Places in your state that should be in the National Park system? (home)

[censusdata]

Obama has indicated that he would like to bring places into the national park service.
Kentucky already has 4: Mammoth Cave N.P., Cumberland Gap N.H.P., Lincoln Birthplace N.H.P., and Big South Fork N.R.A.

Places that I think should also be added into the National Park system are...

1. Natural Bridge and Red River Gorge. Home to the largest collect of sandstone arches in Eastern North America, including the largest.

2. Cumberland Falls and Rockcastle River. Is the second largest verticle waterfall (in terms of volume) in North America - only Niagara is bigger. One of only places in the world where a "moon bow" (rainbow caused only by moon light) is visible

Rockcastle River is a boulder filled wild river, considered one of the top white water rivers in the nation

3. Cumberland Caves. An area of South East Kentucky that contains over 174 miles of caves - nearly as much as Carlsbad Caverns

5. Sinkholes "National Grassland". The area just south of Mammoth Cave is absolutely ridden with sink holes. This area has no streams because all rain water runs right into all the caves! It is hard to farm, so I'd love to see it become a national grassland (yes, Kentucky had grasslands, not just forests, in 1492) with native species like the buffalo and elk restored.

Places outside Kentucky I'd like to see added: Ruby Falls, TN the world's tallest underground waterfall.

[Traveler87]

I haven't got any pictures of the areas I am going to mention. I will follow the Terms of Service and just show you the Google images of the following:

Hocking Hills:

Located in South Eastern Ohio in the Appalachian Foothills region, this area is beautiful. Home to some of the most amazing waterfalls east of the Mississippi. This area is worth a trip to in the fall as well.

hocking hills - Google Search=

The Lake Erie Islands:

Commonly called the "Key West of the Midwest", these groups of islands are a great trip in the spring and summer. You have one of the world's most popular theme parks (Cedar Point) stretching out on a penisula not far from the islands. Great restaurants and party spots. Awesome monuments with great views, and tours of the islands. They have large ferries that leave from towns on the "mainland". A great collection of islands that should be turned into a national park not only for their beauty, but because of their formation from the glaciers.

Ohio's Lake Erie Islands - Google Search=

[davidals]

In North Carolina:

1. Linville Falls and Linville Gorge Wilderness:
The falls area is in the NPS already, as part of the Blue Ridge Pkwy. The remainder is national forest wilderness. It's one of the deepest canyons east of the Mississippi River, and has never been settled or developed due to the extremely rugged terrain. As this is already protected or federal land, this would be an easy one with obvious appeal.

2. Mount Mitchell:
Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the western High Plains; it's at the northern end of the most rugged stretch of the Appalachians, with a number of 6,000'-ers from there southwest towards the Smokies. A narrow sliver of ridgetop through this area is a state park, and a tiny piece at the southern end is Blue Ridge Pkwy (NPS). This is surrounded by a large area of game land, which is semi-protected (it's roadless national forest - you have to hike in), but does allow hunting, so it would perhaps be a bit more controversial.

3. Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, some surrounding land, and parts of Croatan National Forest:
This would be more complex to put together, and would be a tougher sell; the end result would be a park with two 'units' about 60 miles apart. This is in the tidewater/sound area of eastern NC, and would protect an odd geologic feature seen in the coastal plain from the Delmarva to Louisiana, but most plentiful in NE NC and SE VA: pocosins. Some are lakes, some are circular bogs filled with extremely dense subtropical scrub growth (palmettos and blackberries, etc), surrounded by stands of bald cypress and tall pines. Much of the area is swampy, and they are biological hotspots. They have never been developed due to the swampy or sandy land, interspersed with some large tidal river estuaries. They are pretty areas - you'd have to get into one of them to really appreciate their wildness, and they would conceivably be an economic boost to an area of the state that needs them. Much of the land is quasi-wilderness, but there would be difficulties in putting contiguous tracts together.