Parks & Partners

The Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network works with eight national parks, spanning the North Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Virginia. Altogether, our network comprises nearly 146,300 acres (or 60,000 hectares) of park land. If a football field is 1.32 acres, that means our region is equivalent to roughly 110,833 football fields! Our parks are critical coastal habitats for rare and endangered species, and migratory corridors for birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals. They are landscapes essential to maintaining clean water, fisheries, and the biological diversity of coastal, near-shore, and terrestrial environments.

In our pocket of the greater Atlantic coastline, we inventory rare and endangered species, migratory wildlife, and local plant communities. We also monitor the health of salt marshes, coastal shores, upland forests, and estuaries. Understanding and protecting the habitats, wildlife, and people of the North Atlantic coast is the goal of our science. Below are the eight national parks where we conduct inventories and long-term ecological monitoring that helps inform park management decisions. Explore around and see what we do at each park!

Our Parks

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  National Seashore

  Assateague Island

  Where wild horses roam free and lounge on the beach

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  National Seashore

  Cape Cod

  Where glaciers once laid and shipwrecked ruins stay

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  National Historical Park

  Colonial

  Where our country had its beginnings

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  National Seashore

  Fire Island

  Where its name has mysterious origins

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  National Recreation Area

  Gateway

  Where "wrong way" Corrigan took off in flight

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  National Monument

  George Washington Birthplace

  Where Josephine Wheelwright Rust revived a memorial on Washington's 200th birthday

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  National Historic Site

  Sagamore Hill

  Where Teddy Roosevelt lived and left his legacy

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  National Historic Site

  Thomas Stone

  Where the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence chose revolution

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Explore Our Network

We have parks in Massachusetts all the way down to Virginia. That's a lot of landmass to imagine. To help you visualize the geography of our network, we've created an interactive and immersive StoryMap that introduces you to the eight parks and partners we work with.

Zoom into our network

Like Our Parks?

Beyond collecting data at each park, our team also brings back stories from the field. Check out our science stories!