Yorkshire Dales National Park

Yorkshire Dales National Park
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
National park entrance sign, near Skipton
Location and extent of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, as of August 2016
Location	North Yorkshire, Westmorland & Lancashire, England
Coordinates	54°15′N 2°13′W / 54.250°N 2.217°W / 54.250; -2.217
Area	2,178 km2 (841 sq mi)
Max. elevation	Whernside 736 m (2,415 ft)
Designation	National Park
Established	1954

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a 2,178 km² (841 sq mi) national park in England which covers most of the Yorkshire Dales, the Howgill Fells, and the Orton Fells. The Nidderdale area of the Yorkshire Dales is not within the national park, and has instead been designated a national landscape. Most of the park is within North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Cumbria and a small part in Lancashire. The park was designated in 1954, and extended in 2016. More than 95% of the land in the park is privately owned; there are over 1,000 farms in this area.^[1]

In late 2020, the park was named as an International Dark Sky Reserve. This honour confirms that the area has "low levels of light pollution with good conditions for astronomy".^[2]

As of 2017,^[update] some 23,500 residents live within the park boundary; a 2018 report estimated that the park attracted more than four million visitors per year.^[3] The economy consists primarily of tourism and agriculture.^[4]