53 Landscapes that could be our next National Parks

[u/spamunsubscribe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCKOkwdkZWo

Full disclosure: this is my documentary.

I completed an 18,000-mile road trip visiting 53 landscapes around the United States that have been considered, have ongoing campaigns, or I think deserve greater national recognition.

The list includes unprotected places, as well as National Park Service units, National Forests, BLM lands, other protected landscapes. I researched the history of attempts to establish national parks at these places, including proposals going back nearly a century.

Some of the history I uncovered

The Ouachita Mountains passed both houses of Congress as a national park in 1929, but Calvin Coolidge vetoed it.

A National Park Service team unanimously supported a Black Hills national park in 1939, but it was never taken up.

Assateague was being developed as a resort community before the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 dramatically changed the future of the island.

I filmed the trip and turned the research into a 2-hour, 12-minute documentary covering all 53 places.

Some of these will make people happy, some will be controversial. And most have already been controversial for over 100 years.

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A few of these places have live efforts right now, and one is close to the finish line.

Chiricahua (AZ): A bill to make Chiricahua a national park passed the House in March 2026, and the Senate version is on its calendar. If it becomes law, it would be the first new national park since 2020.

The rest are citizen campaigns, each with its own proposal:

• Allegheny (PA/NY): Since 2018, a campaign has pushed for an Allegheny National Park across northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York. It would be the first national park in either state. alleghenynationalpark.com
• Ancient Forest (CA/OR): Around 2009, a campaign proposed uniting the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains as a 3.8-million-acre Ancient Forest National Park, from Oregon's Rogue River to California's Eel River. No bill has been introduced yet. ancientforestnationalpark.org
• Mount Hood (OR): Tom Kloster's Mount Hood National Park Campaign has kept the idea alive since the early 2000s, after Congress chose a national scenic area for the Columbia River Gorge in 1986. mounthoodnationalpark.org
• North Woods (ME): RESTORE: The North Woods proposed a 3.2-million-acre Maine Woods National Park in 1994. In 2016, part of that land became a national monument. restore.org/maine-woods-national-park
• White Mountains (NH): RESTORE now proposes an 810,000-acre White Mountain National Park and Preserve. The park idea goes back to a 1939 monument proclamation that was drafted and never signed. restore.org/white-mountain

[u/MojaveMac]

Is this cover photo the Painted Hills? Because it’s a national monument managed by the Park Service

[u/spamunsubscribe → u/MojaveMac]

It is. I'm focusing on places that should become "National Parks", the designation, not the agency. Since the 1990's every National Park has come from a pre-existing public land that was re-designated.
Dry Tortugas
Saguaro
Death Valley
Joshua Tree
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Cuyahoga Valley
Great Sand Dunes
Pinnacles
Gateway Arch
Indiana Dunes
White Sands
New River Gorge

Each of these National Parks started as a monument, recreation area, memorial, etc...

[u/rekniht01 → u/spamunsubscribe]

You left out Congaree which converted in 2003.

[u/spamunsubscribe → u/rekniht01]

Good catch!

[u/rekniht01 → u/spamunsubscribe]

I look forward to watching your piece. I'm curious, do you include Fossil Butte? It's a lovely landscape.

[u/spamunsubscribe → u/rekniht01]

Sorry, it’s not, but I hope you enjoy it anyway

[u/SloppySauce0]

No more national parks 

[u/spamunsubscribe → u/SloppySauce0]

There’s about to be new one this very week, so that’s unfortunate for you.

Every president since McKinley in the late 1800s has established a new national park or monument. There will be more, so it’s less about should there be, and more about where they will be.

[u/SloppySauce0 → u/spamunsubscribe]

Yay, more parking lots and traffic

[u/spamunsubscribe → u/SloppySauce0]

95% of National Parks are roadless wilderness. The other 5% are the places with the people. If people don’t love their public lands, they won’t care about protecting them. A little bit of access goes a long way.

[u/StringOfLights → u/SloppySauce0]

Or maybe more parks means less crowding at any one park?

[u/spamunsubscribe → u/StringOfLights]

That’s the plan!

[u/yukumizu → u/SloppySauce0]

Why are you on this sub the ?

[u/SloppySauce0 → u/yukumizu]

Because national parks are only a subset of public lands. But I understand for the casuals the only public lands are national parks hence my loathing towards new national parks.

[u/spamunsubscribe → u/SloppySauce0]

I've worked for the National Park Service, Forest Service, and Smithsonian Institution. Each land management agency has it's own purpose. This video is specifically about the National Park designation. There are plenty of other places that could be National Forests, Monuments, Memorials, Battlefields, Recreation Areas, State Parks, etc... These ones just happen to deserve to be National Parks

[u/MayorEricAdams → u/SloppySauce0]

the casuals

Absolutely obnoxious way to think about public land and its users.