National Preserve is a type of National Park Service protected area designated by the United States Congress that has characteristics normally associated with U.S. National Parks but where certain natural resource-extractive activities such as fishing, hunting, mining, and oil/gas exploration and extraction are permitted. The types of activities permitted in each national preserve varies depending on the enabling legislation of the unit.
The first national preserve in the U.S. was Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, followed soon after by Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, both established in 1974.
National preserves in Alaska were created by a provision of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, allowing only regulated hunting, fishing and trapping for sport and subsistence purposes.