World Heritage Sites

Alpine wildflowers bloom on the slopes of Olympic National Park.

NPS

Across the globe, over 1,000 World Heritage Sites are protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Each site is recognized for its outstanding natural or cultural heritage values. Several US mountain parks are designated as World Heritage Sites in recognition of their contribution to the natural heritage of humanity.

Celebrated every December 11 is International Mountain Day, an observance day to raise international awareness about the role of mountains in the lives of people and the importance to the planet. It was first promoted by a 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development. International Year of Mountains was designated in 2002 and in 2003 was the first International Mountain Day.

Learn about the outstanding values that qualify these mountain parks as World Heritage Sites:

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  Great Smoky Mountains National Park

  Known for its unusually rich collection of temperate zone plants and animals that survived the Pleistocene glaciations.

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  Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

  Two of the most active volcanoes in the world, Mauna Loa and Kilauea, occur here.

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  Glacier Bay and nearby protected areas

  The Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek national parks and protected areas are known for icefields and glaciers.

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  Olympic National Park

  From coastline to rainforest to glaciated peaks, this park contains a wide variety of life zones.

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  Yellowstone National Park

  Known for its spectacular collection of geothermal features, including geysers.

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  Yosemite National Park

  This park showcases the magnificent effects of glaciers carving granite over time.