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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Off Beat: National parks have 20 different designations

By , Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter
Published:

Mikah Meyer’s visit to Vancouver a few days ago underlines the fact that our community has a national park.

That is not how it is labeled, but Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is one of 417 units in the National Park Service.

Meyer plans to see all of them on one road trip. So Vancouver definitely was on Meyer’s itinerary more than a year ago when the Washington D.C. resident got behind the wheel of his van, shifted into “PARKS” and hit the road.

Most of the spots on his checklist are not actually designated as parks. As we noted in August, when Fort Vancouver took part in the Park Service centennial celebration, there are 20 different flavors on the Park Service menu. And 70 percent of the units don’t have the word “park” in their names.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNIT DESIGNATIONS

National Battlefields 11

National Battlefield Parks 4

National Battlefield Site 1

National Military Parks 9

National Historical Parks 51

National Historic Sites 78

International Historic Site 1

National Lakeshores 4

National Memorials 30

National Monuments 87

National Parks 59

National Parkways 4

National Preserves 19

National Reserves 2

National Recreation Areas 18

National Rivers 5

National Wild/Scenic Rivers 10

National Scenic Trails 3

National Seashores 10

Other Designations 11

Total Units 417

(Nineteen of the 20 park categories do have the word “national” in their titles, however. The exception is “other designations,” which includes the White House and the National Mall.)

Ranger Bob Cromwell, who gave Meyer a guided tour on June 16, is familiar with the topic.

“All these terminologies add complexity,” said Cromwell, chief of interpretation at Fort Vancouver. “I wish they could simplify it.”

Before Meyer left the Visitor Center for his tour with Cromwell, he documented his stop by inking up a rubber stamp and pressing a Fort Vancouver entry into his parks passport book.

The passport stamps are the closest thing he has to a ritual, Meyer said.

“People have asked if I pick up a stone or a rock at each park,” Meyer said. But driving home with 417 random rocks doesn’t seem all that appealing.

And, as Meyer pointed out: “It’s illegal in a lot of parks.”


Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.

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Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter