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National Park

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{{dablink|This article is about national parks. Other uses include National Park, New Jersey and National Park, New Zealand.}} Image:Brecon.beacons.arp.750pix.jpg Brecon_Beacons National Park.html" title="Meaning of right right|thumb|250px|[[Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales.html" title="Meaning of thumb|250px|[[Brecon Beacons National Park">right|thumb|250px|[[Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales">thumb|250px|[[Brecon Beacons National Park">right|thumb|250px|[[Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales A '''national park''' is a reserve of land, usually owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. National parks are a protected area of World Conservation Union IUCN category II. The largest national park in the world is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. The number of areas managed by the National Park Service in the United States of America consists of over 400 different sites, of which 58 carry the designation of National Park.

History

Prologue
Some fundamental ideas were first articulated in the 19th century by people from various countries. In 1810 the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a ''"sort of national property in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy"''. The painter George Catlin, in his travels though the American West, wrote in 1832 that the Native Americans in the United States might be preserved: ''by some great protecting policy of government . . . in a magnificent park . . . A nation's park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty!''. Similar ideas were expressed in other countries – In Sweden, for instance, Baron Adolf Erik NordenskiÃ¶ld made such a proposition in 1880. The Scottish-American naturalist John Muir was to prove inspirational in the foundation of national parks, anticipating many ideas of conservationism, environmentalism, and the animal rights movement.

Establishment
Image:Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View in Yosemite NP.JPG Yosemite_Valley.html" title="Meaning of left left|250px|thumb|[[Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park..html" title="Meaning of 250px|thumb|[[Yosemite Valley">left|250px|thumb|[[Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park.">250px|thumb|[[Yosemite Valley">left|250px|thumb|[[Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park. The first effort by any government to set aside such protective lands was in the United States, when President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on June 30, 1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias (later becoming the Yosemite National Park) to the state of California: :''[T]he said State shall accept this grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall he held for public use, resort, and recreation; shall be inalienable for all time.'' In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the world's first truly national park. When news of the natural wonders of the Yellowstone were first published, the land was part of a territory. Unlike Yosemite, there was no state government that could assume stewardship of the land, so the Federal Government took on direct responsibility for the park, a process formally completed in October 1, 1890. Following the idea established in Yellowstone there soon followed parks in other nations. In National parks of Australia Australia, the Royal National Park was established just south of Sydney in 1879. In List of Canadian national parks Canada, Banff National Park (then known as Rocky Mountain National Park) became its first national park in 1887. National parks of New Zealand New Zealand had its first national park in 1887. In Europe the first national parks were a set of nine parks in National parks of Sweden Sweden in 1910. After World War II, national parks were founded all over the world.

Features preserved
National parks are usually located in places which have been largely undeveloped, and often feature areas with exceptional native animals, plants and ecosystems (particularly endangered examples of such), biodiversity, or unusual geological features. Occasionally, national parks are declared in developed areas with the goal of returning the area to resemble its original state as closely as possible. In some countries, such as National parks of England and Wales England and Wales, areas designated as a national park are not wilderness, nor owned by the government, and can include substantial settlements and land uses which are often integral parts of the landscape.

Park mandates
Most national parks have a dual role as offering a refuge for wildlife and as serving as popular tourist areas. Managing the potential for conflict between these two roles can become problematic, particularly as tourists often generate revenue for the parks which, in turn, are spent on conservation projects. Parks also serve as reserves for substantial natural resources, such as timber, minerals and other valuable commodities. The balance of the demand for extraction of these resources, against the damage this might cause, is often a very important challenge in national park management. National parks have been subject to illegal logging and other exploitation, sometimes because of political corruption. This threatens the integrity of many valuable habitat (ecology) habitats.

Other sites designated for preservation
Some countries also designate sites of special cultural, scientific or historical importance as national parks, or as special entities within their national park systems. Other countries use a different scheme for historical site preservation. Some of these sites are awarded the title World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. In many countries, local government local governmental bodies may be responsible for the maintenance of park systems. Some of these are even called national parks.

See also
*List of national parks (arranged in lists by country) *Conservation movement *Earth science *Federal lands *International Network of Geoparks *International Park *National Forest *National park passport stamps *Sustainable development *United Nations Environment Programme

External links
{{commons|Category:National Parks}}
- UNESCO — Man and the Biosphere Programme (Biosphere Reserves)
- World Heritage Sites
- UN Protected Places database
- EUROPARC federation — Europe's protected areas
- TeddyRoosvelt.com: "The National Parks President" Category:National parks cs:NÃ¡rodnÃ park de:Nationalpark hu:Nemzeti Park et:Rahvuspark es:Parque nacional eo:Nacia parko fr:Parc national ko:êµë¦½ê³µì›? id:Taman nasional nl:Nationaal park ja:å›½ç«‹å…¬åœ’ pl:Park narodowy pt:Parque nacional ru:Ð?Ð°Ñ†Ð¸Ð¾Ð½Ð°Ð»ÑŒÐ½Ñ‹Ð¹ Ð¿Ð°Ñ€Ðº sk:NÃ¡rodnÃ½ park sr:Ð?Ð°Ñ†Ð¸Ð¾Ð½Ð°Ð»Ð½Ð¸ Ð¿Ð°Ñ€Ðº sv:Nationalpark tt:Milli park zh:åœ‹å®¶å…¬åœ’ see : National park

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