There are over 400 national park sites across the U.S., but only 63 of those are designated as actual "national parks." Requiring the approval of Congress and the sitting president, a national park designation is the hardest for a park area to obtain. The last new national park was designated in December 2020; New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia was elevated from National River to National Park, becoming the first national park in the state.

Earlier in 2025, plans for a new national park in Georgia were introduced. More recently, in August, America's next new national park was proposed in Florida . Now, Wisconsin is hoping to follow the same playbook. U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany has introduced a bill that would turn Apostle Islands National Lakeshore into

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