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UM Common Reading Experience 2025: Leave Only Footprints

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Statistic: Number of visits to National Park Service sites in the United States in 2023, by region (in millions) | Statista
Find more statistics at Statista

"The region in the United States that had the highest National Park Service visitation was the Southeast, with approximately 73.7 million visitors in 2023. This region includes the famous Great Smoky Mountains. The second-most visited region was the Pacific West, home to Yosemite National Park."

National Park Service. (April 5, 2024). Number of visits to National Park Service sites in the United States in 2023, by region (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www-statista-com.umiss.idm.oclc.org/statistics/1460050/national-park-visitation-by-region-us/

Streaming Video

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

Directed by Ken Burns

THE NATIONAL PARKS is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved for everyone. The series traces the birth of the national park idea in the mid-1800s and follows its evolution for nearly 150 years, chronicling the addition of new parks through the stories of the people who helped create them.