Delaware Water Gap, New Jersey & Pennsylvania

A recent entry, with strong support from the Sierra Club plus ever increasing local attempts are moving this scenic stretch of the Delaware River closer and closer to our next national park. The proposed idea is modeled after the recent success with New River Gorge, and would employ the popular Park & Preserve model, to continue to accommodate hunting and fishing in the Preserve sections. It’s the 10th most visited unit in the NPS, having 4.1 million visitors in 2020. It’s a “Race to National Park 64”, not a sprint, but the 40+ mile long Delaware Water Gap has shot out of the blocks at a pretty high speed. We’ll wait and see if more statewide and national support picks up.

Chiricahua National Monument, Willcox, Arizona

Chiricahua is a magical landscape, the remains of a volcanic explosion that left behind hoodoos, pinnacles, and balancing rocks. Many visitors wonder why it isn’t already a national park; legislation was introduced in Congress in 2016, though the bill did not make it out of committee. A new bill has been introduced by both Arizona senators in 2021 and passed by the Senate in 2022. The House bill is still in committee. There is a strong local groundswell to promote this park to national status, though it had seemed to be a hard sell with Washington, but this time it looks like the outcome might be different.

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park, Macon, Georgia

Ocmulgee recently expanded in size and underwent a name change from monument to historic park. The park protects and interprets ancient earth mounds and more than “17,000 years of continuous human habitation.” Local researchers and civic groups have placed support to increase the scale of this park to over 50,000 acres, preserving many unknown and unprotected historical sites believed to be in the surrounding area. The proposal also seeks to create a “Park and Preserve” model to allow for hunting and fishing in the Preserve regions. No formal legislation has occurred at this time.

Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has recently introduced new legislation to elevate this park, established in 1890 (before the NPS was created), to the status of national park. In 2017 and 2015, similar bills died in committee in the House. There is not particularly robust local support.

Katahdin National Monument and Maine Woods, Millinocket, Maine

Since the late 1990’s, local residents have been both adamantly for and against the move to create another national park in Maine. In 2016, the Obama administration designated several hundred thousand acres of donated land to be a national monument, which stands adjacent to Baxter State Park. There is still a vibrant debate as to whether this monument should be elevated to a national park, particularly among locals, and if Baxter should merge into that park.

Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, New Mexico

A cultural and historical rarity, Bandelier NM protects and interprets the homes and buildings of the Ancestral Pueblo people, who lived here from 1150-1550 CE. Though evidence suggests that humans have been living at this location for nearly 10,000 years. The monument also has thousands of wilderness acres under its protection. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) has long pushed for this place to become a new national park. Legislation was introduced and supported pre-pandemic though the glacial pace and other priorities of Washington have slowed down this entrant.

Mount Hood (Oregon)

This site is 50 miles from downtown Portland, Oregon, and is the tallest peak in Oregon. The site is a potentially still active conical volcano! It has long been a prospect for national park status, with initial legislation presented in the 1940’s, but the idea has cooled off significantly, but for a small and vocal local population, which advocates for moving Mount Hood from the national forest system into the national park system.