Every National Park is special and unique. Each has natural resources (like plants, trees, birds, insects, fish, land) and cultural resources (such as very old homes, factories, battlefields, forts, roads, or even ancient dwellings). The National Park Service works to preserve these resources, and to help visitors learn about and appreciate them.

To help us in our mission, the National Park Service uses a system of abbreviations, sort of like codes, for park names. The “code name” generally uses the first four letters of the park name. For Saratoga National Historical Park, the abbreviation is SARA. Morristown National Historical Park, in New Jersey, is MORR. Parks with more than one name generally use the first two letters of the first two words in the park name. Fort Stanwix National Monument, in Rome, NY, becomes FOST. There are exceptions: Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico is CAVE.

How many can you figure out? For added fun, see if you can find each of these on a map of the United States. You can learn more about each park on the National Park Service web site, www.nps.gov, at home, at school, or in your local library!

(answers are at the bottom of the page)

1) Minute Man National Historical Park (Lexington and Concord, MA)

2) Acadia National Park (Bar Harbor, ME)

3) Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (St. Augustine, FL)

4) Hot Springs National Park (Hot Springs, AR)

5) Yellowstone National Park (Yellowstone National Park, WY)

1) MIMA

2) ACAD

3) CAST

4) HOSP

5) YELL