On October 11, 1974, Congress grafted a new and controversial branch onto the National Park System family tree by creating the first two National Preserves – Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas and Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. Big Thicket, like its Florida cousin, is now a nicely maturing “thirtysomething” park with a lot of visitor appeal.

National parks are great places to take photos, and there are some opportunities for unusual images at the Big Thicket National Preserve in southeast Texas. But even after working there as a ranger for several years I was surprised one afternoon to witness the reported sighting of a large mammal not previously known to inhabit the area.

One of the relatively undiscovered gems in our National Park System is the Buffalo National River, located in the Ozarks of north-central Arkansas. The park is perhaps best known for canoeing, but that activity is usually most enjoyable in the spring and early summer, unless you enjoy the possibility of carrying your canoe more than paddling it.

The most famous piece of art work related to the National Park System, in my opinion, is The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone by Thomas Moran. And if you visit Washington, D.C., you can see it for yourself.