Talk:List of the United States National Park System official units

Missing one (1) of the 425
After counting this several times, there are only 424 units listed, but says 425. Do we change to 424 total or add the missing one? I tried to figure out the missing one, but can not find it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.188.247.160 (talk) 06:41, 5 November 2023 (UTC)


 * I believe it was the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley NM. Should be fixed now. Good catch. OneEarDrummer (talk) 12:34, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

Untitled
This is the "official" list of the "official" units of the National Park System. Nationalparks 19:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

And with the addition of a stub for Piscataway Park, we have articles for each of the units!!! Nationalparks 19:56, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Updates?
I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on updates: in this list, Oregon has 4 units listed, while nps.gov actually lists 10 ( http://home.nps.gov/applications/parksearch/state.cfm?st=or ) ... but some of them are multi-region units, so would they get listed under the individual states or not? Also, one Oregon unit (Fort Clatsop) has been incorporated into a newly created unit (Lewis & Clark National Historical Park)... but the wiki for Fort Clatsop still has valid info, the Fort is just no longer a unit by itself. I don't know what to do about that. Chamois-shimi 09:34, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I updated Lewis and Clark NHP (from Ft. Clatsop). There are only 4 official units (of the ) in Oregon, as the map shows.  The others in the list are affiliated areas and things, and should be on the List of areas in the National Park System of the United States. Nationalparks 14:38, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The areas vs. units things is kind of confusing! Thanks for keeping track of things, and for changing that. :) Chamois-shimi 07:37, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

State attribution of Yellowstone
Shouldn't Yellowstone NP be listed as Wyoming/Idaho/Montana, or is there a reason to list it only in Wyoming? Mtford 20:13, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
 * It should include all three states, and now does. Should multi-state units list states alphabetically, by acreage of NPS area, or some other method? Yoho2001 (talk) 09:28, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Official Units
Oklahoma City National Memorial isn't an official unit. It's an NPS designated Affiliated Area, privately owned, with interpretation by NPS staff. The reference document used as primary source for this even specifies such. This debate's been begun on other forums, but unless you're going to expand the list to a lot more than the 392 official, OKC shouldn't go here. And if it's included, it's not what the article title says "List of the United States National Park System Official units". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.102.35.14 (talk) 05:03, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
 * You're right, it shouldn't be here, and it's not, now. Yoho2001 (talk) 09:36, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

White House
Nomenclature and linked page for the White House? In NPS Official documents it is shown variously as White House, White House and President's Park, President's Park (White House), and President's Park. In the National Parks Index: 2012 - 2016 it is listed only as White House with no changes shown in the National Park Service Index Addendum (2016-2017) - Updated June 2017.
 * On the NPS official web page it is shown as President's Park (White House)
 * The NPS offical management document, Foundation Document: The White House and President’s Park
 * The offical document Reservation List calls Reservation #001 President's Park. This includes the White House grounds, Executive Office Building and grounds, Treasury Building and grounds, and the Ellipse. Reservation #010, Lafayette Square, is also shown as a part of President's Park.

Prior to 1933, when all public lands in the District were transferred to NPS, the area north of the White House was originally called President's Park, but came to be known as Lafayette Square. In 1933, the plots of land identified as Reservation 1 and Reservation 10 officially became President's Park.

I propose changing the name on the list from 'White House' to 'White House and President's Park' and change the link from 'White House', which is an article about the official residence, to 'President's Park', which is an article about the NPS managed properties. White House and President's Park

Wwengr (talk) 11:22, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

WW II Valor in the Pacific NM not official?
Is World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument not an official unit? It's not listed here, yet appears on the List of Areas, and List of National Monuments, both showing it's under NPS administration. It has a webpage at nps.gov as well. While it comprises some existing elements of the 394 units, it also includes other areas in Pearl Harbor and the Aleutians. Yoho2001 (talk) 12:55, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I answered my own question: It's an official unit, absorbing USS Arizona National Memorial, and adding other parcels in Hawaii, Alaska, and California. I've removed USS Arizona NMem, and replaced it with this new NM, adding it under Alaska, with California and Hawaii listed afterward, following alphabetical order. However I notice Yellowstone's listing does not follow state alphabetical order, but instead puts it under Wyoming first. Are we listing multi-state units in alphabetical order, by acreage, or something else? Yoho2001 (talk) 09:20, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

392 or 394?
The source listed at The National Park Service and referenced here gives 392 units rather than 394. That document was published in February of last year. Have there been two more added since then, or is this page in error? john k (talk) 05:06, 28 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The document was current as of February 2010. Since then, two more have indeed been added: River Raisin National Battlefield Park (Michigan), in December 2010, and President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site (Arkansas) in early 2011. Quite a lengthy name! Still, it doesn't beat the champion: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park (Virginia)...Fred/Spots for short.


 * Next up: Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial (expected in August 2011), followed by Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park (New Jersey), perhaps sometime later the same year. Yoho2001 (talk) 09:35, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

New parks confuse the count
Recent additions in December 2014 confuse the total national count. Oregon Caves National Preserve was created next to Oregon Caves National Monument, suggesting a new official unit. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park was created out of parts of Harriet Tubman UGRR National Monument, leaving other parts of the monument intact. By my count, that should result in a net gain of two units. The legislation calls for each pair to be managed as if they were single units. While they might be administered that way for expediency, it's not clear why that should mean they don't count as official units. There are several Alaska parklands which are managed together, but count as separate units. By my math, I get a total of 407, not 405. Yoho2001 (talk) 07:15, 18 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad was originally created as a National Monument co-managed by the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The NDAA redesignated the portions of the Monument managed by the NPS as an National Historical Park, keeping the total NPS count the same; the portions of the Monument which remained under Fish and Wildlife Service ownership and management remained a National Monument, but not as a unit of the National Park System as these lands are strictly under USFWS control. The legislation creating Oregon Caves National Preserve specified that it should remain managed as a single unit, which was not the case in the legislation that created, for example, the Alaska National Preserves, which is why they count as two units. The NPS press release adding the new parks put the count at 405. And in the interim (on 1/12/15), they've updated their official classification document, so I've added that link to the page. I hope this resolves any confusion! Ethelred unraed (talk) 13:07, 18 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you, Ethelred unraed. Since asking the initial questions, I've been in touch with folks at Oregon Caves and Harriet Tubman, staff in DC at public affairs, legal affairs, and others. To this point, no one has mentioned that Harriet Tubman UGRR NM is now solely a FWS monument. Please share sources for that, as I'm keen to get to the bottom of this. Legislation speaks about the monument and NHP as if they are both under NPS, and directs their administration as one. The impression I get is that the monument still legally exists under NPS, but it's in limbo. I'm trying to clarify if, because all NPS lands went to the NHP, it's now considered an "authorized but not established" monument...and never will be established, because all future NPS lands will accrue to the NHP. That suggests that the NM is awaiting execution by some other act. But for now, it still exists in the park system, at least in theory since it was never disbanded. So the NHP is a "plus one" in our national unit count.


 * Similarly, but less complex, is the case of Oregon Caves. It's unclear why a directive to manage two units as one should affect the unit count. Lots of areas are managed as one for the sake of economy (Zion's superintendent and office also manage Cedar Breaks, for example); sometimes groups of units are administered from one office (DC is a prime example). That doesn't change the national unit count. NPS Legal says "Unit count has nothing to do with joint or separate administration," specifically talking of Oregon Caves and Harriet Tubman. I'm awaiting further clarification, and maybe you can assist. Meantime, I am reminded of Jean Lafitte NHP & Preserve, which is counted as a single unit--another mystery to sort out. That aside, I still come up with a new total of 407 units. Yoho2001 (talk) 10:03, 6 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi, Yoho. The link I mentioned above that I attached to the page is the official list of the units of the National Park System on the NPS website. This is the document that has historically been used as the official count. It specifies that the total unit count is 405, and it lists Oregon Caves and Harriet Tubman once each -- as a National Monument in the case of Oregon Caves, and as a National Historical Park in the case of Tubman. As a contrast to this, Glacier Bay is listed separately as both a National Park and a National Preserve, which is why it counts twice in the unit count. I can only assume that the NPS is taking that "manage as a single unit" line in the legislation and interpreting that to mean Congress didn't intend for there to be a National Monument unit and a National Preserve unit, but I wasn't privy to the deliberations there -- all I can go by is the final result, which is the document they've released. If NPS's legal office thinks the unit count should actually be 407, they should get that documentation changed. Ethelred unraed (talk) 12:34, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

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I modified external links: Wwengr (talk) 15:24, 30 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Deleted the link: Alphabetical list at National Park Service. It is a dead link. Search of Internet Archive shows most recent live link to the address is 22 Jul 2011. information is outdated.
 * Deleted link to Visitation Statistics (Dead Link)
 * Deleted link to Parks by Date of Establishment. It leads to an NPS page for "Sorry we can't find that page....
 * Added a link to the NPS Publications page.
 * NPS Publications

Updated References
I added links to updated references. The NPS Official Index from 2016 and its addendum published June 2017.

The National Parks:Index 2012-2016 - Official Index of the National Parks Service

National Park Service Index:Addendum (2016-2017) - Official Index updated June 2017

Wwengr (talk) 15:32, 30 November 2017 (UTC)

Missing units
This article is missing all NPS-managed National Historic Trails. The NPS shows them as units (Overmountain Victory) and they are listed in NPS' own official units list. Zkidwiki (talk) 08:42, 1 April 2024 (UTC)


 * As of today, there are only 6 trails that the NPS considers official units. The NPS does manage many others, but they are not counted in the 429.  If you go to this site (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_areas_in_the_United_States_National_Park_System#National_historic_and_scenic_trails) you will see the ones marked that are considered official units.
 * The NPS website includes pages for both official units and affiliated areas, so it can get confusing at times. OneEarDrummer (talk) 10:56, 1 April 2024 (UTC)