Adirondacks

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How many times has the question "What places should be national parks?" been asked on ?

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The answer is 15 times. Alongside the,,, , across reddit, it's easy to see people are curious of the lesser-known places to explore the outdoors.

As was I, so I cataloged all of these types of posts I could find (83) and counted the positive comments for specific locations. Every comment that expressed that a specific place could and/or should be a national park, or that it matched a similar quality of natural, scenic, recreational, and/or ecological resources, was counted.

The goal is to show what places across the nation might be underappreciated, to show what areas might need further protection, and to encourage people to get out and explore these special places closer to home.

After analyzing 83 posts, 319 unique locations, and 3700 mentions, we finally have a rather comprehensive answer to the question, "What places should be national parks?"

And that is, all sorts of places! I took the top 1/6th of named locations (those with 20+ mentions) and mapped and graphed them here. The next 1/3 of named locations (those with 5+ mentions) are displayed as smaller green dots on the map and are in the second graph.

Amazingly, these named locations don't even makeup half of the total places folks across Reddit mentioned for their amazing quality. There are so many places to explore! You can view the

SOME NOTES:

• While I do personally believe we should work to preserve a greater representative sample of the United States within the National Park System, that does not mean I am advocating for all of these places to be made national parks. That designation may be harmful, such as the Sawtooths in Idaho. That said, I do believe that we cannot promote a culture that cares about the outdoors without promoting access to the outdoors and, by extension, emphasizing what makes these special and worth preserving.

• Many of the named locations are already part of the National Park Service, but given that the general public is only most familiar with the 63 National (P)arks, I chose to use this standard.

• Because this is not an exact analysis, I had to use my own discretion to draw lines where need be. For example, oftentimes, folks would express an appreciation for a broader area or for a specific place within them (Ozarks, Driftless, PA Wilds as examples). In this case, I bundled these areas into one location. Other examples are places like Baxter State Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, which I also bundled together. You may disagree with some of these choices, but ultimately, I had to make one way or the other.

• For bundled locations, I tried to name them first for the most prominent or widespread feature and then for a smaller but still named feature. (Example: San Rafael Swell / Goblin Valley)

• Some mentioned locations are just extensions of an already existing national park, such as Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas next to Big Bend NP or Dead Horse SP in Utah next to Canyonlands NP. I chose not to count these.

• The only state to receive zero mentions was North Dakota, but at least they have a super underrated national park

• The state with the most mentions was far and away New York, which was closely followed by California, Michigan, and Oregon.

• I left a random dot in northern Alabama... woops! But the Walls of Jericho + the James D Skyline WMA are around there and look pretty cool.

• This should not be taken as a definitive map/listing of areas most in need of preservation on an ecological basis. There is likely some level of population bias here, with a great number of mentions for many locations in the northeast. People likely also gravitate to areas that are scenic and not necessarily biodiverse. Some of the most biodiverse locations in the USA (such as the Mobile-Tensaw Delta of Alabama, the Sky Islands of Arizona, or the Karst Belt of Puerto Rico) did not make the named top 1/6th of locations. Some other special places (such as California's Carrizo Plain National Monument or Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp) didn't even make the top half! I was shocked to see Kentucky's Land Between the Lakes receive zero mentions! Just goes to show that while this analysis is a fascinating answer to our original question, it isn't everything.

•  Odds are you probably have a special and cool place not too far from you. Get outside and explore!