nal parks are generally larger and more of a destination, and hunting and extractive activities are prohibited. National monuments, on the other hand, are also frequently protected for their hist

orical or archaeological significance. Eight national parks (including six in Alaska) are paired with a national preserve, areas with different levels of protect

ion that are administered together but considered separate units and whose areas are not included in the figures below. The 433 units of the National Park System can be broadly refer

red to as national parks, but most have other formal designations. A bill creating the first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Rock Creek Park (later merged into National Capital Parks), Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpa