Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You're not going to find a larger city that is more (and literally) surrounded by plentiful, super close (some way less than an hour) national/state parks and recreation areas (some completely within city limits) than Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County alone has 12 state parks and 5 state beaches. Los Angeles MSA (LA+Orange) has 15 state parks and 10 state beaches.
You have the Santa Monica Mountains to the West-Northwest, the country's largest urban national park (241 sq. mi), with more area codes (5) and zip codes (26) than any other unit in the National Park System. Within the Santa Monica Mountains...one of the largest state parks (Topanga State Park) and one of the largest municipal parks (Griffith Park) in the country.
Further Northwest you have the Santa Susana Mountains and Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.
You have the Pacific Ocean to the West and the beaches along the coast - Will Rogers Beach State Park, Malibu Lagoon State Beach, Santa Monica Beach State Park, Dockweiler Beach State Park, Manhattan Beach State Park, Redondo Beach State Park, Bolsa Chica Beach State Park, Huntington Beach State Park, Crystal Cove State Park, etc, etc.
To the North you have the San Gabriel Mountains, which contains Angeles National Forests. Also Castaic Lake State Recreation Area.
To the East you have Chino Hills State Park. Farther East and Southeast you have San Bernardino National Forest, Lake Perris State Recreation Area, and Joshua Tree National Park (but these are 1+ hours away).
Off the coast in the Pacific you have Channel Islands National Park, which falls in LA, Ventura, and Santa Barbara County.
List of State Parks...
Los Angeles County:
-Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve (State natural reserve)
-Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park (State park)
-Castaic Lake State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Dockweiler State Beach (State beach)
-Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Los Angeles State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Los Encinos State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Malibu Creek State Park (State park)
-Malibu Lagoon State Beach (State beach)
-PÃo Pico State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Placerita Canyon State Park (State park)
-Rio de Los Angeles State Park (State recreation area)
-Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach (State beach)
-Saddleback Butte State Park (State park)
-Santa Monica State Beach (State beach)
-Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Topanga State Park (State park)
-Verdugo Mountains (Park property)
-Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Will Rogers State Beach (State beach)
-Will Rogers State Historic Park (State historic park )
Los Angeles County/Ventura County:
-Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area (State vehicular recreation area)
-Leo Carrillo State Park (State park)
Orange County:
-Bolsa Chica State Beach (State beach)
-Corona del Mar State Beach (State beach)
-Crystal Cove State Park (State park)
-Doheny State Beach (State beach)
-Huntington State Beach (State beach)
-San Clemente State Beach (State beach)
Orange County/Riverside County/San Bernardino County:
-Chino Hills State Park (State park)
Riverside County:
-California Citrus State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Indio Hills Palms (Park property)
-Lake Perris State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Mount San Jacinto State Park (State park)
-San Timoteo Canyon (Park property)
-Wildwood Canyon (Park property)
San Bernardino County:
-Providence Mountains State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
Ventura County:
-Emma Wood State Beach (State beach)
-Mandalay State Beach (State beach)
-McGrath State Beach (State beach)
-Point Dume State Beach (State beach)
-Point Mugu State Park (State park)
-San Buenaventura State Beach (State beach)
List of National Parks...
-Channel Islands National Park
-Joshua Tree National Park
San Francisco might be it. Preserved land (state and national park) rings most of the urban area. Golden Gate National Recreation Area lands surround the Bay Area.
You're not going to find a larger city that is more (and literally) surrounded by plentiful, super close (some way less than an hour) national/state parks and recreation areas (some completely within city limits) than Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County alone has 12 state parks and 5 state beaches. Los Angeles MSA (LA+Orange) has 15 state parks and 10 state beaches.
You have the Santa Monica Mountains to the West-Northwest, the country's largest urban national park (241 sq. mi), with more area codes (5) and zip codes (26) than any other unit in the National Park System. Within the Santa Monica Mountains...one of the largest state parks (Topanga State Park) and one of the largest municipal parks (Griffith Park) in the country.
Further Northwest you have the Santa Susana Mountains and Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.
You have the Pacific Ocean to the West and the beaches along the coast - Will Rogers Beach State Park, Malibu Lagoon State Beach, Santa Monica Beach State Park, Dockweiler Beach State Park, Manhattan Beach State Park, Redondo Beach State Park, Bolsa Chica Beach State Park, Huntington Beach State Park, Crystal Cove State Park, etc, etc.
To the North you have the San Gabriel Mountains, which contains Angeles National Forests. Also Castaic Lake State Recreation Area.
To the East you have Chino Hills State Park. Farther East and Southeast you have San Bernardino National Forest, Lake Perris State Recreation Area, and Joshua Tree National Park (but these are 1+ hours away).
Off the coast in the Pacific you have Channel Islands National Park, which falls in LA, Ventura, and Santa Barbara County.
List of State Parks...
Los Angeles County:
-Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve (State natural reserve)
-Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park (State park)
-Castaic Lake State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Dockweiler State Beach (State beach)
-Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Los Angeles State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Los Encinos State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Malibu Creek State Park (State park)
-Malibu Lagoon State Beach (State beach)
-PÃo Pico State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Placerita Canyon State Park (State park)
-Rio de Los Angeles State Park (State recreation area)
-Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach (State beach)
-Saddleback Butte State Park (State park)
-Santa Monica State Beach (State beach)
-Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Topanga State Park (State park)
-Verdugo Mountains (Park property)
-Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Will Rogers State Beach (State beach)
-Will Rogers State Historic Park (State historic park )
Los Angeles County/Ventura County:
-Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area (State vehicular recreation area)
-Leo Carrillo State Park (State park)
Orange County:
-Bolsa Chica State Beach (State beach)
-Corona del Mar State Beach (State beach)
-Crystal Cove State Park (State park)
-Doheny State Beach (State beach)
-Huntington State Beach (State beach)
-San Clemente State Beach (State beach)
Orange County/Riverside County/San Bernardino County:
-Chino Hills State Park (State park)
Riverside County:
-California Citrus State Historic Park (State historic park)
-Indio Hills Palms (Park property)
-Lake Perris State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Mount San Jacinto State Park (State park)
-San Timoteo Canyon (Park property)
-Wildwood Canyon (Park property)
San Bernardino County:
-Providence Mountains State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
-Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area (State recreation area)
Ventura County:
-Emma Wood State Beach (State beach)
-Mandalay State Beach (State beach)
-McGrath State Beach (State beach)
-Point Dume State Beach (State beach)
-Point Mugu State Park (State park)
-San Buenaventura State Beach (State beach)
List of National Parks...
-Channel Islands National Park
-Joshua Tree National Park
What is interesting, is that the fact that the metro area is hemmed in by all this beautiful countryside off limits to development - is actually one of the reasons for peoples' biggest gripes about coastal/urban California living: being expensive. when you have less room to build - it brings up the cost of housing. But I'm willing to sacrifice personal space to bring down my costs to have all this wilderness.
San Francisco might be it. Preserved land (state and national park) rings most of the urban area. Golden Gate National Recreation Area lands surround the Bay Area.
Largest Metro Area Surrounded By The Largest Amount of (National or State) Park Lands?
Quote:
Originally Posted by brubaker
NOT National Forest Land.
In the Lower 48.
Any Thoughts?
Any Stats?
Any Links?
Thank you...I'm looking into it myself and will report back what I find.
Can always use help though.
And like sharing the results of my personal little explorations.
Miami and The Everglades.
Looking at a map of South Florida I would say the correct answer is Miami. The entire western flank of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area is various types of parkland and reserves as part of the Everglades. These parks spread all the way to the Gulf of Mexico in the west and Florida Bay in the South.
Starting from the north in Palm Beach county you have national and state water conservation areas such as the Arthur Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refugee of almost 146,000 acres. To the west you have the Big Cypress National Preserve of 720,000 acres. South of that is of course the Everglade National Park of over 1,500,000 acres.
Just south of the city of Miami itself you have the Biscayne Bay National Park of 172,000 acres and then going down the coast to the Keys you have a long series of National Wildlife Refugees and State parks like John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park which protect areas of mangroves and coral reefs.
The South Florida metro area is actually "hemmed" in between the Everglades and the Atlantic as a long narrow urban area running north and south. While there are other cities which are hemmed in some way(Juneau Alaska comes to mind), I am not sure if any have their entire flank as conservation land like South Florida does.
I'd probably say Los Angeles. It has some massive areas of completely undeveloped parkland/open space surrounding it. Not too many places where you can go from such dense sprawl to completely undedeveloped land for miles. Miami would be an example of that with the Everglades.
San Francisco might be it. Preserved land (state and national park) rings most of the urban area. Golden Gate National Recreation Area lands surround the Bay Area.
Maybe the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area of NY due to it's proximity to the Adirondacks and being not too far from the Catskills.
Maybe Seattle, Las Vegas, Buffalo and NYC....?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westerner92
I don't know about state parks, but Seattle has three national parks (Mt. Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades) within a short drive. Denver has Rocky Mountains Nat'l. Park closeby.
Seattle and Albany (the Capital District) look like they are surrounded by huge amounts of parkland. However they are not surrounded by a continuous mass of parkland like I was saying about Miami but still excellent choices.
California has many state and local conservation areas and both San Francisco and Los Angeles look like they have alot. Los Angeles would even be better if the OP would let us consider National Forests, not sure why he does not. Then again Seattle and Albany also have National Forest lands nearby.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Largest Metro Area Surrounded By The Largest Amount of (National or State) Park Lands?
