This year, the National Recreation and Park Association is encouraging Americans nationwide to celebrate July as National Park & Recreation Month.

Texas is the second largest state in the U.S., with more than 268,000 square miles of land offering many state and national parks.

Gary Ellis, head of the recreation, park and tourism sciences department at Texas A&M, said he appreciates the national park system because it makes territory available to anyone interested in visiting.

“Texas has about five percent public land,” Ellis said.

Ellis suggested the Texas Big Thicket National Preserve and the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park as locations that offer great attractions.

“I went camping at Big Bend with my family a couple years back,” said Cameron Pybus, junior architecture major. “It’s amazing that there’s so much life, considering how rugged the terrain is.”

More than 1,200 species of plants, 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles and 75 species of mammals call Big Bend National Park home.

“Looking down on the park from the top of Emory Peak was one of the coolest moments of my life,” said Forrest Bowen, sophomore management major who spent last year’s spring break at Big Bend. “I had no idea we had those kind of vistas in Texas.”

Michael Allen, class of 2010, spent the summer of 2008 on the road while filming the documentary One Nation Under God. He and the movie crew camped in parks along the way.

Allen said Glacier, a national park that rests on the border of Montana and Canada, was the prettiest place he had seen.

“We hiked, camped out and went swimming in a glacier lake. It was about 80 degrees — and in July.”