Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, is on the National Park Service's list, released yesterday. (NPS)

The United States has 20 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and that number hasn't increased in 13 years. But that's about to change, thanks to the National Park Service, which yesterday announced the formation of a "tentative list" of 14 sites it wants to nominate as World Heritage Sites, the world's highest distinction.

"It's kind of like the Nobel Prize," says Stephen Morris, National Park Service spokesman. "It's huge."

Although UNESCO designated Waterton Glacier International Peace Park in 1995, the park service hasn't compiled a list like this in nearly three decades. Places must be on a "tentative list" for at least a year before countries can nominate them—but only two per year—to the international list, which provides prestige but little protection. (Current sites include Mesa Verde, Yellowstone National Park, and Independence Hall.)

"There are times that there's certain moral persuasion that can be applied," Morris says. "On occasion, the label, even though it's honorific in the U.S., does lead to higher protection."

All of the current and tentative U.S. sites are already protected. Several years ago, however, the State of California proposed a road through Redwoods National Park. The state backed off, partially because of its designation as a World Heritage Site, according to Morris.

Why hasn't the list been updated since 1982? "We've been out of the nominations business for a long time," Morris says. "The Clinton Administration lost interest in furthering any new nominations, but this administration wanted us to get back on the World Heritage Committee. We were elected [to that committee] in 2005, and that provided the impetus to update the list."

The park service considered 35 sites before whittling down the list to 14.

The National Park Service will formally present the list to UNESCO on Feb. 1. The tentative list includes:

Civil Rights Movement Sites, Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama
Dayton Aviation Sites, Ohio
Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio
Jefferson (Thomas) Buildings (Poplar Forest and Virginia State Capitol), Virginia
Mount Vernon, Virginia
Poverty Point National Monument and State Historic Site, Louisiana
San Antonio Franciscan Missions, Texas
Serpent Mound, Ohio
Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings, Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii
Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, American Samoa
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
White Sands National Monument, N.M.

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