State park

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State park is a term used in the United States and in Mexico for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreation, or other reason, and under the administration of the government of a U.S. state or one of the states of Mexico. State parks are protected area of IUCN category II.

State parks are thus similar to national parks, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly, local government entities below state level may maintain parks, e.g. regional parks or county parks. In general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack State Park in New York.

In the United States, state parks have an older history than national parks. In 1864, when the federal government saw the need to protect the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove, Abraham Lincoln ceded the land to California as a state park. This was because, at the time, preservation of land for the public was seen as a proper role for the states rather than the federal government. Later the state park was incorporated into Yosemite National Park. Perhaps the oldest state park is Georgia's Indian Springs State Park.^[1] Since around 1825, Indian Springs has been operated continuously by the state as a public park, although it did not gain the title "State Park" until 1931. The first state park with the designation of "State Park" was The Great Serpent Mound located in Adams County, Ohio, when it was gifted to the state from Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in 1900. Many state park systems date to the 1930s, when dozens of state parks across the country were established with assistance from the Civilian Conservation Corps.