WHAT IS A NATIONAL PARK?: Typically National Parks are protected reserves of natural, or semi-natural land that are operated by the National Park Service. Establishing a U.S. National Park requires an act of the United States Congress.

FIRST NATIONAL PARK: The honor of becoming the United State's first and subsequently oldest national park goes to Yellowstone National Park, which is widely held to also be the first national park in the world. Yellowstone became a National Park on March 1st, 1872, when Ulysses S. Grant and congress signed it into law. It's spread across the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

National Parks Logo: The honor of becoming the United State's first and subsequently oldest national park goes to Yellowstone National Park, which is widely held to also be the first national park in the world. Yellowstone became a National Park on March 1st, 1872, when Ulysses S. Grant and congress signed it into law. It's spread across the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

National Parks Logo (shown at right): The honor of becoming the United State's first and subsequently oldest national park goes to Yellowstone National Park, which is widely held to also be the first national park in the world. Yellowstone became a National Park on March 1st, 1872, when Ulysses S. Grant and congress signed it into law. It's spread across the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

NUMBER: The National Park Service currently operates 59 National Parks. BIGGEST: The largest National Park is Wrangell-St. Elias, which is located in Alaska. Wrangell-St. Elias is an amazingly large park that covers some 13,055 square miles. That means it's larger than each one of the 9 smallest states!