WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The oldest and most visited U.S. national parks are among those in jeopardy from pollution and overcrowding, the National Parks and Conservation Association said Tuesday.

Citing crowds, noise, pollution, deteriorating historical artifacts and a lack of funding, the park watchdog group released a list of what it called the 10 Most Endangered National Parks.

Problems detailed in the report include:

A crumbling sewage system at Yellowstone National Park that has dumped thousands of gallons of wastewater into Yellowstone Lake and near Old Faithful.

Record-breaking air pollution at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Civil War artifacts rotting away at Gettysburg National Military Park.

Sprawling cities ruining habitat from the deserts of California's Mojave National Preserve to south Florida's Everglades National Park.

Snowmobiles, roads and other intrusions into the Alaska park wilderness of Denali.

Top 10 Endangered U.S. National Parks

Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico

Denali National Park, Alaska

Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Biscayne National Park, Florida

Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina

Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

Mojave National Park, California

Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho

Source: National Parks and Conservation Association

"Just because a place is a national park doesn't mean it's automatically protected," said NPCA President Thomas C. Kiernan. "There are very real threats to all of our national parks, not only the parks on this list."

By highlighting the 10 parks, the association hopes to call attention to their neglect and misuse and to get individuals involved in conserving their natural, historic, and cultural resources, Kiernan said.

Kiernan also said increased federal funding for national parks is essential to meet the backlog of needed maintenance, estimated at $4 billion.

The National Parks and Conservation Association is a private nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting, preserving and enhancing the U.S. National Park System.

The group said it plans to release the list annually.

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RELATED SITES:

Yellowstone National Park (NPS)
The Total Yellowstone Page -- Welcome to Yellowstone National Park
National Parks and Conservation Association
• National Parks and Conservation Association: Parks In Jeopardy
PARKNET:The National Park Service Place on the Web

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