Pictures: America's Next National Parks?

Lower Hudson River Valley
Photograph by Melissa Farlow, National Geographic
"There are many areas in the country that deserve national park status," Kristen Brengel, legislative director of the National Parks Conservation Association, said on the eve of National Park Week, when all U.S. National Parks will waive admission fees. "Secretary [Ken] Salazar of the Interior Department, in particular, is a huge parks advocate."
Salazar designated a new national recreation trail in New York State's Hudson River Valley in September. But in March 2010 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill asking the National Park Service to consider adding an entire 182-mile (293-kilometer) southern stretch of the scenic valley to the national park system.
Parks and historic sites—including Vanderbilt and Rockefeller mansions and Storm King State Park—already dot the area, so any national park designation would have to be a hybrid of jurisdictions. One model might be Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, which encompasses 72 miles (116 kilometers) of the Mississippi around Minneapolis and St. Paul and combines the efforts of federal, state, county, and municipal agencies.
(Also see "Pictures: Hidden U.S. Park Gems—Free Next Week and Year-Round.")
—Mel White
Mel White is the author ofNational Geographic's Complete National Parks of the United States, released in February 2010.
Published April 16, 2010
Mount St. Helens
Photograph by Steve and Donna O'Meara, National Geographic
The eruption of Washington State's Mount St. Helens 30 years ago next month ranks among the world's most spectacular recent geological events, with a massive explosion, ash clouds, mudslides, and destruction of 230 square miles (600 square kilometers) of forest (more Mount St. Helens pictures.)
The 110,000-acre (44,500-hectare) Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was created in 1980. It's administered by the U.S. Forest Service, but many activists have lobbied for the volcanic region's inclusion in the National Park System. Under Forest Service administration, the area has been plagued by complaints about funding. Budget shortfalls resulted, for example, in the controversial closing of a popular visitor center in 2007.
This month a federally appointed advisory committee—worried in part that the conservation-oriented Park Service would curtail recreational opportunities around the volcano—presented a report to the U.S. Congress recommending continued Forest Service administration with higher funding. The issue, though, is far from settled.
(Interactive: Mount St. Helens blast zone today.)
Published April 16, 2010
Paterson-Great Falls
Photograph by Mike Derer, AP
It was good news for the troubled urban center of Paterson, New Jersey, when U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation in March 2009 authorizing Paterson-Great Falls National Historical Park, centered on the city's 77-foot-tall (24-meter-tall) waterfall.
Paterson (map) was founded by U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in the 1790s as a manufacturing city based on water power. Local factories turned out weapons, locomotives, silk, and other products before economic problems closed most plants.
The striking waterfall has been part of the Great Falls of Paterson-Garrett Mountain National Natural Landmark since 1967. The area's inclusion in the National Park System should bring better tourism amenities, stronger protections, and increased visitation.
Exactly when that will happen is hard to say, however, given the complexities of transferring the falls' administrative status from national landmark to national park.
Published April 16, 2010
River Raisin
Photograph by Cary Conover, Monroe Evening News/AP
The legislation that authorized Paterson-Great Falls National Historical Park also authorized River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe, Michigan, (map) about halfway between Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.

One of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812 was fought here from January 18 to 23, resulting in a disheartening defeat for the United States. Of more than 900 Americans, only 33 escaped death or capture in the battle with English and American Indian troops. "Remember the Raisin" became a battle cry that inspired later U.S. victories, eventually leading to an 1814 peace treaty.

The locally administered memorial will become part of the National Park Service, though the Park Service is awaiting the donation of land from local municipalities.
Published April 16, 2010
Maine Woods
Photograph by Heather Perry, National Geographic
While today's political climate might make its realization a long shot, the dream of a major national park in northern Maine—the Yellowstone of the East, its supporters say—is alive among North Woods conservationists.

Maine park advocates imagine a 3.2-million-acre (1.3-million-hectare) park, bigger than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined, created from lands that have been controlled for decades by timber companies.

While logging has been extensive, urban development and land conversion has so far been minimal. With protection, and a few decades of regrowth, the proposed Maine Woods National Park could provide "wilderness recreation on an Alaskan scale," according to the RESTORE conservation organization.

(See pictures of Maine's Acadia National Park in autumn.)
Published April 16, 2010
Valles Caldera
Photograph by Ralph Lee Hopkins, National Geographic
"We haven't seen another big park designated since Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in 2004, so the time is definitely right for it," said Kristen Brengel of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group not affiliated with the U.S. National Park Service.

Brengel points in particular to New Mexico's Valles Caldera National Preserve, long a potential national park.

When the opportunity arose in the 1980s for public acquisition of the 89,000-acre (36,000-hectare) Baca Ranch in the Jemez Mountains (map), it set off years of negotiations between environmentalists, who wanted a national park, and opponents fearful of government control and the loss of hunting opportunities.

Home to New Mexico's largest elk herd, the ranch sits inside an ancient volcanic caldera, combining mountains, coniferous forest, and grassland with diverse wildlife.

A compromise in 2000 created the preserve, technically part of Santa Fe National Forest but managed by an independent board. Since then, dissatisfaction over limited public access has grown, along with renewed efforts to transfer the area to the National Park Service.

A December 2009 Park Service report confirmed the suitability and feasibility of acquiring Valles Caldera—almost certainly under regulations that would still allow hunting.
Published April 16, 2010