The Ice Age Trail and two other national scenic trails receive unit status from the National Parks Service.

National Parks Service Director Chuck Sams made the announcement Thursday morning along with U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin.

The other two trails receiving the designation are the North County scenic trail and the New England scenic trail.

Since 2014, Senator Baldwin has introduced the National Scenic Trails Parity Act, bipartisan legislation to grant unit status to these three National Scenic Trails that are part of the National Park System.

Baldwin says joining this system will raise public awareness about Wisconsin’s national scenic trails and allow them to access more funding and programmatic resources of the agency that are limited to NPS units.