National Park of American Samoa

Established in 1988 on the islands of Tutuila, Ofu, and Ta'u in the South Pacific, this is the only US national park south of the equator and the only one where the land is leased from local villages rather than federally owned. It protects one of the last intact tropical rainforests in the Pacific, ancient coral reefs with more than 950 species of fish, and the culture of a Samoan people whose traditions predate Western contact by more than 3,000 years.