National Park Service
On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the
National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior
responsible for protecting the 40 national parks and monuments then in existence
and those yet to be established.
This "Organic Act" of August 25, 1916, states that "the Service thus established
shall promote and regulate the use of Federal areas known as national parks,
monuments and reservations . . . by such means and measures as conform to the
fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments and reservations, which purpose
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 manner and by
such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future
generations."
The National Park Service still strives to meet those original goals, while
filling many other roles as well: guardian of our diverse cultural and
recreational resources; environmental advocate; world leader in the parks and
preservation community; and pioneer in the drive to protect America's open
space.
The National Park System of the United States comprises 384 areas covering more
than 83 million acres in 49 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa,
Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan, and the Virgin Islands. These areas are of such
national significance as to justify special recognition and protection in
accordance with various acts of Congress.
By Act of March 1, 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the
Territories of Montana and Wyoming "as a public park or pleasuring ground for
the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and placed it "under exclusive control
of the Secretary of the Interior." The founding of Yellowstone National Park
began a worldwide national park movement. Today more than 100 nations contain
some 1,200 national parks or equivalent preserves.
In the years following the establishment of Yellowstone, the United States
authorized additional national parks and monuments, most of them carved from the
federal lands of the West. These, also, were administered by the Department of
the Interior, while other monuments and natural and historical areas were
administered as separate units by the War Department and the Forest Service of
the Department of Agriculture. No single agency provided unified management of
the varied federal parklands.
An Executive Order in 1933 transferred 63 national monuments and military sites
from the Forest Service and the War Department to the National Park Service.
This action was a major step in the development of today's truly national system
of parks—a system that includes areas of historical as well as scenic and
scientific importance.
Congress declared in the General Authorities Act of 1970 "that the National Park
System, which began with the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872,
has since grown to include superlative natural, historic, and recreation areas
in every region ... and that it is the purpose of this Act to include all such
areas in the System...."
Additions to the National Park System are now generally made through acts of
Congress, and national parks can be created only through such acts. But the
President has authority, under the Antiquities Act of 1906, to proclaim national
monuments on lands already under federal jurisdiction. The Secretary of the
Interior is usually asked by Congress for recommendations on proposed additions
to the System. The Secretary is counseled by the National Park System Advisory
Board, composed of private citizens, which advises on possible additions to the
System and policies for its management.
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