Welcome to Americanparks.info - Information on US National Parks

From Abraham Lincoln's birthplace (http://www. nps.gov/abli/linchomj.htm) to Zion National Park (http://www.nps.gov/zion/), the U.S. National Park Service (http://www.nps.gov) manages 378 sites covering 80.7 million acres of land. This vast collection of parks, monuments, preserves, historic sites, memorials, battlefields, cemeteries, recreation areas, seashores, lakeshores, rivers, parkways, trails, and related areas received more than 286 million visitors in 1998. This article highlights some of the Internet-accessible information about the National Park System.

To get a sense of the breadth and scope of the system as a whole, visit http://www.nps.gov/parks.html. From here, one can find parks by name, state, or detailed regional map. Alternatively, Lesser-Known Parks: Doorways to Adventure at http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/lesser/lesser_frames.htm provides a state-by-state list of parks that are a bit off the beaten path.

The central park service site provides basic visitor information for each park, including location, contact numbers, seasons and hours of operation, directions, fees, reservations, recommended activities, special events, and visitor statistics. In addition, many parks maintain their own websites, such as the expanded site for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (http://www.nps.gov/frsp/vc.htm), which describes the Civil War history of the Fredericksburg area. Similarly, the website for Crater Lake National Park (http://www.nps.gov/crla/home. htm) provides detailed descriptions of the park's natural resources. Basic maps for most parks are available at the website http://www.nps.gov/carto/data.html.

Given the immense popularity of the parks, it is not surprising that others have assembled their own directories. For example, http://www. recreation.gov/is designed to be a one-stop resource for information about recreation on all federal lands. It enables users to search by state, activity (e.g., biking, fishing), site name, and managing agency. Search results include a short description of the area, contact information, maps from the National Atlas of the United States (http://www.usgs.gov/atlas/), and weather forecasts from the National Weather Service (http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/rbigmain.html). Commercially produced directories include http://parks.yahoo.com/and http://www.us-national-parks.net/.

Of course, the National Parks are more than mere tourist attractions. They are also places of scientific and historic study. Sites such as NatureNet at http://www.nature.nps.gov/include sections on air quality, biology, geology, social science, and water. Content ranges from tutorials on Animals and Plants in the National Park System (http://www1.nature.nps.gov/facts/fan&pl.htm), to near real-time data displays such as current air quality conditions at Great Smokey Mountains National Park (http://www2.nature. nps.gov/ard/parks/grsm/lookRockWeather. htm), to data catalogs such as one listing available geospatial datasets (http://www.nps.gov/gis/available_data.html).

The historical component, presented at http://www.cr.nps.gov/, includes a listing of parks by historic theme, such as American Indian heritage (http://www.cr.nps.gov/catsig.htm); searchable databases such as the National Register of Historic Places Information System (http://www.nr. nps.gov/nrishome.htm); and historic events such as Civil War battles (http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/tvii.htm).

The National Park Service is assisted by a number of local nonprofit organizations. These groups provide high-quality, agency-approved publications, maps, and related merchandise to help visitors understand the sites' natural and cultural significance. For example, the National Parks and History Association (http://www. parksandhistory.org/) provides access to a searchable catalog of park photographs that can be downloaded for educational and noncommercial use (http://www.parkphotos.com/). Sales revenues help support additional interpretation, education, and visitor service programs. A list of organizations with on-line stores can be found at http://www.nps.gov/coop/parkstore/.

THOMAS M. PARRIS is the environmental resources librarian at Harvard College Library. He may be reached at tparris@fas.harvard.edu.