I don't know the logistics of creating a National Park, but the Pascagoula River is pretty unique in that it is, I think, the largest unaffected (meaning basically undammed) river in the Eastern US and possibly all of the Continental US.
Seems like that will be a more and more rare thing unless rivers are protected in some way. I believe the Pascagoula basin is kind of a birding paradise because so many migrating species use the huge acreage as a resting place after crossing the Gulf of Merica (17 yeah!!)
I don't know what "unaffected" technically means, but I do know about undamned. I's a big deal out west because of the salmon/steelhead migrations
The Pascagoula River is only 80 miles long. The Salmon River is the longest undamned river in the western US at 425 miles and the home of the longest salmon migration in the US. The Yellowstone River is the longest in the east and thus lower 48 at 692 miles long. When talking east and west in rivers we are talking continental divide or whether the water ends up in the Pacific or Atlantic/Gulf.
Sockeye and steelhead runs are super interesting if you have never read about them. They return inland as far as Idaho to spawn and the smolt will spend up to 3 years in freshwater before going to the ocean. Steelhead are genetically identical to rainbows, but these crazy 17ers decide to swim to the ocean for some reason, grow up and return to where they were born to spawn. Unlike salmon, some steelhead will actually head back to the ocean and do it all again. Fascinating to me that rainbow and steelhead are the same species.
I was smallmouth fishing in the Salmon River back in September and hooked a fall chinook on a crankbait. It bent the hook and got away, but that 17er fought like a 1200lb marlin.
en.m.wikipedia.org
