National Park America the Beautiful Quarter

The first United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters™ Program strike for the year 2020 will be the 2020 National Park America the Beautiful Quarter. It numbers 51 out of 56 new quarter dollars to be struck under the program which launched in 2010.

The final design of the National Park of American Samoa Quarter will probably not be known until shortly before the coin appears in circulation. Design candidates, however, should be released by the Mint early in 2019 to allow time for review and comment by the appropriate organizations and individuals including the Citizen’s Coinage Advisory Committee and the Commission of Fine Arts.

Since this strike is slated to be the first quarter released that year, it will be followed by for more 2020 quarters that honor Weir Farm National Historic Site of Connecticut, Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve of the US Virgin Islands, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park of Vermont and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve of Kansas

National Park of American Samoa

The only American National Park south of the equator, the National Park of American Samoa was created in 1988. Unfortunately, due to the traditional communal land system in place on American Samoa, the Park Service could not purchase any land. With the aid of the Samoan village councils, the service was able to obtain 50-year leases on several land areas in 1993.

Typical of a tropical environment, American Samoa boasts some of the best coral reefs and rain forests on planet Earth. It is estimated that as many as 200 coral species and 890 species of fish can be found in the waters of the park. In the forests, many birds and other animals are also present.

The park today consists of 10,500 acres and sees only an estimated 4,000 annual visitors owing mostly to its remote location and its infant status as a park.

Whale lovers may be interested to know that Humpbacks are often found in the area during the southern hemisphere’s winter months. During the summer, these same whales migrate 3,200 miles to the waters off of Antarctica to feed.