National park National Park in 1914. The UK waited until 1951 for the designation of its first national park, The Peak District National Park which sits at the southern end of the Pennine Hills surrounded by industrial cities. This followed perhaps 70 years of pressure for greater public access to the landscape. By the end of the decade a further 9 national parks had been designated. Europe has some 359 national parks as of 2010. Africa's first national park was established in 1925 when Albert I of Belgium designated an area of what is now Democratic Republic of Congo centred on the
Kenai Fjords National Park drew similar conclusions to the first study's majority opinion. In 1964 George B. Hartzog Jr., director of the National Park Service, initiated a new study entitled "Operation Great Land", advocating the development and promotion of the existing Alaska parks. Follow-up action by Hartzog brought the Park Service into discussions over the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The Kenai Fjords area was not considered to be of the first priority for park designation under the ANCSA. The earliest proposals for a national park at the Kenai Fjords was raised in the 1970s. In 1971 the Seward National Recreation Area was