The National Park system might be embarking on a growth spurt.
President Obama was in Keene, Calif., on Oct. 8 to dedicate the
César E. Chávez National Monument, the 398th site in the system,
which was created in 1916. Among states with pending National
Park Service sites: Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New
Mexico and Ohio. "There's no such thing as too many," says Ron
Tipton, senior vice president of policy for the non-profit
National Parks Conservation Association. The park service is
selective, he says, and choose sites that fill gaps in the
current system, represent cultural diversity and can attract
plenty of visitors. It does so slowly. Ten sites have been added
since May 2004; a record 33 were added in 1978. Only Congress
can create national parks, but the president can designate
national monuments. A commission that proposed goals for the
National Park Service's future recommended in 2009 that the
process for selecting new sites be streamlined. Legislation
introduced in Congress in June would c