B. Anthony Stewart/National Geographic/Getty Images
Indiana Dunes National Park is located at the southern end of Lake Michigan. See more pictures of national parks.
Imagine for a moment that you're hiking around Indiana Dunes National Park. You're slipping around in black sand dunes on trails that wind along wetland bogs. Prehistoric-looking ferns and rare, endangered wildflowers of every type stretch as far as the eye can see. Old, bent black oak trees spring up around you from the sand, creating the feel of a fairy tale forest. When you reach the top, the land opens up to reveal rolling, naked dunes that gently slope down to the sandy shores of Lake Michigan. You smile, because you know that without the intervention of dedicated people, this pristine shoreline might easily have become just another strip mall or the site of another steel mill, like the two that already flank the park. You're happy because you can tangibly enjoy something that the government has provided for you.
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National parks are here to preserve. They represent the best of what any nation has to offer -- from interesting land formations, endangered species and dynamic ecosystems, to historical artifacts and cave paintings. National parks are here to remind us of the rich diversity that our world has to offer. They help us celebrate past cultures and function as living laboratories for scientists, botanists, archaeologists and any curious visitor in search of something new.
Do you know the name of the oldest national park in the world? Find out on the next page.
