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In the United States, most big national parks are surrounded by national forests. I know that you can do "dispersed camping" in the National Forest, but not the National Park, but other than that, why is there a distinction between the two?

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See also: Is a National Forest always a Forest? at The Great Outdoors SE (where I think this question would fit a little bit better). –  gerrit Feb 8 '13 at 23:37
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up vote 12 down vote accepted

There's a good description of the difference between the two on the National Parks website

The full version is at the link above, but in short :



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National Forests are federally owned and protected land, but, unlike parks, they are not neccesarily designated and managed for public use in the same manner as a National Park. In many cases, National Forest land is in fact even leased for commercial purposes, including, for example, many vacation spots and ski resorts.

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