← SCENIC PARKS
FIELD GUIDE

Know Your
Public Lands

National parks, monuments, forests, BLM land, state parks — the labels mean different things. Who manages the land determines what's allowed, what's protected, and how you experience it.

NPS

National Park Service

430+ units

USFS

Forest Service (USDA)

154 forests

BLM

Bureau of Land Mgmt

245M acres

State

State Agencies

10,000+ parks

Land Designations

tap any card to expand

One more thing: Many of the best places in the West don't carry any of these designations. County roads, private ranch access, state trust lands, and plain undesignated federal land fill the gaps between the named places. The map is bigger than the labels on it.