National Park vs. National Monument vs. National Rec' Area- plus, a BONUS RANT!

If this has been answered Cecil before, please give me the link . . . but does anyone KNOW what the difference is between the three?? On the pecking order, from what I can gather from the National Park Service website, is Parks, then Mons and Rec Areas. It would appear that many National Parks were once one of the other two.

My question is . .what is the difference??? How does a lowly National Moneument get to be a big-ass National Park? Special criteria? Pork barrel politics?

Here is one example that HAD to be pork barrel politics:

What prompted this question was the absolute HORROR upon my discovery that there is a Cuyahoga Valley NATIONAL PARK, once a measly Recreational Area, BETWEEN, get this:
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CLEVELAND AND AKRON, OHIO!!! No, really, no shit:

Are you kdding me??? Look, no offense, I love Cleveland, but there is a NATIONAL PARK NEXT TO IT??? And in Pennsylvnaia, all we get is a crappy Delaware Water Gap National RECREATION AREA???

Sorry, Cleveland, but when I think “National Park”, I think, Old Faithful, Grand Canyon, Mount Rainier and Yogi Bear. . . . .
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CLEVELAND???

Come on what is next? “A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN NATIONAL PARK???” “SOUTH CENTRAL NATIONAL PARK???” :smiley:

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Thus ends YOUR “BONUS RANT”!!!

A quick difference:

A National Monument can be declared thus (from otherwise non-descript federal land) by Executive Order. It takes an Act of Congress to make a National Park.

In fairly recent times, both Death Valley NM and Joshua Tree NM have been elevated to Park status by Congress.

Did you bother to go through the NPS web site?

I guess not - see http://www.nps.gov/legacy/criteria.html

and http://www.nps.gov/legacy/nomenclature.html

You can find what you seek if you know where to look - sheesh! :slight_smile:

The following are national park areas within Pennsylvania:

Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Delaware National Scenic River
Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Deshler-Morris House National Historic Site
Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site
Eisenhower National Historic Site
Fort Necessity National Battlefield
Friendship Hill National Historic Site
Gettysburg National Military Park
Gettysburg National Cemetery
Gloria Dei Church National Historic Site
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
Independence National Historical Park
Johnstown Flood National Memorial
Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail
Steamtown National Historic Site
Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial
Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River
Valley Forge National Historical Park

By the way, Cuyahoga Valley National Park (when I lived there it was still an NRA) is some beautiful land. There are large natural rock formations, caves, and beautiful woodlands and ravines. It’s really a nice place. I only learned that they made it a National Park about 2 months ago. I grew up just south of Akron and used to go up there all the time in high school.

Heck, I only learned that it was a National Park about two minutes ago. Not to disparage Cuyahoga Valley, or anything, but having been there many a time, I would tend to agree with Vinnie: I suspect some porkbarreling here. Sure, it’s beautiful land, but it’s far from the same class as Yellowstone.

Duckster, you’ll notice that none of those Pennsylvania areas is a National Park. A “National Historical Park” is not the same thing.

Er, Vinnie, it ain’t exactly “next to Cleveland”. You make it sound like it’s some podunk little city park. It’s about 30,000 acres, 15 miles long by 1 to 5 miles wide–it’s basically the whole river valley between Cleveland and Akron. It was a National Recreation Area since 1974. And it’s got a ton of historic stuff–canal, railroad, Indian stuff, you name it.

http://www.gorp.com/gorp/resource/us_nra/oh_cuya.htm

Actually, I think it’s pretty cool that the same National Parks pass that gets you into Yellowstone will work in lil old Ohio. :smiley:

Anyway, to address the OP’s question, “what’s the difference?”

Brace yourself.
http://www.nps.gov/legacy/nomenclature.html

Well, you did ask… :smiley:

your tax dollars at work

Damn, talk about coming down with a case of the “dumbass” . . for some reason I couldn’t find ANY of that stuff on the nps site . . .must have been that infamous “browser” problem. :o

Anyway, the more I look at it, Cuyahoga looks like a VERY nice place … .but a NATIONAL PARK??? Come on now . . . it sounds like several STATE parks that I have been to! :smiley:

There are a good deal of state parks that could easily be national parks. Usually it’s just that the state owned the land first and obviously doesn’t want to turn it over to the federal government.

Eh, Vinnie, don’t beat yourself up–they had it cleverly hidden, and it took me a while to follow the clues and solve the puzzle. Scooby Doo, you did it! :smiley:

  1. Start at NPS Home page. http://www.nps.gov/
  2. Ignore picture of Eleanor Roosevelt (why is she on the NPS Home Page? No clue, don’t care…) Scan list on right. “Info Zone, Servicewide Information” sounds right, if a bit redundant.
  3. Ah, the Info Zone, http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/index.htm Scan list on right. Let’s check the FAQ, see what’s in there.
  4. The FAQ. http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/e-mail/faqs.htm Scroll down…hmm…“Who is the director of the National Park Service?” Don’t know, don’t care…keep going…Ah ha, “How many areas are there in the National Park system?” and , "Learn More about National Park Designations. " And there it is.

Two further designations that haven’t been mentioned so far: National Forests and National Grasslands - administered by the DOI. These are distinctly different from National Parks in that consumptive activites are allowed like logging, grazing, mining, and general recreation.

Oops … forgot to mention federally designated Wilderness Areas. In simple terms, regions that are returning to their natural state where motorized activity is prohibited and manmade structures are removed.

Duckgoose, thank you for helping me to not feel like such an ass-clown! :smiley:

Now, again, Mr. Searchy and Google have turned up little of use, is there anyone that can tell me how in the HELL Cuyahoga got turned into a National Park? There has GOT to be a smoke filled room deal SOMEWHERE!

Again, I am not knocking Cleveland, and yes, the area it seems like a nice place . . but Cuyahoga does NOT belong in the same breath as “Yellowstone”. . . .

Not even the area 50 miles around Cleveland. I live in Allentown, PA, and I cannot think of any areas that deserve to be national parks around here, NOT EVEN the Delaware Gap, and definitely not the Poconos!

That crook James Trafficante wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would he??? But isn’t Mr. 70s Guy from Youngstown . . . how about Don King . . . :smiley:

THE MYSTERY CONTINUES . . .

Cuyahoga Valley National Park was created in December 1974 when Gerald Ford signed the enacting legislation. It was meant to thwart sprawl and provide a greenspace for city dwellers. Here’s a description from GORP: CVNP, Ohio:

“In the early 1960s spreading development threatened to take over this valley. Individual citizens joined forces with state and local governments to save the greenspace and historic features. Their efforts crossed paths with the National Park Service, which was then establishing urban recreation areas as a way to bring national parks to people living in cities. In 1974, Congress created CVNRA as an urban park of the National Park System. The National Park Service manages the park in cooperation with others who own property within its boundaries, including Cleveland Metroparks and Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, both of which administer several units within CVNRA. Together they protect the natural landscape, preserve remnants of the area’s human history, and provide a place where you can relax, play, and learn new things in a beautiful outdoor setting.”

Nope. The National Forests are not administered by the DOI, but by the USDA (Dept. of Agriculture):

http://www.fs.fed.us/

I don’t have time to look into it right now, but I’m pretty sure that National Grasslands are also under the USDA.

One further note: mining is alowed in one National Park – Death Valley.

correct. yet another reason not to post so late at night. Thanks for the clarification.

If you read that closely, that explains how it got to be a National Recreation Area. It has already been established in this thread that there is a difference between Recreation Areas and National Parks. I myself think that the area would make a fine recreation areas, but National Parks IMO require something more spectacular or unique, for instance Dry Tortugas and Death Valley, two national parks moved up from national monument status in recent years.

I totally agree with you that it is not the same quality of park as Yellowstone, but not all parks are the same. I’ve been to several National Parks: Lassen Volcanic NP, Cuyahoga Valley NP, Grand Canyon NP, Great Smoky Mountains NP, and Acadia NP. I might have left one or two out, but I’m not sure. Anyway, of all those, CV NP is probably the least spectacular, but it’s still very nice. Smoky Mountains NP is very nice, but still nothing like Grand Canyon…Not every park needs to be like Glacier NP to qualify.

Sorry that this posted without my text originally, the board was messing up with DNS errors and such.

If any legal historians want to take this up (IANAL at all), the Cuyahoga name change was part of H.R. 4578 which became Public Law 106-291 on October 11, 2000.