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World Heritage Sites in the

Governor’s House, and Red-footed booby, Morning Glory Pool, Black bear, Great Smoky San Juan National Historical Site Papahaˉnaumokuaˉkea Yellowstone National Park © MICHAEL BELL PIXABAY/SKEEZE Mountains National Park © HARVEY BARRISON © KRIS KRUG JEFF SULLIVAN PHOTOGRAPHY © MICHAEL LOYD

2 1 Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / 3 Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek vii • ix vii • viii • ix • x - 1981 Waterton-Glacier (US), CANADA - 1979 Features temperate rainforest, glaciers, International Peace Park Over 24 million acres of wild lands and peaks, alpine meadows, old-growth vii • ix waters are changed by glaciers and forest, and coastline. Critical (US), Canada - 1995 volcanic activity. habitat for endangered species including World’s first international peace park. Rich www.nps.gov/glba, www.nps.gov/wrst and bull trout. biodiversity and outstanding scenery with www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/yt/kluane www.nps.gov/olym prairie, forest, alpine, and glacial features. www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore © MIKE CRISS Grinnell Point www.nps.gov/glac © MIKE KOCH Old Faithful © MARK STEVENS www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/waterton/ © STEVE BOND 23 Yellowstone National Park vii • viii • ix • x Mounds 4 , MONTANA, State Historic Site - 1978 Preserved for All Humanity iii • iv Renowned for geothermal features, - 1982 Yellowstone has the world’s largest With over 1,100 properties, the World Heritage List This urban complex flourished 1000– concentration of geysers. Protects 1350 CE (Common Era). Regional cen- shows a shared global commitment to preserve the grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and . ter for prehistoric . www.cahokiamounds.org www.nps.gov/yell world’s most important natural and cultural sites. Monks Mound Learn more about the World Heritage sites in the © JIM WARK/AIRPHOTO 22 United States, described here with selection criteria Statue of Liberty 5 Redwood National in Roman numerals (details other side), location, in- i • vi and State Parks - 1984 scription year, and websites. The Passport booklet This gift from France to the United States is vii • ix a symbol of international friendship, peace, - 1980 progress, freedom, democracy, and human Coastal mountain home to California brown World Heritage Sites in the United States can be pur- migration. Renowned for art and engineering. pelicans, sea lions, bald eagles, and ancient chased at www.eparks.com. For more on the World www.nps.gov/stli redwood forest—the world’s tallest trees. Pixabay www.nps.gov/redw Heritage List: whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/us. © AMY HUDECHEK

Natural Cultural Mixed

Papahaˉnaumokuaˉkea 21 6 iii • vi • viii • ix • x - 2010 This vast living “cultural seascape” embodies kinship of people to place in Native Hawaiian vi cosmology. Includes seamounts, endemic - 1979 species, critical habitats, and coral reefs. An international symbol of www.papahanaumokuakea.gov freedom and democracy, this Greg McFall / NOAA 18th-century building is where the Declaration of Indepen- dence and Constitution were created and signed. 20 Hawai’i Volcanoes www.nps.gov/inde National Park © TODD LANDRY viii HAWAII - 1987 21 Earth’s greatest mass of volcanoes, 7 including and Kilauea, PACIFIC tower over a “hotspot” in the man- National Park OCEAN Hawaii tle. Continuous geologic activity 20 viii • ix • x builds an ever changing landscape 0 800 Kilometers - 1979 home to rare and endemic species. 0 800 Miles North America’s largest subtropical www.nps.gov/havo wilderness has several vital habitats for NPS plants and animals including Florida 19 panthers and manatees. Key area for bird migration and breeding. vii • viii www.nps.gov/ever CALIFORNIA - 1984 © CARLTON WARD JR. Glacial erosion helped sculpt 18 this scenic landscape. Soaring granite cliffs, polished domes, Chaco Culture high waterfalls, sequoia groves, Castillo San wilderness, deep-cut valleys, iii - 1987 Felipe del Morro and alpine meadow habitats. © ANGEL LOPEZ www.nps.gov/yose Prehistoric, monumental masonry structures © JOCELYN PANTALEON HIDALGO in Chaco Canyon, along with a network of roads and outlier sites like Aztec Ruins, exhibit the vast influence of the ancestral Puebloan La Fortaleza and San Juan culture on the Southwestern landscape. National Historic Site www.nps.gov/azru, www.nps.gov/chcu The 20th-century Architecture © OJEFFREY PHOTOGRAPHY vi of Frank Lloyd Wright - 1983 ii Strategic defensive structures 8 EIGHT US LOCATIONS - 2019 represent early European military These buildings reflect the worldwide architecture, engineering, and influence of American architect Frank Lloyd history in the Americas. 10 www.nps.gov/saju Wright. Using innovative materials and Solomon R. designs, his organic architecture blurs the Guggenheim Monumental Earthworks boundary between nature and humanity. of www.savewright.org © ARND DEWALD iii 17 - 2014 Earthen construction complex of five mounds, six concentric ridges, iii and a central plaza dates to 3700– - 1978 3100 BCE (Before Common Era). Prehistoric village sites­­, including hundreds of 16 www.povertypoint.us ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, provide www.nps.gov/popo glimpses into the past and present lifeways of Carlsbad Caverns National Park © LOUISIANA OFFICE OF TOURISM the Southwest’s American Indian peoples. www.nps.gov/meve vii • viii © MICHAEL KANEMOTO NEW MEXICO - 1995 9 11 This extensive cave system is profusely National Park decorated with spectacular and ornate Mammoth Cave National Park 15 cave formations. Huge chambers, unusual vii • viii • ix • x vii • viii • ix Grand Canyon National Park origin, bat flights, and desert ecosystem. , KENTUCKY - 1981 - 1983 vii viii ix x www.nps.gov/cave 100 million years of geological history continues • • • Among earth’s oldest mountains, - 1979 NPS in the world’s longest network of natural caves the Smokies feature old-growth This grandest ongoing geological spectacle is and underground passageways. Some flora and forest and thousands of species. a stunning display of Earth’s history. Volcanic fauna are known to exist only here. www.nps.gov/grsm features, eroded landforms, waterfalls, white- www.nps.gov/maca © KEN GABLES water, and an array of plants and animals. NPS www.nps.gov/grca 13 © Tom Gotchy San Antonio Missions ii 12 TEXAS - 2015 and the University Five frontier mission complexes and of in Charlottesville Taos 14 a date to the 1700s. Styles i • iv • vi iv weaving Spanish and indigenous VIRGINIA - 1987 NEW MEXICO - 1992 elements showing an interchange The sites of President Thomas Jefferson’s The dwellings and ceremonial buildings of of cultures and values. plantation home and “academical village.” this pre-Hispanic adobe settlement illustrate Mission Concepción www.nps.gov/saan Jefferson’s architectural designs link the traditional architecture and culture of the © ALEX ALDANA www.thealamo.org American and classical ideals. Pueblo people of Arizona and New Mexico. www.monticello.org, www.virginia.edu www.taospueblo.com © Ellen Dunn Monticello © JACK LOONEY PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION The World Heritage Convention

Conserving Humanity’s Common Heritage ONIO MU IM N Kudu, iSimangaliso Wetland Imagine a world without the pyramids of Egypt, Conserving them helps the world connect continuously R D The World Heritage emblem symbolizes T IA

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A © EVI VERVUEREN O the Serengeti, or the Great Barrier Reef. What about through humanity’s common heritage. These sites— I the interdependence of cultural and

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O H the Grand Canyon, Everglades, or Statue of Liberty? and our care for them—represent our human legacies, M natural properties. The square is a E R E I T IN AG O World Heritage sites like these are as diverse and our present lives, and what we pass on to future E • PATRIM form created by humankind and the unique as the lands and peoples­ of our planet. Yet generations. Working together, the people and nations circle represents nature, the two being many of the world’s irreplaceable properties come of the world can protect the places that tell our shared intimately linked. The emblem is round under threat from deterioration, natural disasters, human story. like the world, and at the same time it is civil strife, or insufficient resources for their care. a symbol of protection.

Temple of Angkor Wat, Sea lion, Galápagos Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya, Moai, Rapa Nui Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands Angkor, Cambodia Islands, Ecuador Zambia / Zimbabwe National Park, Chile (Palmaria, Tino, and Tinetto), Italy PIXABAY © THOMAS POROSTOCKY PIXABAY/ FIETZFOTOS © DR. ALBAN MIRABAUD © IAN WITHNALL

A Shared Promise to Protect the World’s Heritage Safeguarding World Heritage Sites After the United States established Yellowstone as the US national park idea throughout the world. The United Cooperation is vital to conserving World Heritage sites. The administers several World world’s first national park in 1872, a movement progressed States was the first country to ratify the Convention, which Nations identify and nominate their properties to be Heritage sites in the United States; others are managed by to conserve more natural and cultural heritage across the today has over 190 signatory states. Yellowstone and Mesa considered for the World Heritage List—a global collection states, tribes, local governments, or private owners. The United States. This movement, in a variety of forms, Verde national parks were in the first group of sites selected of properties whose preservation is enhanced through United States and Canada jointly nominated bordering eventually spread across the globe. One century later, in for the World Heritage List in 1978. Now, more than 1,000 international cooperation. The World Heritage Committee parks to be two World Heritage sites: Waterton-Glacier 1972, the United States played a key role in developing an World Heritage sites in over 160 countries are recognized. reviews the properties for their “outstanding universal and Wrangell-St.Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek/ international treaty called the Convention Concerning the The Convention has become one of history’s largest value” to humanity, and selected sites are inscribed on the Kluane. These designations underscore the nations’ Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Aiming collective conservation efforts, fostering international World Heritage List. Nations pledge to protect their sites mutually beneficial interaction in long-term resource to enhance understanding and appreciation of heritage cooperation and making strides across the globe to protect while retaining sovereignty and control over them. management and day-to-day activities. conservation, many see the Convention as applying the humanity’s shared heritage.

AGE JUN IT IO Selection Criteria Global Partnerships ER R H R A To be included on the World Heritage List, a site must be of “outstanding universal value” and meet at least one of The National Park Service (NPS) Office of International D More Information L N

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ten selection criteria. A site must also meet standards for integrity (must be complete) and authenticity (must be Affairs works to promote the NPS mission to extend the O E

R Office of International Affairs W credible and truthful) and have good management and strong legal protection. benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and 1849 C Street, NW Mail Stop 2415 outdoor recreation throughout the United States and the Washington, DC 20240 CULTURAL CRITERIA vi • Be directly or tangibly associated with events or living 202-354-1800 world. NPS works with World Heritage site managers to help i • Represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and www.nps.gov/orgs/1955 them better protect their own natural and cultural heritage, literary works of outstanding universal significance. Visit us on social media. EXPLORE, LEARN, ii • Exhibit an important interchange of human values on providing technical assistance and promoting exchanges of www.facebook.com/ AND PROTECT! NPSInternationalAffairs developments in architecture, technology, monumental arts, NATURAL CRITERIA best practices in site conservation and management. town planning, or landscape design. vii • Contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of The National Park Service Junior National Park Service World exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. Heritage in the United States Zebras, Ngorongoro Ranger program provides learning iii • Bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a www.nps.gov/subjects/ Conservation Area, opportunities for people of all ages. cultural tradition or to a civilization that is living or has viii • Be outstanding examples representing major stages Tanzania internationalcooperation/ © PHILIPPE CLAIRO worldheritage.htm disappeared. of Earth’s history. To earn your official World Heritage Junior Ranger badge and certificate, United Nations Educational, iv • Be an outstanding example of a type of building, ix • Be outstanding examples representing significant complete a series of fun activities, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) architectural, or technological ensemble or landscape that ongoing ecological and biological processes. then share your answers with World Heritage List illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history. National Park Service staff. Learn whc.unesco.org/en/list/ x • Contain the most important and significant natural more at www.nps.gov/subjects/ IGPO:2019—407-308/82436 New in 2019 v • Be an outstanding example of a traditional human habitats for in-place conservation of biological diversity. Printed on recycled paper. internationalcooperation/ settlement, land use, or sea use representative of a culture. world-heritage-junior-rangers.htm.