Many naturalists work at national parks. There are two types of naturalist employed in national parks; park naturalists and ranger naturalists. Park naturalists work at the park year round, but ranger naturalists are only employed during the times of year with the most visitors. Both types lead tour groups on field trips. They recite the history of important sites, point out interesting wildlife, introduce the most common or remarkable plants, and explain the science behind ancient rock and earth formations.

Some of these talks are given before the tours begin, or in the evening while the visitors gather around a campfire. They may also have shifts at an information bureau, where they are responsible for using their expansive knowledge on their area of the park to answer the concerns of the visitors and to tell them everything that they need to know.

Some areas in certain parks require regular, specially trained tour guides. National parks with caves and other underground formations are examples of such. While caverns are fascinating and beautiful, they are not safe without the proper guidance. Without the electrical lighting, caves are pitch black, and the ranger needs to be trained in the event of a blackout. In addition, caves are very delicate and need special care. These rangers specialize in their locations, and their total expertise of the area makes for an especially enjoyable tour experience.

If there is an area that a group of people thinks deserves to be raised to national park status, it is not too difficult to file a citizen petition, make a petition, and adapt to the petition process in order to accomplish this. Every year new areas are nominated to enter the park system, but almost all of them do not qualify and are rejected. It is decided that the nominated areas are either not important enough to the entire nation, or are not outstanding enough to be promoted to park status. Occasionally, plots of land lose national park status because they are replaced by more remarkable areas of a similar type. It takes a massive amount of funding, effort, and manpower in order to create and preserve a national park, so the land has to be absolutely pristine and unsurpassable. This isn’t to say that the lands that do not reach park status are not amazing or do not deserve protection.

It is simply that the area was not considered to be so spectacular that it should be converted into one of the hottest tourist attractions in the nation. The United States would be in a sad condition if its few, elite, national parks were its only link back to the days of majestic mountains, sparkling rivers, and thick forests. No, other pieces of the environment must also be acknowledged and protected on a local scale. This can be started by the people in various regions or cities. At a town meeting a group of people can file a citizen petition to discuss the protection of natural habitats that are being threatened by construction work, toxic pesticides, and other industrial expansions.

Over twenty different nations in the world have some sort of national park system. Canada has approximately the same number of parks as the United States does. Mexico has national parks as well.

Rules and regulations for the parks are legislated occasionally by Congress, but the Secretary of Interior or the Director of the National Park Service is known for making more park-related decisions. The rules are created to carry out federal/state laws, protect visitors, or to preserve park property. Many of the rules seem a bit ridiculous to new visitors, but they each contribute significantly to protecting the land and the visitors from generation to generation.

If a group of people believe that a certain area deserves to be promoted to national park status, they can start with an online petition. Because these parks are a national treasure, not just a local attraction, it should be natural that the entire nation is involved with its development. A national park is set up only by act of Congress based on the investigations conducted by the Park Service. However, something such as a national monument only needs a presidential proclamation. Several modern parks started out as a monument.

At first, some parks seem to be very similar. There are three parks that all feature caverns, so they are often mistaken to be exactly the same. However, their underground wonders are, in reality, much different than each other. Each park was chosen because of some sort of irreplaceable quality that they possess, so it is guaranteed that all of the national parks are completely unique from one another.