https://www.nps.gov/chis/index.htm
Established 3/5/1980 Size 249,561.00 acres (1,009.9 km2) Five of the eight Channel Islands are protected, and half of the park's area is underwater. The islands have a unique Mediterranean ecosystem. They are home to over 2,000 species of land plants and animals, and 145 are unique to them. The islands were originally settled by the Chumash people.[17]
Established 5/14/1930 Size 46,766.45 acres (189.3 km2) Carlsbad Caverns has 117 caves, the longest of which is over 120 miles (190 km) long. The Big Room is almost 4,000 feet (1,200 m) long, and the caves are home to over 400,000 Mexican Free-tailed Bats and sixteen other species. Above ground are the Chihuahuan Desert and Rattlesnake Springs.[16]
Established 12/18/1971 Size 241,904.26 acres (979.0 km2) The park's Waterpocket Fold is a 100-mile (160 km) monocline that shows the Earth's geologic layers. Other natural features are monoliths and sandstone domes and cliffs shaped like the United States Capitol.[15]
Established 9/12/1964 Size 337,597.83 acres (1,366.2 km2) This landscape was eroded into canyons, buttes, and mesas by the Colorado River, Green River, and their tributaries, which divide the park into three districts. There are rock pinnacles and other naturally sculpted rock, as well as artifacts from Ancient Pueblo Peoples.[14]
Established 2/25/1928 Size 35,835.08 acres (145.0 km2) Bryce Canyon is a giant natural amphitheatre along the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The unique area has hundreds of tall hoodoos formed by erosion. The region was originally settled by Native Americans and later by Mormon pioneers.[13]
Established 10/21/1999 Size 32,950.03 acres (133.3 km2) The park protects a quarter of the Gunnison River, which has dark canyon walls from the Precambrian era. The canyon has very steep descents, and it is a site for river rafting and rock climbing. The narrow, steep canyon, made of gneiss and schist, is often in shadow, appearing black.[12]
Established 6/12/1944 Size 801,163.21 acres (3,242.2 km2) Named for the Bend of the Rio Grande along the US–Mexico border, this park includes a part of the Chihuahuan Desert. A wide variety of Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils as well as cultural artifacts of Native Americans exist within its borders.[10]
Established 11/10/1978 Size 242,755.94 acres (982.4 km2) The Badlands are a collection of buttes, pinnacles, spires, and grass prairies. It has the world's richest fossil beds from the Oligocene epoch, and there is wildlife including bison, bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, and swift foxes.[9]
Established 11/12/1971 Size 76,518.98 acres (309.7 km2) This site features more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the Delicate Arch. In a desert climate millions of years of erosion have led to these structures, and the arid ground has life-sustaining soil crust and potholes, natural water-collecting basins. Other geologic formations are stone columns, spires, fins, and towers.[8]
Established 2/26/1919 Size 47,389.67 acres (191.8 km2) Covering most of Mount Desert Island and other coastal islands, Acadia features the tallest mountain on the Atlantic coast, granite peaks, ocean shoreline, woodlands, and lakes. There are freshwater, estuary, forest, and intertidal habitats.[6]