Featured image: Banff National Park is Canada’s first National Park and the world’s third national park refuge,  part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site / Photo from Envato 

Discover national parks around the globe

While we might think that National Parks are a U.S. phenomenon, there are 6,500 all around the world. In fact, Australia has the most National Parks at 800; the most-visited is the Blue Mountains National Park in New South Wales, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home of the famous Three Sisters rock formation.

Canada established the world’s first National Park Service in 1911, with the U.S. to follow in 1916. In Canada, approximately 343,456 square kilometres of land in Canada are protected though 37 national parks, 11 national park reserves and 1 national urban park. There are 63 National Parks in the United States, and 67 in Mexico. Across Asia, there are nearly 1,000 established National Parks in China, India, and Thailand, and in South America, the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile is the most visited park on the continent. In Europe, some of the most well known include Plitvice National Park in Croatia or Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park in Italy, home to the stunning peaks of the Dolomites.

National parks preserve biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and provide opportunities for volunteerism.  In our upcoming National Parks webinar, we’ll journey across continents to explore national parks that offer women wild places to challenge and revitalize us. Get started with Jennifer Bain’s article “25 Less-Travelled National Parks” and come with your own recommendations too.  Special thanks to Hawaii National Parks for supporting this webinar.

Webinar details: Less-Travelled National Parks

Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2025

When: 7 pm EST (check local time zones here)

Where: Zoom! Sign up below for the link. Capacity is 100 women. The session will be recorded and shared on our YouTube channel for those who can’t join us. As always, participants are welcome to share their experiences and ask questions.

These webinars are offered to all women at no charge, but we are asking for your support to pay our hosts and team who help produce these. Please consider supporting our efforts to help women travel safely and well here. 

Our expert panelists

For this event, our moderator is JourneyWoman contributor Jennifer Bain, an award-winning journalist who is the Canada editor of U.S.-based National Parks Traveler. Jennifer spent 18 years at the Toronto Star as food editor and then travel editor. She has written two cookbooks and three travel books. She lives in Toronto and summers on Fogo Island in Newfoundland and Labrador (which cheekily calls itself one of four corners of the flat earth).

Jessica Ferracane
Public Affairs Specialist, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Panelist Biographies

• Chris Braunlich, Conservation Volunteers International Program (VIP) : ConservationVIP is an environmental nonprofit dedicated to helping sustain some of the world’s greatest landscapes, cultural heritage sites, and biodiversity.  Since 2008 ConservationVIP has led more than 1,600 volunteers on trips to some of the world’s greatest landscapes and cultural heritage sites, including Machu Picchu, the Galapagos, Cinque Terre, and the Scottish Highlands, to volunteer on important conservation and preservation projects. This hands-on, labor-intensive work helped to protect critical habitat and biodiversity, and conserve cultural heritage sites of great significance. These trips have helped the communities as well as having a positive environmental impact.
• Marie-Hélène Brisson, Directrice, Expérience du visiteur / Director, Visitor Experience/Relations externes et expérience du visiteur / Agence Parcs Canada / Parks Canada Agency: Marie-Hélène has been working in the field of communications, public affairs, and tourism for nearly 18 years. After working at the University of Ottawa for a few years, Marie-Hélène began her career in the federal public service in 2009 as a Communications Officer at the Department of National Defence. In 2015, she joined Parks Canada as the Manager of Ministerial Events. She has since led many teams responsible for strategic communications, brand experience and media services. Marie-Hélène is currently the Director of Visitor Experience at Parks Canada. Under her leadership, the team is responsible for maintaining national programs (standards, guidelines, tools) in areas such as camping, compliance, accommodations, trails, accessibility, exhibits and visitor centres as well as reservation systems and revenue generation.
• Jessica Ferracane, Public Affairs Specialist, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park: Jessica Ferracane is the public affairs specialist for Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, serving visitors and the community in her dream job since 2011. She has witnessed more eruptions on Kīlauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes than most geologists. The Kīlauea eruption and summit collapse of 2018, which destroyed 700 homes and closed the park for 134 days, will always be one of the most distinct challenges of her professional career. Prior to joining the park, she managed public relations for the Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau, was PR Director for The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaiʻi, and worked as a newspaper reporter. She and her husband have crossed the Pacific Ocean between Hawaiʻi and North America three times on their 34-foot sailboat. Learn more here. 

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