Happy Birthday National Park Service!

Today marks the 100^th anniversary of the National Park Service’s founding. As the stewards of America’s natural, cultural, and historic treasures NPS’s mission has evolved over the century. Let’s have a look at how NPS has changed with the times.

America’s national parks began when Andrew Jackson set aside the area that would one day become Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. Abraham Lincoln set aside the Yosemite Valley in California. In 1872 Congress created Yellowstone National Park, the first such designation in the world. By August 1916 there were a dozen national parks created by Congress, plus national monuments designated by presidents under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Some were managed by the Department of the Interior, some were managed by the US Forest Service (Department of Agriculture), and others were managed by the US Army. The growing system of parks and monuments needed unification under a single agency with a single purpose. On August 25, 1916 Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act into law, establishing that agency under the Department of the Interior.

Yellowstone was established “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”. The Organic Act of 1916 expanded the government’s role in protecting Yellowstone and the other national parks by stating the NPS mission: “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Stephen Mather was chosen as the first NPS director, serving until 1929. A great proponent of the NPS’s creation, he worked tirelessly to promote the national parks and during his tenure the park system expanded to include the first three parks east of the Mississippi: Great Smokey Mountains, Shenandoah, and Mammoth Caves. Partnering with the railroads, Mather was able to meet his goal of increasing visitors to the parks. He felt that without visitors Congress would have no incentive to create new parks and maintain existing ones.

In 1933 Franklin Roosevelt greatly expanded NPS by issuing an executive order transferring 56 national monuments and military sites from the US Forest Service and War Departments to NPS. During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made improvements to amenities in national parks and other areas, such as trail maintenance and building campgrounds. The Great Depression also brought the vintage National Park Posters. I enjoy these posters and would like to see a new issue of vintage-style posters for all existing NPS units.

During the period of 1933-1966 the NOS mission focused more on recreation than preservation. This is the era of bear feeding shows at Yellowstone. Of course, this encouraged bears to panhandle rather than live as wild animals but the public loved it. Unless they were being mauled by bears, as sometimes happens during bear-human encounters.

Bear feeding program at Yellowstone's dump

Conditioned bears looking for a handout

Mission 66 was a revitalization effort gearing up to the NPS 50^th anniversary in 1966. Improved roads and visitor centers were the primary focus to ensure visitors could access the parks and learn a little bit while there.

Other changes during this time include the creation of the National Recreation Areas in the NPS system. Initially centered around new dams built during the Great Depression, these areas also came to include urban areas such as Golden Gate NRA in San Francisco and Gateway NRA in the New York area which were established to preserve open space and bring the parks to the people.

Today, NPS struggles to find a balance between preservation and public use. Each park periodically updates its management plan with various proposals and period of public review and comment. Many interest groups want a say in how the parks are run. There are conservationists, thrillseekers, casual day users, outdoor enthusiasts, concessionaires, industry representatives, business owners catering to park visitors, and local residents near the parks. Each has an idea of how they want their park to operate. What we all need to remember is that is our park, but we must share it because it belongs to everyone.