Gorilla numbers are growing, and the park has received a much needed boost with the arrival of Wilderness Safaris, a company that actively manages park tourism on a day-to-day basis.

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The only item retained by the foundation was the Cole painting, which depicts a wilderness scene in what is now Letchworth State Park in western New York.

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Overlooking the Willamette River west of downtown Portland, Forest Park is one of the largest protected wilderness areas inside a US city.

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In its legal brief, the DEC noted that the Adirondack Park is a nationally recognized canoe and kayak destination and the wilderness area is one of the most popular paddling and backcountry camping areas, attracting about 2, 000 users annually.

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But, most of all, the park and its shuttle buses allow access to hundreds of square miles of Eden-like wilderness, a vast backcountry replete with grizzly bears, bighorn sheep and sharp Gothic mountains.

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