About Park Services.

Park services are government agencies chartered with caring for, maintaining and protecting national wonders set aside by the will of the people. Federal, state, county and city governments have established parks and recreation departments to this end. These park services are generally responsible for the development and maintenance of infrastructure within the parks. They also administer the day to day operation of the park, man the visitor centers and monitor camping registration at parks which contain campground facilities within their boundaries.

The National Park Service.

The NPS is responsible for the care of nearly four hundred national parks. Most are areas of natural wonder where the park service has added infrastructure to accommodate the incredible numbers of visitors each year. To name a few, the parks include the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, Gettysburg, Rosie the Riveter in California, Boston Harbor Islands in Massachusetts, and Russell Cave in Alabama. There are parks in and around lakes, some include rivers and streams and yet other parks encompass sections of ocean beaches.

Some national parks have campgrounds for overnight camping. Others are restricted to day use only. Visit the National Park Service website for an alphabetical list of all parks and a park locator search device. Many parks, especially those limited to daytime use, may have campgrounds and RV parks in close proximity to park entrances. These camping facilities are operated by state, county, city or private enterprises. Many can be found in the find a campground section of this website.

State, county and city park services.

Park services of the individual states are responsible for all phases of operation of parks which are property of the corresponding state.

County and city park and recreation departments typically day use facilities. However a few operate parks with overnight campgrounds.

To locate state, county and city park services, use the "State Info" pull down at the top of this area to select a state. Once selected, that pull down menu will populate with links to that specific state pages.

Support these parks.

By visiting and paying entrance fees you are contributing to the continued support and protection of these natural wonders. Take the family camping and visit one soon.