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Posted: Oct 12, 2009 Topic Views : 193 Post subject: American's National Parks
American's National Parks
From sea to shining sea, America contains some of the best national parkland in the world. While each of the 58 National Parks in the US offer beautiful scenery and great outdoors experiences.
Zion National Park is a national park located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (593 km2) park is Zion Canyon, 15 miles (24 km) long and up to half a mile (800 m) deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park’s unique geography and variety of life zones allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park’s four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest.
Arches National Park is a U.S. national park in eastern Utah.The park is located near Moab, Utah, and is 119 square miles (310 km2) in size. Its highest elevation is 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte, and its lowest elevation is 4,085 feet (1,245 m) at the visitor center. Since 1970, forty-three arches have toppled because of erosion. The park receives 10 inches (250 mm) of rain a year on average.
Yosemite National Park is a national park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of 761,266 acres (308,073 ha) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Yosemite is visited by over 3.5 million people each year, many of whom only spend time in the seven square miles (18 km˛) of Yosemite Valley. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granitewaterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness.
Denali National Park and Preserve is located in Interior Alaska and contains Mount McKinley (Denali), the tallest mountain in North America. The park and preserve together cover 9,492 mi˛ (24,585 km˛).
The word “Denali” means “the great one” in the native Athabaskan language and refers to the mountain itself. The mountain was named after president William McKinley of Ohio in 1897 by local prospector William A. Dickey, although McKinley had no connection with the region.
Grand Canyon National Park is one of the United States’ oldest national parks and is located in Arizona.The park covers 1,902 mi˛ (4927 km˛) of unincorporated area in Coconino County and Mohave County.
Most visitors to the park come to the South Rim, arriving on Arizona State Route 64. The Highway enters the park through the South Entrance, near Tusayan, Arizona, and heads eastward, leaving the park through the East Entrance. All park accommodations are operated by the Xanterra corporation. Park headquarters are at Grand Canyon Village, a short distance from the South Entrance, being also the center of the most popular viewpoints. Some thirty miles of the South Rim are accessible by road. A much smaller venue for tourists is found on the North Rim, accessed by Arizona State Route 67.
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress as a national park on March 1, 1872 , is located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho. The park was the first of its kind, and is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park.It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is dominant.
Badlands National Park, in southwest South Dakota, United States preserves 244,000 acres (98,740 ha) of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States.
The Badlands Wilderness protects 64,144 acres (25,958 ha) of the park as a designated wilderness area and is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America.
Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida, due east of Homestead. The park preserves Biscayne Bay, one of the top scuba diving areas in the United States. Ninety-five percent of the park is water. In addition, the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive mangrove forest. The park covers 207 mi˛ (700 km˛).
Elliott Key, the park’s largest island, is considered the first of the true Florida Keys being formed from fossilized coral reef, i.e. Key Largo limestone. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand
Hawai?i Volcanoes National Park, established in 1916, is a United States National Park located in the U.S. State of Hawai?i on the island of Hawai?i. It displays the results of hundreds of thousands of years of volcanism, migration, and evolution—processes that thrust a bare land from the sea and clothed it with complex and unique ecosystems and a distinct Ancient Hawaiian culture. K?lauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the most massive, offer scientists insights on the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and visitors’ views of dramatic volcanic landscapes. In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawai?i Volcanoes National Park has been designated as an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980 and a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Acadia National Park preserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast of Maine. Originally inhabited by the Wabanaki people, the area includes mountains, an ocean shoreline, woodlands, and lakes. In addition to Mount Desert Island, the park comprises much of the Isle au Haut, a small island to the southwest of Mount Desert Island and parts of Baker Island, also nearby. A portion of Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland is also part of the park. In total, Acadia National Park consists of 30,300 acres (47 square miles or 123 km2) on Mount Desert Island, 2,728 acres (4.6 square miles or 11 km2) on Isle au Haut and 2,366 acres (3.5 square miles or 9.2 km2) on the Schoodic Peninsula.