National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service, an agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior , was established by the National Park Service Act of 1916 making it the first such agency in the world. Its mission as stated in the Act is: "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
The mission has not changed over the years but the ambiguous wording of the act has sparked much debate over what the primary use of a national park should be. Some people feel the parks should be commercially developed in order to best "provide for the enjoyment" of the resources, whereas others think the highest priority should be preserving the resources in an "unimpaired" state for future generations . These conflicting views have existed ever since the agency was established, and the debate will likely continue. The dual mandate of providing enjoyment from the resources and leaving them unchanged has been called the "preservation/use paradox." Striking the balance between use and preservation is still at the forefront of current national park policy issues.
National parks existed in the United States prior to the establishment of the National Park Service. The Yosemite Grant of 1864 was the first act that formally set aside land by the federal government for "public use, resort and recreation." Twenty square miles (52 km2)of land in the Yosemite valley and 4 mi2 (10 km2) of giant sequoia were put under the care of the State of California by President Abraham Lincoln. This land was to be held "inalienable for all time." In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the establishment of Yellowstone National Park . Yellowstone differed from Yosemite in that it was to be managed and controlled by the federal government, not the state, and therefore has received the honor of being considered the first national park. Years later, Yosemite was also turned over to the federal government for management.
Originally no money had been set aside for the protection and care of the national parks. The parks suffered from illegal timber harvesting, grazing, poaching , and vandalism. The U.S. Cavalry was sent in to protect the lands and did so until 1916 when the National Park Service was formed.
Horace Albright was named Assistant for Parks in 1913 by the Secretary of Interior Franklin Lane. Albright, in turn, recruited self-made millionaire and nature lover Stephen Mather to help him establish an agency to manage the parks. All the parks thus far had been created through separate acts of Congress with no unified guidelines to manage and control them. Bills to form an agency to oversee the parks had been introduced to Congress, but none had yet passed. Through the intensive lobbying efforts of Albright, Mather, and others, the National Park Service was formed in 1916. Upon its creation the National Park Service took over the management of 14 national parks and 21 national monuments. Mather was the named the agency's first Director and Albright became his assistant. Later Albright would become the second Director of the National Park Service.
Albright and Mather believed that if the park system was to successfully defend itself from attacks by individuals with utilitarian philosophies (i.e., those believing timber cutting, grazing, and mining should be allowed on federal lands) it would have to have a strong base of public support. They emphasized a tourism effort to "See America First" and embarked on a policy of development and expansion to include tennis courts, golf courses , and swimming pools. As the automobile became popular they encouraged visitation by car and tried to make the parks easily accessible. Through their efforts park use soared.
Although public support was strong, lands still had to be deemed worthless for agriculture or economic development to be set aside as parks by Congress. Therefore, parks typically were high altitude with steep rocky terrain. Also, because they were still being justified and preserved as tourist destinations, only those areas of spectacular scenery were included within the park boundaries. This has resulted in many management problems, as today park managers attempt to look after park resources that are a part of ecosystems which extend beyond the park boundaries.
The number of visitors to the parks increased so greatly that by the 1920s the limited facilities could no longer keep up with the growing demand. Overcrowding and pollution were becoming problems. Conservationists complained that tourism was given priority over preservation and that the parks were being degraded. Lodges and other amenities continued to be added to the parks to handle the increased visitation.
Until the establishment of Everglades National Park in 1934, all of the national parks had been designated from land that was already under federal government control. The Everglades was the first park taken from annexed private land. It was also the first park that was not preserved for its spectacular scenery. Rather it was primarily established to preserve its fragile ecosystem , especially its colorful and conspicuous wildlife . Shortly thereafter, the Great Smoky Mountain and Shenandoah National Parks were established. These were developed from private lands that were purchased using donations from private citizens, including John D. Rockefeller.
With the growing environmental awareness of the 1970s increased public scrutiny was focused on the balance between providing an enjoyable experience for visitors while preserving the park resources. The National Park Service looked for ways to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors while minimizing the impacts to the environment . For example, to cut down on pollution and congestion, shuttle buses now take visitors into the Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Denali national parks. The National Park Service continues to seek creative ways to simultaneously achieve their dual missions of use and preservation.
The National Park Service administers 386 sites covering 80 million acres (32.4 million ha) in 49 states. Fifty of these sites are national parks, sometimes referred to as the "crown jewels" of the United States. The largest of the parks is Wrangell-St. Elias covering 13.2 million acres (5.3 million ha) in Alaska. In 1989 use at National Park Service facilities was measured at 114 million visitor days. The most visited national park is Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
In addition to the national parks, the National Park Service also administers 79 National Monuments, 69 National Historic Sites, and 29 National Historic Parks. They manage sites in 22 different categories including wild and scenic rivers, seashores, lakeshores, scenic trails, parkways, preserves, and even the White House. Each of the sites are placed into one of these categories based on such attributes as size, level of development, and significance. They are managed under policies appropriate for that type of site. For example, a national preserve is typically set aside to protect a particular resource. Hunting , fishing, mining, or extraction of fuels can be allowed on the preserve so long as it does not threaten the specific resource being preserved.
Each year millions of people from around the world come to the National Parks to recreate, to learn, and to be inspired in these wondrous places. Truly, the National Park Service is the caretaker of America's "crown jewels."
[Ted T. Cable ]
RESOURCES
BOOKS
Albright, Horace M., and Marian Albright Schenck. Creating the National Park Service: The Missing Years. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Runte, A. National Parks and American Experience. 2nd ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.
OTHER
National Parks Service. [June 2002]. <http://www.cr.nps.gov>.