$197 million

Non-federal funds raised for construction of the memorial. The federal government kicked in an addition $16 million.

4,118,528

Recreational visits in 2009.

4,048

Gold stars on the memorial’s Freedom Wall. Each star is meant to symbolize (roughly) 100 Americans who died in the war. The official tally is 405,399 lives lost.

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There is a lot more to Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park than meets the eye.

Billions and billions

Number of zooxanthellae, the tiny single-celled algae that give coral polyps their vivid colors as well as most of their energy.

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Memorial Day will see tens of thousands of people converging on the National Mall in our nation’s capital. Many will visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and its iconic deep-vee black marble wall bearing the names of more than 58,000 American casualties.

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Located less than 90 miles from Seattle, Washington’s sprawling North Cascades National Park Service Complex is a treasure trove of ecological diversity and a rugged wilderness playground for sightseers, hikers, climbers, and boaters.

684,303

Total acreage of North Cascades National Park (504,781 acres), Ross Lake National Recreation Area (117,575 acres) and Lake Chelan National Recre

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Saguaro National Park has a split personality, both due to the sprawling city of Tucson that lies between Saguaro’s two lobes, and because of the two diverse habitats you’ll find in the two districts.

40,000,000

Estimated number of seeds a 150-200 year-old saguaro will produce during

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Hemmed in by ancient volcanic rocks, the Gunnison River carved a narrow canyon with monolithic rock walls that rise over 2,000 feet above the river.

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Yosemite National Park entertains millions every year with alpine wilderness, sequoia groves, and a glacier-carved valley of unmatched beauty. Let’s take a look at some interesting visitor use statistics for this big, gorgeous park.

Except where noted, the statistics cited are for calendar year 2009.

3,866,970

Recreational visits.

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1,120,981

Recreational visits to Shenandoah National Park in 2009. That’s an increase of 4.2% over last year, but still far below the peak attendance of 2.8 million (in 1977).

199,045

Acreage (equal to 311 square miles). Shenandoah is long and narrow, being 105 miles long and nowhere more than about 15 miles wide.

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Statistics can’t do justice to Yellowstone National Park, but numbers help to reveal some of its many facets.

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