Geography Presentation America's National Parks

1. Geography PresentationAmerica's National Parks

2. Major National Parks

3. The earliest action by Congress to create a large natural park took the form of a land grant of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California in 1864. In 1890 California established these areas as a park. They were returned to the federal government in 1906 to become Yosemite National Park.

4. The words "national park" have special meaning to most people, conjuring up images of Old Faithful, Yosemite Falls, and the Grand Canyon.

5. Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, was the world's first national park. This is the Roosevelt Arch. President Teddy Roosevelt placed the cornerstone here.

8. Orangespring Mound

9. Castle Geyser

10. Old Faithful erupts, faithfully, every 91 minutes.

11. Yellowstone National Park is home to the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano in North America. The caldera is considered an active volcano; it has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Half of the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone.

13. Grand Prismatic Spring

18. Although it's one of America's most beautiful parks, Yellowstone is still prone to one particular type of natural disaster: wildfire.

20. Yosemite

21. Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada of California. It takes approximately 3.5 hours to drive to the park from San Francisco, and approximately 6 hours from Los Angeles. The 1,189 sq mi park is roughly the size of Rhode Island and contains thousands of lakes and ponds, 1,600 miles of streams, 800 miles of hiking trails, and 350 miles of roads. Two federally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, the Merced and the Tuolumne, begin within Yosemite's borders and flow westward through the Sierra foothills, into the Central Valley of California. Annual park visitation exceeds 3.5 million, with most visitor use concentrated in the seven square mile area of Yosemite Valley. Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness.

23. Merced River

24. Half Dome

25. El Capitan

26. Bridal Vail Falls

27. Mule Deer Buck

28. Black Bear

29. Yosemite Marmot

30. President Theodore Roosevelt and naturalist John Muir overlooking Yosemite's Bridal Vail Falls.

31. Grand Canyon Grand Canyon National Park is one of the United States' oldest national parks and is located in Arizona. Within the park lies the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, considered to be one of the major natural wonders of the world. The park covers 1,902 mi².

32. Grand Canyon from space

34. The Skywalk

39. Grand Canyon Post Office, located on the floor of the canyon.

44. Banff National Park, Canada

45. Banff National Park is located In Canada, on Alberta's western border with British Columbia. Banff is about an hour and half driving distance from Calgary, and four hours from Edmonton. Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. The park encompasses 2,564 sq mi of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes.

47. Badlands National Park is located in South Dakota, just miles from Mount Rushmore National Monument.

50. Arches National Park