Where would you like to see the National Park Service add new properties? USA Today reports that sites in 6 states are candidates to join the system:
Nevada:Tule Springs Fossil Beds north of Las Vegas, which is aiming for national monument status. The site holds thousands of fossils of Ice Age mammoths, bison, American lions and sloths.
Maryland: A possible national historic site or national monument that recognizes Underground Railroad "conductor" Harriet Tubman.
Delaware: Officials are hoping to complete a decade-long effort to bring Delaware its first national park unit (it’s the only state without one), First State National Historical Park.
New Mexico:Valles Caldera National Preserve, an 89,000-acre parcel in the Jemez Mountain Range that, despite its name, is not part of the NPS system.
Illinois:Chicago's Pullman District, a neighborhood that played a role in the African-American labor movement.
Such discussion serves up a lesser-known point of interest regarding the National Park Service: The NPS administers more than national parks, of which 58 exist.
The other units, displayed in the chart below, include seashores, battlefields, parkways, even The White House. Trivia fans, take note:
The scene above is from Sequoia National Park, where Col. Charles Young served as the National Park Service's first African-American superintendent. His Xenia, Ohio, homesite is a candidate to be added to the National Park system. (NPS photo.)
Image below (and thumbnail photo) is of Valles Caldera, N.M. Photo by Don J. Usner, courtesy of Valles Caldera Trust.
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