The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations.^[1] It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act^[2] in order to protect areas designated as national parks.

It is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior, which is a Cabinet Office of the executive branch, overseen by a Secretary nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Most of the direct management of the NPS is delegated by the Secretary to the National Park Service Director, who must now also be confirmed by the Senate. The NPS oversees units, of which 58 are designated national parks.

History

The movement for an independent agency to oversee the national parks in the United States was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior. They wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational and recreational benefits.^[3] This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that allowed the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife 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."^[4] Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS.^[5]

Special divisions

The United States Park Police is a distinct law enforcement division of the National Park Service, with jurisdiction in all NPS sites, but primarily utilized in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, New York City, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area in and around San Francisco. Law enforcement services in other NPS units are provided by specially commissioned park rangers. Other special NPS divisions include the Historic American Buildings Survey, National Register of Historic Places, National Natural Landmarks, the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program,^[6] the Challenge Cost Share Program,^[7] the Federal Lands to Parks,^[8] the Hydropower Relicensing Program,^[9] the Land and Water Conservation Fund,^[10] the National Trails System,^[11] and the Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers Program.^[12]

Directors

Stephen Mather (center) and his staff, 1927 or 1928

Mary A. Bomar, NPS Director

National Park System

Sample National Park Service pictographs

In addition to "units", and other properties that the National Park Service either owns or administers, it also provides technical and financial assistance to several "affiliated areas" authorized by Congress. The largest affiliated area is New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve at 1,164,025 acres (4711 km²). The smallest is Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at less than one hundredth of an acre.

National Parks

Grand Canyon National Park, south rim of canyon.

A National Park Service MD 900 helicopter

NPS Preliminary Survey party, Great Smoky Mountains, 1931

Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the world ? in 1872, there was no state government to manage it, so the federal government assumed direct control. Yosemite National Park began as a state park; the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the State of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership.

The National Park System (NPS) includes all properties managed by the National Park Service (also, confusingly, "NPS"). The System as a whole is considered to be a national treasure of the United States, and some of the more famous national parks and monuments are sometimes referred to metaphorically as "crown jewels".^[14]

At first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the civilian staff was replaced by the U.S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Tyng Mather petitioned the federal government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, the National Park Service, to manage all national parks and some national monuments. Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act^[15] in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, many with varying designations as Congress created them.

Although all units of the National Park System in the United States, including National Parks, are the responsibility of a single agency, they are all managed under individual pieces of authorizing legislation or, in the case of national monuments created under the Antiquities Act, presidential proclamation. For example, Congaree National Park is almost entirely wilderness area, yet Yosemite has the Badger Pass Ski Area and the O'Shaughnessy Dam within its boundaries. Death Valley National Park actually has an active mine within its boundaries.

Many parks charge an entrance fee ranging from US$3 to $25 per week. Customers can buy a federal interagency annual pass, known as the America the Beautiful ? National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, allowing unlimited entry to federal fee areas (USDA Forestry Service, National Park Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation) for $80 per year. This pass applies to entry fees, only. Other applicable fees such as camping, backcountry access, etc. still apply. Those U.S. citizens who are 62+ years old may purchase a version with the same privileges, for $10, and citizens with permanent disabilities may receive a free version. ^[16]

National Park Service holdings

Concessions

In an effort to increase visitation and allow for a larger audience to enjoy national park land, the National Park Service has numerous concession contracts with private businesses to bring recreation, resorts, and other compatible amenities to their parks. NPS lodging opportunities exist at places such as Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park and the Fort Baker Retreat and Conference Center (currently under renovation / construction, due to open in 2008) in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These "adaptive reuses" have raised some controversy, however, from concerns about the historical integrity of these buildings after such extensive renovations, and whether such alterations fall within the spirit and/or the letter of the preservation laws they are protected by.

At many Park Service sites a bookstore is operated by a cooperating association. The largest example is Eastern National, which runs bookstores in 30 states.

Offices

Headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., with regional offices in Anchorage, Atlanta, Lakewood, CO (Denver), Omaha, NE, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia, and Seattle.

The headquarters building of the National Park Service Southwest Regional Office is architecturally signicant and is a designated National Historic Landmark.

Centers

The National Park Service operates four archeology-related centers: Harpers Ferry Center in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Southeast Archeological Center in Tallahassee, Florida, and the Western Archeological and Conservation Center in Tucson, Arizona. The Harpers Ferry Center specializes in interpretive media development and object conservation. The other three focus to various degrees on archaeological research and museum object curation and conservation.

Training centers include: Horace Albright Training Center, Grand Canyon; Stephen Mather Training Center, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; Historic Preservation Training Center, Frederick, Maryland; and Capital Training Center, Washington, D.C.

See also

• Ansel Franklin Hall: the first Chief Naturalist and first Chief Forester of the National Park Service
• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• Harry Yount: considered by many the progenitor of the modern national park ranger
• List of areas in the National Park System of the United States
• List of the United States National Park System official units
• Forests of the United States
• Land and Water Conservation Fund
• National Park Foundation
• National Park Passport Stamps
• National Park Service Rustic, the style of architecture used in many National Park structures, also known as parkitecture.
• U.S. National Heritage Area
• U.S. National Memorial
• U.S. National Monument
• U.S. National Park Rangers
• Roadless Area Conservation Rule
• Combat Illegal Logging Act

References

Bibliography

• ALBRIGHT, Horace M. (as told to Robert Cahn). The Birth of the National Park Service. Salt Lake City: Howe Brothers, 1985.
• Albright, Horace M, and Marian Albright Schenck. Creating the National Park Service: The Missing Years. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
• Dilsaver, Lary M., ed. America's National Park System: The Critical Documents. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1994.
• EVERHARDT, William C. The National Park Service. New York: Praeger, 1972.
• Foresta, Ronald A. America's National Parks and Their Keepers. Washington: Resources for the Future, 1985.
• Garrison, Lemuel A;. The Making of a Ranger. Salt Lake City: Howe Brothers, 1983.
• Gartner, Bob; Exploring Careers in the National Parks. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 1993
• Hartzog, George B. Jr; Battling for the National Parks; Moyer Bell Limited; Mt. Kisco, New York; 1988
• Ise, John. Our National Park Policy: A Critical History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1961.
• Lee, Ronald F.; Family Tree of the National Park System; Eastern National Parks, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1972
• Mackintosh, Barry. The National Parks: Shaping the System. Washington: National Park Service, 1991.
• National Parks for the 21st Century; The Vail Agenda; The Natinoal Prk Foundation, 1991
• National Park Service Almanac, Edited and Compiled by Ben Moffett and Vickie Carson: Rocky Mountain Region, National Park Service, 1991, revised 2006
• The National Parks: Shaping The System; National Park Service, Washington D.C. 1991.
• Rettie, Dwight F.; Our National Park System; University of Illinois Press; Urbana, Illinois; 1995
• Ridenour, James M. The National Parks Compromised: Pork Barrel Politics and America's Treasures. Merrillville, IN: ICS Books, 1994.
• Rothman, Hal K. Preserving Different Pasts: The American National Monuments. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.
• Runte, Alfred. National Parks, the American Experience, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.
• Sellars, Richard West. Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
• Shankland, Robert; Steve Mather of the National Parks; Alfred A. Knopf, New York; 1970
• Sontag, William H. National Park Service: The First 75 Years. Philadelphia: Eastern National Park & Monument Assn., 1991.
• Sutter, Paul. 2002. Driven Wild: How the Fight against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement. Seattle: University of Washington press. ISBN 0295982195.
• Swain, Donald. Wilderness Defender: Horace M. Albright and Conservation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.
• UDALL, Stewart L., The Quiet Crisis. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963.
• WIRTH, Conrad L. Parks, Politics, and the People. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.Shankland, Robert. Steve Mather of the National Parks. New York: Knopf, 1970.

External links

• NPS official site
• Community Assistance Available from the National Park Service
• Criteria for inclusion in the National Park System
• Designation of National Park System Units ("national monument" vs "national park", etc.)
• Gallery of all US National Parks (does not include National Park System units of any other designation)
• Gallery of National Park "Welcome" Signs
• National Park Service Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed
• National Park System Timeline
• Records of the National Park Service, including an administrative history and a list of regional offices of the National Park Service up to 1988

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