California National Parks - Park System California

Top Ten State Parks by attendance:

1. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
2. Huntington State Beach
3. Sonoma Coast State Beach
4. Seacliff State Beach
5. Bolsa Chica State Beach
6. San Onofre State Beach
7. Doheny State Beach
8. Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area
9. New Brighton State Beach
10. Malibu Lagoon State Beach.

California National Parks provide stunning contrasts and colors as seen in the
California National Parks (nps.gov) are entities operated under a national land management system. Their diversity both geographically and in offerings are striking. Some are located on the Pacific Ocean with others situated in California's arid deserts. The National Park Service maintains a total of 23 different units in California including nine National Parks. National Park Service areas offer visitors a wide variety of adventures from historical and cultural experiences to natural wonders seen nowhere else on earth. Not to be confused with the 278 California State Parks (parks.ca.gov) operated by a division of the State of California, the National Parks have their own set of regulations for parking, camping and fee structure. California State Parks parks.ca.gov

278 parks in the California State Park System in 23 districts, include five in the Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division. With a total of 1.5 million acres of land are owned by California State Parks (CSP), the area makes up nearly 1.5% of the total area of California.

There are 549,500 acres of designated State Wilderness within the State Park System, making up 99.7% of the entire California Wilderness System.

Over 6.7 million feet of waterfront are owned by CSP. This includes 3.4 million feet of lakefront, 1.6 million feet (295 miles) of ocean front, and 1.7 million feet of river front. CSP provides the public with: over 13,800 individual and group camp sites, 662 overnight facilities, nearly 7,000 picnic sites, and 3,800 miles of non-motorized trails. Over 77 million people visited California State Parks in a fiscal year.

Top Attendance by Unit Type: State Historic Park–Old Town San Diego; State Beach – Huntington State Park – Morro Bay State Vehicular Recreation Area – Oceano Dunes State Recreation Area – Lake Oroville State Reserve – Armstrong Redwoods; State Historic Monument – Hearst San Simeon SHM Ten California State Parks were named to the Top 100 Family Campgrounds in the U.S. in a survey conducted by Reserve America: Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Brannan Island State Recreation Area, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, MacKerricher State Park, Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, Mount Diablo State Park, Patrick's Point State Park, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, Salt Point State Park.

A significant portion of California's natural and cultural resources are protected by California State Parks: 94% of the 1.5 million acres of the State Park System is managed for natural resource values. California State Parks is responsible for documentation, preservation and care of 10,000 known prehistoric and historic archeological sites, 3,000 historic buildings, and more than 6 million museum objects, archival documents and specimens.

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