 Yosemite National Park ( / <unk> / <unk> @-@ SEM @-@ it @-@ ee ) is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne , Mariposa and Madera counties in the central eastern portion of the U.S. state of California . The park , which is managed by the National Park Service , covers an area of 747 @,@ 956 acres ( 1 @,@ 168 @.@ 681 sq mi ; 302 @,@ 687 ha ; 3 @,@ 026 @.@ 87 km2 ) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range . About 3 @.@ 8 million people visit Yosemite each year : most spend the majority of their time in the seven square miles ( 18 km2 ) of Yosemite Valley . Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984 , Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs , waterfalls , clear streams , giant sequoia groves , lakes , mountains , glaciers , and biological diversity . Almost 95 % of the park is designated wilderness . Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea . First , Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development , ultimately leading to President Abraham Lincoln 's signing the Yosemite Grant in 1864 . Later , John Muir led a successful movement to establish a larger national park encompassing not just the valley , but surrounding mountains and forests as well — paving the way for the United States national park system . 
