Mackinac Island is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles (11.3 km2) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin, meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the US gained this island in its territory.
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government, within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The service manages all national parks; most national monuments; and other natural, historical, and recreational properties, with various title designations. The United States Congress created the agency on August 25, 1916, through the National Park Service Organic Act. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., within the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior.
Woodlawn Beach State Park is a 107-acre (0.43 km2) park located near the village of Blasdell on the eastern shore of Lake Erie in Erie County, New York. It was opened as a state park in 1996, and has been operated since 2011 by the Town of Hamburg under a ten-year agreement with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Whirlpool State Park is a 109-acre (0.44 km2) state park located in Niagara County, New York, north of the city of Niagara Falls. The park overlooks the Niagara Whirlpool on the Niagara River and the lower Niagara Gorge.
Fort Niagara State Park is located in the Town of Porter in Niagara County, New York, United States. Historic Fort Niagara is located within the park. The 504-acre (2.04 km2) park is northwest of Youngstown near the northern terminus of the Niagara Scenic Parkway and is in the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area.
Niagara Falls State Park is located in the City of Niagara Falls in Niagara County, New York, United States. The park, recognized as the oldest state park in the United States, contains the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and a portion of the Horseshoe Falls.
Devil's Hole State Park is a 42-acre (17 ha) state park located in Niagara County, New York, north of the City of Niagara Falls. The day-use park overlooks the lower Niagara River Gorge.
Joseph Davis State Park is a 388-acre (1.57 km2) state park located along the banks of the lower Niagara River in the Town of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York.
The protected areas of the United States are managed by an array of different federal, state, tribal and local level authorities and receive widely varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness, while others are operated with acceptable commercial exploitation. As of 2022, the 42,826 protected areas covered 1,235,486 km2 (477,024 sq mi), or 13 percent of the land area of the United States. This is also one-tenth of the protected land area of the world. The U.S. also had a total of 871 National Marine Protected Areas, covering an additional 1,240,000 sq mi (3,200,000 km2), or 26 percent of the total marine area of the United States.
Starved Rock State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Illinois, characterized by the many canyons within its 2,630 acres (1,064 ha). Located just southeast of the village of Utica, in Deer Park Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, along the south bank of the Illinois River, the park hosts over two million visitors annually, the most for any Illinois state park.
A national recreation area (NRA) is a protected area in the United States established by an Act of Congress to preserve enhanced recreational opportunities in places with significant natural and scenic resources. There are 40 NRAs, which emphasize a variety of activities for visitors, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, swimming, biking, horseback riding, and wildlife viewing, in areas that include multiple-use management for both conservation and limited utilization of natural resources. They have diverse features and contexts, being established around reservoirs, in urban areas, and within forests. Due to their size, diversity of activities, and proximity to population centers, NRAs are among the most visited units of the National Park System, with six among the thirty most visited sites.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is a state agency within the New York State Executive Department charged with the operation of state parks and historic sites within the U.S. state of New York. As of 2014, the NYS OPRHP manages nearly 335,000 acres of public lands and facilities, including 180 state parks and 35 historic sites, that are visited by over 78 million visitors each year.
Chickasaw National Recreation Area is a national recreation area in the foothills of the Arbuckle Mountains in south-central Oklahoma near Sulphur in Murray County. It includes the former Platt National Park and Arbuckle Recreation Area.
The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness areas are managed by four federal land management agencies: the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Gilbert Lake State Park is a 1,584-acre (6.41 km2) state park in Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the park is in the Town of New Lisbon, in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains east of the community of New Lisbon and north of Oneonta. Gilbert Lake and Lake of the Twin Fawns are located within the park.
Mount Greylock State Reservation is public recreation and nature preservation area on and around Mount Greylock, the highest point in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The park covers some 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) in the towns of Lanesborough, North Adams, Adams, Cheshire, Williamstown and New Ashford, Massachusetts. It was created in 1898 as Massachusetts' first public land for the purpose of forest preservation.
Cuivre River State Park is a public recreation area covering more than 6,400 acres (2,600 ha) northeast of the city of Troy in the Lincoln Hills region of northeastern Missouri, United States. The state park's rugged landscapes range from native grasslands and savannas to limestone bluffs overlooking forested hills. The park offers an extensive system of hiking trails plus swimming and camping facilities and is managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. It encompasses the Lincoln Hills Natural Area and two designated wild areas: Big Sugar Creek and Northwoods.
National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings that harmonized with the natural environment. Since its founding in 1916, the NPS sought to design and build visitor facilities without visually interrupting the natural or historic surroundings. The early results were characterized by intensive use of hand labor and a rejection of the regularity and symmetry of the industrial world, reflecting connections with the Arts and Crafts movement and American Picturesque architecture.
Since 1872 the United States National Park System has grown from a single, public reservation called Yellowstone National Park to include 430 natural, historical, recreational, and cultural areas throughout the United States, its territories, and island possessions. These areas include National Parks, National Monuments, National Memorials, National Military Parks, National Historic Sites, National Parkways, National Recreation Areas, National Seashores, National Scenic Riverways, and National Scenic Trails.
Strawberry Island is an uninhabited island in the Niagara River located in Erie County, New York, southeast of Grand Island. The five-acre (2 ha) island is owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is managed as a fish and wildlife preserve.
