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Blog Post Plan a Desert Getaway to Natural Bridges As parks go, Natural Bridges has some serious bragging rights: It’s Utah’s first national park site, the first International Dark-Sky Park in the world, and one of the very darkest places for stargazing in the country. Designated in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt, this is the only place where you can find three natural bridges in such close proximity, including the second-largest natural bridge in the world.
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Blog Post Building (on) Bridges For nearly a century, Anacostia Park in Washington, D.C., has served as a playground for area residents while also preserving a critical shoreline area and protecting the natural scenery and water quality of the Anacostia River. The 1,200 acres of parkland along the river’s banks have seen recent improvements with more opportunities for recreational access, including the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, a 28-mile shared-use trail that connects 16 communities from the National Mall at the Tidal Basin to Bladensburg, Maryland, as well as the Anacostia Water Trail, a nine-mile scenic stretch of the river for paddlers.
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Blog Post Capturing the Essence of the Everglades How does Mac Stone photograph such gorgeous images of the Everglades? We got tips, stories, and more in our new Q&A.
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Blog Post Plan a Desert Getaway to Canyonlands National Park Utah’s national parks offer very different experiences, but all of them feature distinctive and amazing geological formations, whether you are looking down into a deep canyon, peering through an otherworldly arch, or scratching your head at formations like the Upheaval Dome that even geologists couldn’t definitively explain (until recently).
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Blog Post A Galaxy Not So Far Away After All Two national parks in California literally portrayed a galaxy far, far away in the original 1977 Star Wars film and the 1983 sequel, Return of the Jedi.
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Blog Post Exploring South Park, Colorado The South Park National Heritage Area lies squarely in the center of Colorado and remains largely unchanged from the time prehistoric men and women spent their summer months near the headwaters of the South Platte River. This high-altitude valley spans 1,800 square miles in Park County with vast grasslands and ancient forests framed by two separate ranges of the Rocky Mountains. The area is known for its natural beauty and still captures the spirit of the western frontier, but it’s most famous for the gold that once drew an estimated 100,000 prospectors there during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush.
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Blog Post Plan a Desert Getaway to Arches National Park The cooler months are an ideal time to explore the wonders of the desert, when visitors can see the beauty of the canyons and cacti without the intense sunshine and triple-digit temperatures.
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Blog Post A Little-Known Piece of History Reclaimed Many Americans will recognize this coming Monday, October 13, as a holiday honoring Christopher Columbus. Thanks to NPCA supporters, the citizens of Florida will also take this day to recognize an unsung hero who made one of our national parks possible: Lancelot Jones.
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Blog Post Wilderness Wins on the West Coast Thanks to persistent support from thousands of advocates, the National Park Service will honor its promise to Americans to preserve Drakes Estero.
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Blog Post A Double Threat to an American Icon Two terrible development proposals threaten the Grand Canyon, but here’s why it’s too soon to take action—yet.
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Blog Post Wild American Beauty: 10 Wilderness Areas to Explore Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act by exploring some of America’s wildest places, from remote windswept tundras to cactus-dotted mountains to serene rock-strewn beaches. Several spots are surprisingly close to major cities.
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Blog Post The Country’s Smallest National Park Site A memorial in downtown Philadelphia preserves epic tales of war and freedom in just 0.02 acres of space.
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Blog Post The Elwha River, Undammed After years of work, the Elwha River at Olympic is undammed and flowing again. The salmon—and the white-water rafters—are loving it!
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Blog Post New Video Showcases Youth Who Love Gateway New storytelling tool is part of a new approach for engaging the next generation of park visitors through the Your Park! Your Health! program.
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Blog Post Thousands of Schoolchildren Create Living Flag at Fort McHenry Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore, Maryland, is probably best known for its famous flag, which billowed over the star-shaped ramparts after a fierce British attack during the War of 1812 and inspired Sir Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner.
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Blog Post Fishing to Revitalize River Communities The Upper Delaware River in Pennsylvania and New York is one of the best wild trout fisheries in the country. Just a two-hour drive from Manhattan, this region of beautiful rolling farmland features charming small towns dotted with restaurants showcasing local foods. The bucolic landscape, however, belies tensions between residents who hold sharply divergent visions of its future.
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Blog Post Fifty Years Later: Wilderness & Civil Rights in the Same Breath This summer marks the 50-year anniversary of two landmark pieces of legislation—the Civil Rights Act and the Wilderness Act—that are linked more closely than they might seem.
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Blog Post 11 of the Best Bird-Watching Spots for Fall More than 700 distinct bird species can be found in America’s national parks. Exploring this incredible array of wildlife is a great reason to visit national parks, and the fall migration—when millions of birds are heading south from northern breeding grounds—is the perfect time to do it. Here are some of the best places to find different types of birds at national parks across the country.
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Blog Post What Lies Beneath Citizen scientists are helping birds dying at troubling rates in the Midwest by studying invasive species at Sleeping Bear Dunes.
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Blog Post Connecting History and People along the Delaware & Lehigh This story is part of NPCA's series on national heritage areas, the large lived-in landscapes managed through innovative partnerships to tell America’s cultural history.
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Blog Post Park Fees Should Benefit Park Visitors Have you ever marveled at the pink and red sandstone cliffs at Zion National Park while learning about the area’s rich history from the seat of one of the park’s free shuttle buses? Or enjoyed a visit to a working quarry to watch paleontologists preserving fossils at Badlands National Park?
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Blog Post Parks Sound Off 5 unusual national park noises that enhance our understanding of the natural world
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Blog Post Saving Shores Saves Money Close your eyes and imagine a national park. Did you think of mountains, towering redwoods, dense forests, or perhaps the sublime rock formations at places like the Grand Canyon? What many people don't immediately associate with national parks are the sandy beaches, sapphire waters, and sparkling vistas of the coastal world.
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Blog Post Overcoming Barriers in the Southwest Will future generations love national parks as much as we do? It’s a question that is as old as the parks themselves, and one that will be asked as long as parks exist. How do we make sure future Americans care about our parks? How do we do it when the face of America is changing?
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Blog Post 10 Spectacular Parks for Stargazing National parks offer some of the darkest skies in the country.
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Blog Post We Can’t Afford to Wait Climate change is having real, wide-ranging effects now on national parks around the country.
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Blog Post The Spike That Connected the Country In 1869, engineers connected two railway lines in northwestern Utah, completing the world’s first transcontinental railroad.
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Blog Post Bringing Down the Dams People talk about overcoming obstacles, but when advocates literally move tons of concrete to help their local river and its wildlife, it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase.
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Blog Post Thomas "Yellowstone" Moran: Influencing Change with Art Can one person’s artistic vision create change and protect something astounding?
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Blog Post Exploring the Original Oil Country in Northwestern Pennsylvania This story is part of our series on national heritage areas, the large lived-in landscapes managed through innovative partnerships to tell America’s cultural history.
Pagination