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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Map of State Parks of Pennsylvania (Each dot is linked to the corresponding park article) |
This List of Pennsylvania state parks contains the 120 state parks in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, as of 2007.[1] The Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, a division of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), is the governing body for all these parks, and directly operates 111 of them. The remaining nine are operated in cooperation with other public and private organizations.[a]
Included are three other lists: other names of nine Pennsylvania state parks; eighteen former state parks; and other names of two former state parks. Five former parks have been transferred to the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, four to the National Park Service, two to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, one to both the Corps and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, five to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry, and one has ceased to exist.
The list gives an overview of Pennsylvania state parks and a brief history of their development since the first park opened in 1893. State parks range in size from 3 acres (0.01 km²) to 21,122 acres (85.48 km²), with nearly one percent (0.96%) of Pennsylvania's land as state park land. According to Dan Cupper (1993), "Pennsylvania is the thirty third largest state, but only Alaska and California have more park land".
[edit] Current parks
| Park Name | County or Counties | Area in acres (km²) | Date founded |
Stream(s) and / or Lake(s) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegheny Islands State Park | Allegheny County | 43 acres (0.17 km²) | 1980 | Allegheny River | Three islands near Pittsburgh with no facilities, no plans for future development |
| Archbald Pothole State Park | Lackawanna County | 150 acres (0.61 km²) | 1964 | None | One of world's largest potholes, 38 ft (12 m) deep, largest diameter 42 feet (13 m) by 24 feet (7 m) |
| Bald Eagle State Park | Centre County | 5,900 acres (23.88 km²) | 1971 | Bald Eagle Creek, Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir | 1,730 acre (7.00 km²) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir named for Medal of Honor recipient |
| Beltzville State Park | Carbon County | 2,973 acres (12.03 km²) | 1972 | Pohopoco Creek, Beltzville Lake | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake is 949 acres (3.84 km²) with 19.8 miles (31.9 km) of shoreline |
| Bendigo State Park | Elk County | 100 acres (0.4 km²) | 1959 | East Branch Clarion River | Only 20 acres (0.08 km²) is developed, name is a corruption of Abednego |
