Which place became the United States’ first national park, a landmark included in the natural heritage celebrated by America250?

Yellowstone National Park became the United States’ first national park in 1872.

President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on March 1, 1872. The law set aside more than two million acres in the territories of Montana and Wyoming as a public park and pleasure ground for the benefit of present and future generations.

Yellowstone is famous for geothermal features including Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Yellowstone Caldera. It also protects a large ecosystem containing bison, grizzly bears, wolves, elk, and many other species.

Yellowstone was not the first area in the world to receive special protection, and it was not originally a state park. Its creation established the national-park model later used throughout the United States and internationally, making it a major part of the nation’s long civic and environmental history.