The idea of setting aside land back in 1872 has spread into a movement across the world. When a nation creates a national park My grandson Charlie and I spent a week hiking in the rugged splendor of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in the U.S. state of Wyoming,
walking the same trails Native Americans used in the mountainous western United States centuries ago it is a gift to the globeWe glimpsed moose and elk and saw foxes, pronghorn antelope and herds of bison. We even saw a grizzly bear with two of her cubs, albeit from a safe distance.
Yellowstone was the first national park in the United States, having been so designated in 1872 during the presidency of Ulysses S Grant In 2022, the NPS drew 311 million recreational visitors, many of them non-Americans.According to the U.S Travel Association, more than a third of the tens of millions of international tourists who come to the United States every year spend some time in a national park.
What began in the United States has become an international reality. More than 100 countries now have national parks, like Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park with its stunning necklace of lakes and waterfalls.Some preserve thousands of acres of unusual natural beauty.Others, like Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, protect the habitats of lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes and dozens of other animals indigenous to Africa.
Kristen Brengel is senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association. “National parks protect some of our most iconic natural wonders, from Half Dome at Yosemite to the Chimney Tops at the Great Smoky Mountains to the Maritime Heritage Trail at (Key) Biscayne,” she wrote in an email. “Parks also preserve our heritage