1 Attachment(s)
America's Newest National Park is the New River Gorge in West Virginia
https://www.nps.gov/neri/index.htm
I'm thrilled that Congress has named the newest National Park in America and it is in West Virginia. If you have not visited the New River Gorge, you should. Beautiful landscapes, beautiful rafting and boating and that area in WV has some of the best recreational water in the US.
And it was funded as part of the second most recent COVID-19 relief bill.
Attachment 12262
What’s in a Name? [Pet peeve rant]
The United States National Park System protects 85 million acres of land, dived up into 424 different national park units. These parks range in size from 8.3 million-acre Wrangell – St. Elias National Park (AK) to 0.2 acre Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial (PA). Units are found in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, and the territories of Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Together they tell the story of the United States from geologic and prehistoric times up to our modern day.
There are 14 different designations used within the System, with National Monuments (85) and National Historical Parks (58) being the most numerous. The National Park Service holds each of these units in equal standing and funds each park according to their individual needs, regardless of their designation. Although there have always been exceptions, back in the day, the “National Park” designation was reserved for the “Crown Jewels” of the system: the Yellowstones, Yosemites, and Grand Canyons of the world.
However, in recent years there has been a trend for state tourism interests to lobby Congress to “upgrade” the names of their local parks to what they see as a more desirable and visitor attractive “National Park” label. Some would say their success in these efforts (we’re now up to 63 of the NPs), has watered down the special place the “National Park” name holds within the system. (Yes Cuyahoga Valley and Congaree Swamp, I’m looking at you…) Although St. Louis’s Gateway Arch is impressive (and one of my favorites), somehow it doesn’t fit the classic National Park criteria of “high mountains, tall trees, big sky.”
To be clear, the New River Gorge park is not new, and certainly not any better protected or funded than before its recent name change from National River to National Park and Preserve. The only difference is West Virginia tourism folks now have a new marketing tool.
Note: The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, Mississippi, became the newest small- n, small-p national park (#424) on December 10, 2020, after the National Park Service acquired the home from Tougaloo College. I have currently visited 421 of the 424, but am on hold until post-COVID conditions make it easier for me to travel to Hawaii and northern California…