowmobile.
9. The Everglades National Park in Florida is the only habitat in the world where both alligators and crocodiles live.
10. Over sixty percent of the endangered species in the U.S. are found in national parks.
11. The 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford, is the only president who served as a park ranger in the National Park Service. Employed in the summer of 1936 as a seasonal park ranger, he called that time as, “One of the greatest summers of my life.”

Sources:

National Parks Conservation Association

National Park Foundation

U.S. National Park Service

National Park Service Public Use Statistics

Green Yahoo