CategoryOn the Cover

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve spans over 70,000 acres in West Virginia, protecting one of the oldest rivers in the Americas. The gorge can be traced back 500 million years to water draining from the slopes of the newly formed Appalachian Mountains. Because the river is so old, unique plant and animal species,

In the middle of the Tularosa Basin sits the world’s largest gypsum sand dune field, covering over 275 square miles of desert in New Mexico. Gypsum, a soft mineral left behind when water evaporates, rarely appears as sand. However, about 12,000 years ago, as the climate warmed, rain and snowmelt washed gypsum from the surrounding

Bryce Canyon National Park is famous for its crimson-colored rock spires called hoodoos. The park, situated on 35,000 acres in southwestern Utah, has more hoodoos than anywhere in the world. —Prepared by the World Tribune staff

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial, built between 1939 and 1943 in Washington, D.C., honors the third president of the United States. Covering 19.2 acres, the park centers on the white marble neoclassical monument that houses a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson. It honors the president’s ideals of beauty, science, learning, culture and liberty. —Prepared by the

Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, spans 1.5 million acres at the southern tip of Florida. The American alligator, the endangered leatherback turtle, Florida panther and West Indian manatee are among the diverse wildlife that make this wetland preserve their home. —Prepared by the World Tribune staff

The diverse landscape of Coconino National Forest spans 1.8 million acres, ranging from southwestern desert to alpine tundra. It is also home to the largest known petroglyph site in the Verde Valley of central Arizona, a rock art legacy from the Southern Sinagua people, who inhabited the region for a millennium. —Prepared by the World

Wrangell-St. Elias, the largest national park in the United States, spans 13.2 million acres, six times the size of Yellowstone National Park. Within its vast reach stand nine of the country’s 16 highest peaks. The Wrangell Mountains are volcanic, but only Mount Wrangell remains active. —Prepared by the World Tribune staff

Mount Rainier, an active volcano, ascends 14,410 feet above sea level. Twenty-five centuries-old glaciers adorn this icon of the Washington landscape, making it the most glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. —Prepared by the World Tribune staff

Known as the “Niagara of the West,” Shoshone Falls is a must-visit attraction located on the Snake River in Twin Falls, Idaho. At 212 feet tall and nearly 1,000 feet wide, Shoshone surpasses the height of the Niagara Falls. It is the largest natural waterfall in the United States. —Prepared by the World Tribune staff

Lake Superior certainly lives up to its name. At 31,700 square miles and with cold waters reaching depths greater than 1,300 feet, North America’s northernmost lake is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third largest by volume. Ten percent of the world’s surface fresh water is in this lake.

Spanning 3.4 million acres, Bridger-Teton National Forest is the largest intact ecosystem in the contiguous United States. Although well known for it’s larger mammals such as grizzly bears, moose and bighorn sheep, to name a few, the forest is also home to 355 species of birds. —Prepared by the World Tribune staff

In 1918, Katmai National Park and Preserve was designated a national monument to preserve the features impacted by the cataclysmic 1912 volcanic eruption of Mount Katmai—one of the most powerful recorded. The focus of the park later shifted to protecting wildlife. Its water habitats are vital for red salmon reproduction, making the park home to

Glacier National Park was established in 1910. Stretching 1,583 square miles, the park’s pristine turquoise lakes and streams, dense forests and rugged mountains create opportunities for a wide range of animals to coexist. Out of the more than 70 species of mammals that roam the park, the mountain goat is the most frequently encountered by

At 91,696 acres, the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is one of the most photographed places in the United States. After 50 million years of natural erosion by wind and water, the lowland basin revealed the world-famous panorama of the Mitten Buttes and Merrick Butte. —Prepared by the World Tribune staff

In southwest Utah, massive Navajo sandstone cliffs of cream, pink and red tower 2,000 feet at Zion National Park. The park spans 232 square miles, and its elevation ranges from 5,000 feet at its highest point, Horse Ranch Mountain, to its lowest, 3,666 feet, at Coalpits Wash. The park’s vast altitudinal range has produced a

A full moon appears in the Dallas night sky on Nov. 18, 2021, commemorating Soka Gakkai Founding Day. Nov. 18 has come to serve as a departure point for each Soka Gakkai member to strengthen their own determination to contribute to the welfare of society and world peace in the spirit of the three founding

One hundred and twenty-six miles south of Anchorage sits Kenai Fjords National Park—over 600,000 acres of wilderness, half of which is covered by ice. Despite these conditions, one can often find a variety of wildlife thriving in the park. Its crowning feature is the Harding Icefield, which has spawned at least 38 glaciers. —Prepared by

Channel Islands National Park stretches across 2,500 miles of the North American Pacific coast, encompassing five of the eight California Channel Islands. The park bridges two biogeographical provinces, resulting in high plant and animal diversity in a concentrated area. From microscopic plankton to the largest animal in the world, the blue whale, thousands of species

Located in the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas, the Guadalupe Mountains National Park covers 135 square miles and features the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, at 8,749 feet. The rugged mountain is an uplifted marine fossil reef from the Permian period that formed beneath the ocean some 250 million years ago. Millions of years of

The unique landscape of Pinnacles National Park was born of multiple volcanic eruptions roughly 23 million years ago. The force of earthquakes along with water and wind erosion over millennia created these rock formations. Today, many species of plants and animals make the rocks their home. The elevation of Pinnacles ranges from 824 feet along