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National Park Quiz 94: Ringer IV

Is Death Valley National Park the National Park System's road mileage champ? Bob Janiskee photo.

Have a look at statements 1-10 below. Nine are true, but one is false. Can you tell which one is the ringer?

1. True or false? The endangered nēnē inhabiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Haleakala National Park can fly.

2. True or false? No National Park System unit has the word "President" as part of its official name.

3. True or false? There is a National Park Service-administered parkway named in honor of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton.

4. True or false? Congress has stipulated that only those accommodations, facilities, and concessions that are consistent with the preservation of park resources should be permitted within national parks.

5. True or false? The Organic Act of 1916, which created the National Park Service, does not contain the word "recreation."

6. True or false?  No unit of the National Park System has more road mileage than Death Valley National Park.

7. True or false?  A municipality co-manages Petroglyph National Monument.

8. True or false? A US Navy ship was named in honor of Bryce Canyon National Park.

9. True or false? Teton National Park was the original name proposed for the National Park System unit that is now designated Badlands National Park.

10.  True or false?  No part of the 1991 movie Grand Canyon (starring Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, and Steve Martin) was actually filmed on location in Grand Canyon National Park.

Extra Credit Question:

11.  One of America's most celebrated victories, the Battle of New Orleans, took place on January 8, 1815 at a site preserved in Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.  The oft-repeated claim that this battle took place after the War of 1812 was actually over is an enduring myth.  Explain why this claim is false.

Super Bonus Question:

12. Historic structures that are now national park attractions could be seen in the first aerial photographs ever taken in the United States.  In what city were these photos taken?

Answers:

(1)  True. While the nēnē is comfortable walking (and seldom swims), this rarest of all geese is a strong flyer.

(2)  False. Technically, there are two such units of the National Park System. One is the new President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site (in Hope, Arkansas) and the other is President's Park (which includes the White House).

(3)  True. The Clara Barton Parkway extends from the District of Columbia (where it connects with Canal Road and Chain Bridge) to McArthur Boulevard in Montgomery County, Maryland. The parkway, which is an administrative unit of George Washington Memorial Parkway, and was signed that way until 1989, provides access to Glen Echo Park and to the Clara Barton National Historic Site in Glen Echo, MD.

(4)  True. But this requirement wasn’t made clear until passage of the National Park System Concessions Policy Act of 1965.

(5)  True. Although the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 (16 U.S.C. l, 2, 3, and 4) specifies that the purpose of the national parks, monuments, and reservations ... is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life [sic] therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations....,"  the word "recreation" does not appear anywhere in the Act.

(6)  True.  According to the National Park Service, Death Valley National Park is the National Park System's road mileage champion. While only a fraction of the more than 1,000 miles of paved and dirt roads in the park can be safely negotiated by the typical family sedan, the bulk of it is suitable for use by SUVs.

(7)  True.  New Mexico's Petroglyph National Monument is cooperatively managed by the National Park Service and the City of Albuquerque Open Space Division.

(8)  True. The USS Bryce Canyon (AD-36), a Shenandoah-class destroyer tender launched in 1946, was named in honor of Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park. The ship, which earned a battle star for service in the Korean War, was decommissioned in 1981.

(9)  True. The 1928 bill that originally proposed a national park in the South Dakota badlands suggested the name Teton National Park, reportedly out of concern that the term "badlands" was too negative.

(10)  True.  The park scene in the 1991 movie Grand Canyon was not filmed in Grand Canyon National Park.  It was filmed in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

(11)  When the British negotiated the war-ending Treaty of Ghent, they did not ask for an immediate cessation of hostilities because they were concerned that the American government might not ratify the treaty.  The U.S. did ratify the treaty, but not until February 15, 1815, more than a month after the Battle of New Orleans was fought.

(12)   On October 13, 1860, James Wallace Black took photographs from the basket of a hot air balloon suspended 1,200 feet over Boston Common.  These aerial photos, the first ever taken in the U.S., showed many Boston buildings, including some that have survived to become Boston National Historical Park attractions linked by the city's famed Freedom Trail.

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