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| National Park Service Sites There are 391 units of the U.S. National Park Service. They have parks, parkways, preserves, monuments, memorials, seashores, lakeshores, historic sites, historical parks, battlefields, military parks, recreation areas, rivers, trails, etc. The focus of parks, preserves, seashores, and lakeshores is on their scenery. Memorials can be stone-type monuments or large grounds honoring someone. Historic sites and historical parks commemorate something famous which occurred on their grounds and many times will preserve the buildings where the famous event occurred. Battlefields and military parks are related to war battles, usually the Civil War or the Revolutionary War. Recreation areas and rivers are usually for recreation uses such as boating, fishing, sports, or hiking. Parkways are scenic highways managed by the National Park Service. Monuments can be scenic or historic. Monuments are created by the President but the other units are created by Congress. |
| Most sites of the National Park Service have the word “National” in them but a few do not such as Catoctin Park (Maryland) and Prince William Forest Park (Virginia). Of course, the most famous sites of the National Park Service are the national parks, especially Yellowstone (Wyoming, Montana & Idaho), Yosemite (California), and Grand Canyon (Arizona). You can see spectacular nature and different animals. But other, lesser-known national parks also have great scenery and animals to look at. My favorite national park is Grand Canyon because for miles and miles you see the different mesas and buttes towering over the Colorado River. But Saguaro National Park (Arizona), not as well known, is my second favorite national park. The thousands of unusual looking saguaro cacti in this park and desert animals make it very interesting to see. Even with the nature sites, you can see different things, such as tall trees, old trees, cacti, caves, ancient rocks, fossils, canyons, mesas, buttes, sand, oceans, lakes, fish, birds, mammals, or reptiles. In the Southwest at several parks, you can see cliff dwellings of ancient pueblo people. Some of the most historic sites in our country are preserved as National Park Service units. They include the homes of Presidents and battle sites from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Most of the National Park Service's 391 sites, but not all, have Junior Ranger programs. In fact there will never be Junior Ranger programs for all 391 sites. This is because some sites are managed jointly and there will be only one program. For example, in Washington State, the National Park Service manages North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area together because they are adjacent. One Junior Ranger booklet covers all three sites and the badge given out only has North Cascades National Park on it. No badges contain the names Ross Lake National Recreation Area or Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. Some sites do not lend themselves to a Junior Ranger program, such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway, which is a small unit of land containing a connecting highway in Wyoming between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. A few sites are so small or have such low visitation numbers that it was considered unnecessary to have a Junior Ranger program and badge; this would include Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site (California) and Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial (Pennsylvania). Some sites have different sub-units within them which issue their own badges or patches. (For example, Gateway National Recreation Area has Junior Ranger programs in both Staten Island, New York, and Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and each issues its own badge and patch.) Colonial National Historical Park (Virginia) issues different patches at its Yorktown and Jamestown sub-units. At Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park (Virginia), there are separate booklets and badges for Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. When I started this Web site, my goal was to list below all the National Park Service sites and affiliated units. I did not have enough time to do so. So I am first starting with the sites for which my brother or I have the Junior Ranger badge, patch, or pin. Click on the National Park Service site name below to get to my information page for the site. On the information page, you will see a brief summary of the site, contact information (address and telephone), and the Junior Ranger badge or patch in my or my brother's collections. In some instances, I have also inserted an image of the front page of the park site’s Junior Ranger booklet and by clicking on it, you can download the entire booklet. Below, in the right-hand column, you can see if the park site specifically permits youngsters to send in their Junior Ranger booklet by mail. If they do, you should download the entire booklet from my information page for that park site, and then print it. Then use the park site’s Web page to look up information you'll need to complete the activities in the booklet. You can access the park site’s Web page through my information page. After you complete the Junior Ranger booklet, send it by mail to the park site to obtain their Junior Ranger badge or patch. Some National Park Service sites refuse to accept mailed-in Junior Ranger programs. They will not send out badges or patches by mail. Other park sites do not say officially whether they permit or refuse mail-ins. These parks may be willing to accept mailed-in Junior Ranger booklets but they don’t advertise this. I will try to include as many Junior Ranger booklets as possible and if the site does not have a “Yes” in the column below on the right, don’t give up. You can still try to obtain the Junior Ranger badge or patch by contacting the park and seeing if they’ll accept your mailed-in booklet (see the contact information on my information page for the park site). Tell them why you can’t visit their park site in person. Many times they will accept your completed booklet by mail and they’ll send you the Junior Ranger badge or patch. Of course, nothing compares to visiting these great places. I find it fun to collect the Junior Ranger badges and patches. In the process, I’ve learned a lot of interesting things. Good luck in your attempt to get as many Junior Ranger badges and patches as possible. Sam Maslow |
© 2005-2009 Sam Maslow. All rights reserved. This site is not affiliated with the U.S. National Park Service.
Sam Maslow's
National Parks
Junior Ranger Site
Junior Ranger Site
