The Yellowstone Act of 1872 created the world’s first national park. It withdrew more than 2 million acres from sale, settlement, or occupation to be “dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Unlike Yosemite, the bill put Yellowstone under federal control because ceding it […]
The French called this area “les mauvaises terres a traverser” or “bad lands to cross”, which is how Badlands National Park got its name. This is a land of “peaks, gullies, buttes, and wide prairies”, where temperatures in summer are very hot and in winter can have snow capping the multicolored rock. Badlands is located […]