Though a veritable youngster in the national park realm, Congaree National Park is a vegetative museum, harboring some of the eastern United States' tallest trees in what's said to be the largest old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the country.

Given birth as a national monument in 1939 and then transformed into a national park in 1978, Badlands National Park marks its 29th birthday today. Across its 244,000 acres you'll find vestiges of prehistoric life, the largest expanse of protected prairie in the park system, and a rebounding mammal once thought bound for extinction.

The volcanic basement of Yellowstone National Park has risen by roughly 7 inches during the past three years, evidence of volcanics but not indicative of an impending eruption, according to University of Utah scientists.

After negotiating a paperwork gauntlet, a tract of more than 1,100 acres has been transferred by the Rockefeller family to Grand Teton National Park.