How many different kinds of National Lands are there? What do all of them entail?
National Battlefield Parks, National Battlefield Sites, National Battlefields, National Military Park
Authorizing Entity: Congress
Selected Characteristics: These sites commemorate landscapes where battles occurred (primarily in the American Revolution and the Civil War), as well as military and civil structures.
National Historic Sites
Authorizing Entity: Congress, or (for earlier sites) the Secretary of the Interior
Selected Characteristics: Most sites feature buildings of historical interest, such as the homes of notable individuals, public buildings where significant events occurred, or military forts.
National Historical Parks
Authorizing Entity: Congress
Selected Characteristics: National historical parks preserve sites related to events or people of national historical significance. They generally extend beyond a single building or property.
National Memorials
Authorizing Entity: Congress
Selected Characteristics: Most national memorials are structures erected to commemorate people or events of national importance. They need not be located at historically significant sites.
National Monuments
Authorizing Entity: Congress, President
Selected Characteristics: Sites include both natural areas and areas of cultural, historical, and archaeological significance.
Presidentially proclaimed monuments must be on federal lands that contain historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, or other objects of historic or scientific interest. The President is to reserve "the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected" (54 U.S.C. §320301(b)). Allowed uses vary according to the establishing law or proclamation, and the management framework of the administering agency.
*Some early national recreation areas were established by interagency agreements between the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation and NPS.
National Parks
Authorizing Entity: Congress
Selected Characteristics: National parks generally are large, diverse areas with outstanding natural features and ecological resources. Consumptive activities such as hunting or mining typically are prohibited. Many current national parks were established originally with other designations, such as national monuments.
National Preserves
Authorizing Entity: Congress
Selected Characteristics: National preserves are similar to national parks in their size and natural assets, but allow activities not generally permitted in national parks, such as hunting or oil and gas exploration. Off-road vehicle use may be permitted.
National Recreation Areas
Authorizing Entity: Congress
Selected Characteristics: Sites have a recreation focus, and their establishing legislation often authorizes activities such as boating, fishing, and hunting. Many older national recreation areas surround Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs and feature water-based recreation. Some more recently created areas are in or near urban centers.
National Scenic Trails
Authorizing Entity: Congress, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture
Selected Characteristics: National scenic trails provide for outdoor recreation and for the conservation and enjoyment of significant scenic, historic, natural, or cultural qualities. National historic trails identify and protect travel routes of national historic significance. National recreation trails are often on state, local, or private lands and provide for a variety of outdoor recreation uses.
National Seashores and National Lakeshores
Authorizing Entity: Congress
Selected Characteristics: These designations preserve shoreline areas and offshore islands on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts (national seashores) and the Great Lakes (national lakeshores). Along with conservation, water recreation is a primary focus. Off-road vehicle use may be permitted.
National Wild & Scenic Rivers
Authorizing Entity: Congress, Secretary of the Interior
Selected Characteristics: Wild rivers are free from impoundments (e.g., dams) and generally inaccessible except by trail, with primitive watersheds and undeveloped shorelines. Scenic rivers are free from impoundments and in generally undeveloped areas but are accessible in places by roads. Recreational rivers are readily accessible by road, may have shoreline development, and may have been subject to impoundment in the past.
*Information, plus more, can be found here
Where does the National Park Service receive funding from?
The National Park Service receives funding from a few places. The National Park Service is primarily funded by Congress through both the annual appropriations cycle as well as some mandatory funds. The National Park System also receives funding through the park entrance and user fees, as well as private philanthropy. This last category primarily comes through 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations such as the National Park Foundation, the Congressionally-chartered philanthropic partner of the National Park Service.