Jim Corbett, a hunter turned conservationist, had played a key role in establishing the National Park, which has been named after him. The park situated in Nainital district and comprising of 520.8 Sq.KM areas of hills, riverine belts, marshy depressions, grass lands and large lake, was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park. The park acts as a protected area for the critically endangered Bengal tiger of India, the secure survival of which is the main objective of Project Tiger, an Indian wildlife protection initiative.

The park has sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological characteristics and important as an eco-tourism destination. It contains 488 different species of plants and a diverse variety of fauna. The elevation ranges from 1,300 feet to 4,000 feet. Winter nights in Corbett national park are cold but the days are bright and sunny. It rains from July to September.
Corbett has been a haunt for tourists and wildlife lovers for a long time. Tourism activity is only allowed in selected areas of Corbett Tiger Reserve so that people get an opportunity to see its splendid landscape and the diverse wildlife.
Dense moist deciduous forest mainly consists of sal, haldu, pipal, rohini and mango trees, and these trees cover almost 73 per cent of the park. The 10 per cent of the area consists of grasslands. It houses around 110 tree species, 50 species of mammals, 580 bird species and 25 reptile species. The endangered Bengal tiger of India resides here. The sanctuary was the first to come under Project Tiger initiative.

History: A portion of existing areas of the park were formerly part of the princely state of Tehri Garhwal.  The forests were cleared to make the area less vulnerable to Rohilla invaders. The Raja of Tehri formally ceded a part of his princely state to the East India Company in return for their assistance in ousting the Gurkhas from his domain. The Boksas - a tribe from the Terai—settled on the land and began growing crops, but in the early 1860s they were evicted with the advent of British rule. The British forest department established control over the land and prohibited cultivation and the operation of cattle stations. The British administration considered the possibility of creating a game reserve there in 1907 and established a reserve area known as Hailey National Park covering 323.75 Sq. KM(125 Sq. Miles) in 1936. The preserve was renamed in 1954–55 as Ramganga National Park and was again renamed in 1955–56 as Corbett National Park.