at 750 000 acres yosemite national park is about the size of what state
Yosemite National Park The 1,189 sq mi (3,080 km2) park is roughly the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and contains thousands of lakes and ponds, 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of streams, 800 miles (1,300 km) of hiking trails, and 350 miles (560 km) of roads.[48] Two federally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, the Merced and the Tuolumne, begin within Yosemite's borders and flow westward through the Sierra foothills, into the Central Valley of California. On average, about 4 million people visit the park each year,[3] with most visitor use concentrated in the seven-square-mile (18 km2) area of Yosemite Valley.[48]
Yosemite National Park On average, about 4 million people visit Yosemite each year,[3] and most spend the majority of their time in the 5.9 square miles (15 km2) of Yosemite Valley.[7] The park set a visitation record in 2016, surpassing 5 million visitors for the first time in its history.[9] Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea. First, Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, ultimately leading to President Abraham Lincoln's signing the Yosemite Grant in 1864. Later, John Muir led a successful movement to establish a larger national park encompassing not just the valley, but surrounding mountains and forests as well—paving the way for the U.S. National Park system.[10]
Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park (/joʊˈsɛmɪtɪ/, yoh-SEM-i-tee)[4] is an American national park located in the western Sierra Nevada of Central California,[5][6] bounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park, which is managed by the U.S. National Park Service, covers an area of 747,956 acres (1,168.681 sq mi; 302,687 ha; 3,026.87 km2)[2] and sits in four counties: centered in Tuolumne and Mariposa, extending north and east to Mono and south to Madera County. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity.[7] Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness.[8]
Yosemite National Park Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet (648 to 3,997Â m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. Of California's 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% within Yosemite. There is suitable habitat for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.[9]