Park for conservation of nature and usually also for visitors
This article is about a kind of natural park. For other uses, see National park (disambiguation).
Bogd Khan Uul National Park in Mongolia is one of the earliest preserved areas now called a national park.National parks often allow protected species to flourish. Pictured are Alpine ibexes (Capra ibex) in the Gran Paradiso National Park, Piedmont, Italy. The Ibex population increased tenfold since the area was declared a national park in 1922.
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a government declares or owns. Although individual countries designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national pride.[1] National parks are almost always open to visitors.[2]
The United States established the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people", Yellowstone National Park, in 1872.[3] Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a "national park" in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice[4] and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world.[5] However, the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve (in what is now Trinidad and Tobago; established in 1776),[6] and the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Mountain (Mongolia, 1778), which were restricted from cultivation to protect surrounding farmland, are seen as the oldest legally protected areas.[7][8] Parks Canada, established on May 19, 1911, became the world's first national park service.[9]
An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), has defined "National Park" as its Category II type of protected areas.[10] According to the IUCN, 6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006. IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park.[11]
^Europarc Federation (eds.) 2009, Living Parks, 100 Years of National Parks in Europe, Oekom Verlag, München
^Gissibl, B., S. Höhler and P. Kupper, 2012, Civilizing Nature, National Parks in Global Historical Perspective, Berghahn, Oxford
^"Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920". American Memory - Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 23 January 2017.
^Report of the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park for the Year 1872 Archived 3 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, 43rd Congress, 3rd Session, ex. doc. 35, quoting Department of Interior letter of 10 May 1872, "The reservation so set apart is to be known as the "Yellowstone National Park"."
^"Yellowstone National Park". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
^"Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve". UNESCO. 17 August 2011. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
^Hardy, U. (9 April 2017). "The 10 Oldest National Parks in the World". The CultureTrip. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
^Bonnett, A. (2016). The Geography of Nostalgia: Global and Local Perspectives on Modernity and Loss. Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-315-88297-0.
^Irish, Paul (13 May 2011). "Parks Canada celebrates a century of discovery". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
^"Category II: National Park". IUCN. 5 February 2016. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^"History of the National Parks". Association of National Park Authorities. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
A nationalpark is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural...
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Yosemite NationalPark (/joʊˈsɛmɪti/ yoh-SEM-ih-tee) is a nationalpark in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on...
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Badlands NationalPark (Lakota: Makȟóšiča) is an American nationalpark in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects 242,756 acres (379.3 sq mi; 982...
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