National Parks and Natural Preserves
The United States maintains the most extensive system of national parks and natural preserves in the world. You may be familiar with some of them, but you might also be surprised at how many exist that you are not aware of. Go to the "National Park Service" site. From there, proceed to "Find a Park," then click on the subheading "Park Name," which will give you an alphabetical list of parks in the United States. Examine several of them. How many are located within 500 miles of where you live? How many of these have you visited? Of those parks close to you, is there a diversity of habitats? That is, do some contains forests, and others desert or seashore, or are they all more or less the same?
Visit the National Park Service web site
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Organizations and Environmental Goals
There are many organizations that support environmental and conservation goals. The "National Parks and Conservation Association" is one organization whose mission is to protect the national parks of the United States from environmental and developmental hazards. Although you may be surprised to learn that our parks need any protection, they also face threats from a variety of sources. Visit the NPCA home page and check the areas called "Hot Topics", "Park Activist Network", and "Publications". You may find several issues that stir your interest or that you have an opinion about. If so, get involved! You can contact the NPCA itself by mail or email, or you can go to the NPCA home page and use the button labeled "Congressional E-mail" to send a message.
Visit the National Parks and Conservation Association web site
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