What was the first U.S. national park, a landmark in America250’s conservation history?

Yellowstone National Park was the first U.S. national park, making it a landmark in America250’s conservation history. Congress established it on March 1, 1872, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act.

Yellowstone occupies parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It is famous for geothermal features including Old Faithful, hot springs, mudpots, and the Grand Prismatic Spring.

The park’s establishment created a model for protecting a large natural landscape for public enjoyment and preservation. The national-park idea later spread across the United States and influenced protected-area systems in other countries.

Yosemite became a national park in 1890, while Sequoia and Grand Canyon received that designation later. Yellowstone is therefore the correct answer when the question asks for the first national park, rather than the oldest protected landscape under any category.