“ Find a national park and come visit!” the annual event’s webpage encourages, pointing to the 433 “parks” across the National Park System, including national battlefields, monuments and seashores – not just places with National Park in their name like Great Smoky Mountains or Yosemite .

Since its founding on August 25, 1916, the U.S. National Park Service has assembled 419 protected units, of which 62 hold the “national park” designation. To visit all 63 of these treasures one would need to travel to 29 states and two U.

Earth Day also falls during National Park Week. Celebrated for 55 years, one billion people in 193 countries host events and celebrations of the planet, its resources and our commitment to protect it. Many of our national parks will have special Earth Day demonstrations of earth science or discussions of the latest environmental concerns.