000 SQUARE-MILES (200,000 SQUARE KILOMETERS). THE GREAT MAJORITY AR...

80,000 square-miles (200,000 square kilometers). The great majority are in western states. TheNational Park Service is responsible for protecting the natural state of the parks for the benefit ofthe public. America's parks are so popular that they are being harmed by the number of visitorsand their cars. To try to stop this, the National Paris Service announced in 1997, that peoplewould only be able to visit some parks using public transport.The oldest national park in the world is Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872.The largest US park is Wrangell-St Elias in Alaska with 13,000 square miles (34,000 squarekilometers). It has few visitors because it is very remote. The most popular park is the GreatSmoky Mountains. Many parks are well known for some special feature, such as the GrandCanyon, the Everglades and the Petrified Forest.