National Park Service a History

National Park Service A History National parks have been called "the George Catlin, noted painter of the best idea America ever had." The American Indian, first expressed the idea of preserving special natural national park idea. On a trip to the and cultural places in public Dakotas in 1832, Catlin became ownership ran contrary to the concerned about the westward prevailing national mood during the movement's effects on Indian 19th century, when most Americans saw civilization, wildlife, and nature as something to be subdued and wilderness. He wrote of this dream history as what had happened in the that they might be "by some great Old World. But as the wilderness protecting policy of the government receded and remnants of prehistoric preserved ... in a magnificent park civilization and revolutionary A nation's park, containing man landmarks were lost, some saw the and beast, in all wildness and need to protect outstanding examples freshness of their nature's beauty!" of the nation's heritage. In 1864 the Federal Government first Four more national parks were created moved to protect a grand natural in the 1890s: Sequoia, General Grant landscape when it granted Yosemite (forerunner of Kings Canyon), Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Yosemite (to which California later Grove to the State of California to returned Yosemite Valley and the be "held for public use, resort, and Mariposa Grove), and Mount Rainier. recreation ... inalienable for all Without funds or staff to manage the time." Eight years later in 1872, parks, the Secretary of the Interior following exploration of the arranged with the Secretary of War to Yellowstone region in the Montana and have Army engineers and cavalry units Wyoming territories, Congress develop and protect most of them. reserved that spectacular area as "a public park or pleasuring-ground for Concern about looting and destruction the benefit and enjoyment of the of Indian ruins and artifacts in the people." Had those territories then Southwest inspired a new category of been states, the park might have been protected areas after the turn of the turned over to them for administra century. In the Antiquities Act of tion, like Yosemite. Instead, it 1906, Congress authorized the Presi remained under the Department of the dent to proclaim features of historic Interior as Yellowstone National Park and scientific interest on the public —the world's first area so titled. lands as national monuments. Presi dent Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the first—Devils Tower National Monument, a massive stone formation in Wyoming. Later national monuments ranged from cliff dwellings like Montezuma Castle, Arizona, and historic features like the Statue of Liberty, to large natural areas like Death Valley. Some areas initially protected as national monuments, like Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon, were later made national parks by Congress. By 1916, the Interior Department national in scope. Fort McHenry oversaw 14 national parks and 21 National Monument, Gettysburg national monuments--but without National Military Park, the effective, coordinated adminis Washington Monument, and other such tration. In that year, Congress inheritances paved the way for later created a new bureau within Interior cultural acquisitions as far-flung as to manage these areas with a twofold Independence National Historical Park purpose: "to conserve the scenery in Philadelphia and War in the Pacif and the natural and historic objects ic National Historical Park on Guam. and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same A third variety of national park in such manner and by such means as lands further enlarged the system in will leave them unimpaired for the the 1930s--areas intended to serve enjoyment of future generations." mass recreation at least as much as Thus was born the National Park to preserve natural or cultural Service. Stephen T. Mather, its features. The Blue Ridge Parkway and first director, and Horace M. Natchez Trace Parkway, begun as Albright, his assistant and Depression-era public works projects, successor, inaugurated the uniformed were carefully landscaped for ranger force, interpretive programs, "recreational motoring" over scenic and a range of policies and practices and historic terrain. The Park aimed at protecting the parks while Service began to build and administer promoting public use and enjoyment. recreational facilities on several major water impoundments, as at Lake The young National Park Service dealt Mead National Recreation Area behind mostly with natural areas west of the Hoover Dam. Cape Hatteras National Mississippi. Beginning in the 1890s, Seashore, authorized by Congress in a number of historic battlefields and 1937, was the first of several forts in the East had become national national seashores and lakeshores. military parks and monuments, but More recently, beginning in 1972 with under War Department supervision. Gateway National Recreation area in Other national monuments proclaimed and around New York City and Golden in national forests fell under the Gate National Recreation Area in the Department of Agriculture, while the San Francisco vicinity, a number of memorials and park lands of the parks, intended for large urban nation's capital came under a populations, joined the system. separate office there. In a 1933 government reorganization, all of these areas were united under Park Service administration, forming a single national park system truly Although new parks still arrive from Concern for natural and cultural time to time, the last major expan resources has also found expression sion of the system came in 1980 when in Park Service programs directed Congress directed additions in Alaska beyond parks. The Service's National totaling some 47 million acres. Register of Historic Places is These spectacular national park lands America's official list of cultural more than doubled the extent of the properties worthy of preservation, system. Still largely remote and and its programs for designating and unspoiled, with a vast array of aiding national natural landmarks and mountains, glaciers, wildlife, national historic landmarks encourage archeological sites, and other the preservation of nationally features, the Alaska parks constitute significant lands and features in America's greatest promise of a both private and public ownership. wilderness legacy "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." In preserving America's special places for public enjoyment, national By 1988, the National Park System had parks help maintain America's special grown to 343 areas. But these are identity for her citizens and for not the only manifestations of the visitors from around the world. "The national park idea. In a movement best idea America ever had" may not promoted by Stephen Mather during the be too far from the mark. early years of the National Park Service and aided materially by the Service during the 1930s, the states developed their own park systems. Internationally, Yellowstone served as a precedent for some 1,200 national parks and comparable preserves now maintained by more than 100 nations around the world. .

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