Yosemite National Park to expand by 400 acres

Thanks to a generous land donation, Yosemite National Park will grow by an additional 400 acres of wetlands and meadow habitat on its western boundary. It is the largest planned expansion for the California park in nearly 70 years, said Tim Ahern of the group Trust for Public Land.

The San Francisco-based conservation group purchased the land, known as Ackerson Meadow, from private owners for $2.3 million earlier this year. On Thursday, Trust for Public Land donated the estate to Yosemite National Park.

The new addition encompasses forests and meadows that blossom with wildflowers. It’s also home to several types of wildlife, including songbirds and black bears.

Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher called it a “generous donation” that will “preserve critical meadow habitat.”

“This meadow is a remarkable gift to the American people, coming at a historic time as we celebrate the Centennial of the National Park Service,” he said in a statement.

National Park Service Centennial coverage

The donation was made possible through a partnership with the National Park Service, the Trust for Public Land and the Yosemite Conservancy, which provides grants to the park in order to preserve it.

America's first national parks sites —

As the National Park Service commemorates its centennial in 2016, CNN celebrates the nation's oldest national parks and monuments, which were established before the agency that now oversees them. Click through the gallery to see some of our favorite first park sites.

Yosemite National Park, California —

Part of Yosemite National Park was first protected June 30, 1864, while the national park was created on October 1, 1890.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana —

Yellowstone claims the honor of the nation's first national park, created on March 1, 1872. The U.S. Army ran the park for its first 32 years, and many park rangers were veterans. Protected primarily because of geothermal areas containing about half the world's active geysers, the 2.2 million-acre park is home to grizzly bears, wolves, elk, bison and dozens of other mammal species, birds, fish and reptiles.

Sequoia National Park, California —

Even during a time in American history when "manifest destiny" called prospectors to use the country's natural resources, California's stunning sequoias called out for protection from the logging industry. On September 25, 1890, Sequoia National Park became the second national park, and the first national park formed to protect a living organism.

General Grant National Park, California —

The park was named General Grant National Park when it was created on October 1, 1890, but it didn't keep that moniker for long. When a new national park to protect Kings Canyon was established in 1940, General Grant National Park was rolled into it. Vestiges of the honor given Grant remain: The enormous General Grant Tree was designated as the nation's Christmas tree in 1926.

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington —

The heart of Washington state's first national park, Mount Rainier towers above the surrounding landscape at 14,410 feet. The park was created on March 2, 1899, after a five-year campaign by conservation and scientific groups. The mountain is actually an active volcano, and there are more than two dozen major glaciers on its slopes.

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon —

While there's no evidence that Native Americans lived at Crater Lake, they did treat it as a holy site before the eruption of Mount Mazama, which occurred some 7,000 years ago and created the deepest lake in the United States (1,943 feet). Some Native Americans still consider the lake holy. The eye-catching site became Crater Lake National Park on May 22, 1902.

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming —

The Devils Tower rock formation is a sacred site to more than 20 surrounding Native American tribes, who call it "Bear's Lodge," "Bear's House," "Bear's Tipi" and other names. The site was protected under the 1906 Antiquities Act. More recently, a spiritual leader from the Lakota Nation in Wyoming has petitioned the federal government to change the name to Bear Lodge National Monument.

El Morro National Monument, New Mexico —

El Morro is home to the ancestral Atsinna pueblo, which was built around 1275 by ancestors to the Zuni tribe. It's estimated that the pueblo had about 857 rooms. Take the half-mile Inscription Trail to see the 2,000 petroglyphs and inscriptions dating back to the 17th century, when the Spanish were traveling through what is now New Mexico. It was named a national monument on December 8, 1906.

Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona —

On December 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt created this national monument, now Petrified Forest National Park, to protect the area's beautiful petrified wood. The main attraction is the fossilized wood, yet there is much more at this significant national park, including more than 13,000 years of human history dating back to the end of the last Ice Age.

Muir Woods National Monument, California —

When conservationist John Muir heard that William and Elizabeth Kent had purchased a redwood forest north of San Francisco to protect it and named it after him, Muir said, "This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world." President Theodore Roosevelt created Muir Woods National Monument on land donated to the federal government by the Kents on January 9, 1908.

Natural Bridges National Monument , Utah —

Credit goes to flowing waters and flash floods for carving out three mighty bridges over millions of years at Natural Bridges National Monument in the southeastern corner of Utah. Hunter-gatherers lived in the area off and on, dating back to 7000 B.C. President Theodore Roosevelt crated Utah's first National Park Service area on April 16, 1908.

Navajo National Monument, Arizona —

The Anasazi, also called Ancestral Puebloans, started settling down in the Four Corners region about 2,000 years ago. Keet Seel, Betatakin and Inscription House -- the three cliff dwellings protected by Navajo National Monument -- date to around 1250 to 1300. On March 20, 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt established Navajo National Monument, named for the people who live on Navajo Nation land now, to protect those ancient homes.

Mukuntuweap National Monument, Utah —

People have walked the land now called Zion National Park since 6000 B.C., yet it wasn't until a 1908 federal land survey that the stunning beauty of Zion was broadcast to outsiders. The surveyors immediately recommended that President William Taft protect the lands, which he did on July 31, 1909, calling it Mukuntuweap National Monument. It became Zion National Monument in 1918 and Zion National Park in 1919.

Glacier National Park, Montana —

Glaciers have been carving their way through Glacier National Park for millennia, and humans have been in the area for about 10,000 years. There are still reservations abutting and near the national park site, and the park land is spiritually important to local tribes. In the late 1800s, "Forest & Stream" editor George Bird Grinnell started lobbying for Glacier to become a national park. He succeeded on May 11, 1910.

Rainbrow Bridge National Monument, Utah —

Sacred to the Native American nations who live near it, Rainbow Bridge in Utah is one of the world's largest known natural bridges. While visitors can see the bridge and hike the trails at the national monument, which was created on May 30, 1910, it's still used as a spiritual site. Since 1995, the park service has been working with neighboring tribes to ensure the spirituality of the space is respected.

Colorado National Monument —

The land in the Colorado Plateau's northeast corner, designated the Colorado National Monument on May 24, 1911, had a fervent protector in John Otto, the park's first custodian and fiercest advocate. Otto first discovered the red-rock canyons south of Grand Junction in 1906, and he built the first trails to reach the canyons.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado —

Glaciers have carved out the landscape of Rocky Mountain National Park, where more than 60 peaks stand higher than 12,000 feet. The land became U.S. territory with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and attracted hunters, ranchers, miners and homesteaders. Local naturalists started agitating for conservation, and President Woodrow Wilson created the national park on January 26, 1915.

Dinosaur National Monument, Utah and Colorado —

It was 149 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the land now protected by the monument named for them. They became extinct about 59 million years ago, but their legacy lives on in the fossils left behind. Paleontologist Earl Douglass found the Carnegie Quarry in 1909, and President Woodrow Wilson protected the site only six years later, on October 4, 1915.

Sieur de Monts National Monument, Maine —

Now called Acadia National Park, the park once known as Sieur de Monts National Monument and Lafayette National Park celebrates its centennial on July 8, 1916. The first national park east of the Mississippi owes its existence to an elite group who loved Maine -- including Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot, John D. Rockefeller Jr. and textile heir George B. Dorr.

Hawaii National Park —

Early Native Hawaiians revered Pele, goddess of volcanoes, and believed that the Halema'uma'u Crater at the summit of Kilauea was the deity's home. Created on August 1, 1916, Hawaii National Park only included the summits of Kilauea and Mauna Loa on Hawai'i (the Big Island) and Haleakala on Maui with other volcanic sites added later. Haleakala was made a separate national park in 1961. Today, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park covers 520 square miles.

The first U.S. national park sites

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The latest addition is the largest since 1949.

Happy 125th birthday, Yosemite National Park

But not everyone had supported the expansion plans.

The local newspaper reported that residents of Tuolumne County had wanted the land to stay private so their cattle would have a place to graze.

Yosemite is the country’s fourth most popular national park, generating $535 million in economic benefits, according to the park. Located in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the park is home to Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in North America, and rock formations such as Half Dome and El Capitan.

El Capitan climber: Find your own Dawn Wall

CNN’s Braden Walker contributed to this report