Who owns united states national parks

Explore the legacies of the American military preserved in our national parks and how veterans and their families can enjoy parks today.

Enjoy a colorful display of fall foliage with in-person and virtual leaf peeping trips at national parks. By working together, we can make real progress in protecting our special places.

Learn how you can get involved. National parks are America's largest classrooms. In preparation for America's Education Week, find lesson plans about these special places. Catch the last days of autumn in parks as the season slowly turns to winter. Enjoy colorful scenery and cultural festivities. To support this recommendation, the U. This review should provide a full analysis of necessary maintenance and associated costs and how much each concession operator has contributed to these costs.

This type of information would give Congress and the American people clarity and transparency and could support stricter enforcement of NPS concession contracts. Congress and the Trump administration should not make private-sector handouts at the expense of public-interest investments.

Concessionaires, not taxpayers, must be responsible for the maintenance of the facilities in which they make billions of dollars each year. Furthermore, the NPS backlog should be understood in context and not used to undercut conservation or bolster calls for privatization.

Congress must ensure these special places get the funding they deserve and that they continue to belong to all Americans. Mary Ellen Kustin , Kate Kelly. Ryan Richards. Nicole Gentile , Jenny Rowland-Shea. Madeline Shepherd Director, Government Affairs. Concessionaire-operated facility maintenance is included in the National Park Service backlog. Data on file with the author. Information for this report was gathered using data contained in a spreadsheet provided by the National Park Service.

The spreadsheet is on file with the author. Will more trophy photos follow? Matt Lee-Ashley Senior Fellow. Grant on March 1, , as the nation's first national park. View the National Park System timeline. The arrowhead was authorized as the official National Park Service emblem by the Secretary of the Interior on July 20, The components of the arrowhead may have been inspired by key attributes of the National Park System, with the sequoia tree and bison representing vegetation and wildlife, the mountains and water representing scenic and recreational values, and the arrowhead itself representing historical and archeological values.

Read more about the history of the arrowhead and other elements of NPS visual design. Learn how to request permission to use the arrowhead. These areas include national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House.

Learn more about national park designations. See the complete list of National Park Service units and related areas by type and number. Current information on acreage for units across the National Park System is also available. See more information about visitation. View a list of the most-visited sites in the National Park Service. Fewer than one-third of the national parks charge entrance fees. You can obtain park entrance passes by visiting a park site that charges an entrance fee.

Entrance fee sites have passes available; we recommend calling a park prior to your visit. See the park search to locate a specific park. There are a number of entrance passes available, including park-specific passes as well as passes that offer entrance to more than 2, federal recreation sites in addition to the national parks Annual, Military, Senior, 4th Grade, Access, and Volunteer passes. You can view maps on specific park websites or find national park, National Park System, National Trails System, and other maps.

For campground reservations, visit Recreation. Not all parks participate in this service; many campgrounds are first come, first served. For more information on specific camping and lodging services offered at the park s of your interest, please check specific park websites.