Parks are the best way to unwind from stressful situations at work, home, and school. National parks in the U.S. are also about nature rather than the local parks, which have playgrounds with recreational equipment and sometimes with sports facilities. National parks give Americans and visiting tourists a chance to be one with nature.
To make sure that these parks are in great condition and that the natural resources are always protected, they are managed by the federal government through the National Park Service (NPS).
History
NPS was created on August 25, 1916, through the Organic Act signed by President Woodrow Wilson. The establishment of the authority happened 34 years after the establishment of the first national park, Yellowstone National Park in Montana, on March 1, 1872.
Before NPS was created, it was the Department of Interior (DOI) that managed national protected areas. But the role of the DOI, which is the management of the country’s natural resources, is too hectic. Some leaders thought that the management of parks and monuments should be a priority and not compete with other governmental responsibilities.
American conservationists Stephen Mather and J. Horace McFarland spearheaded the campaign for the creation of an independent agency to oversee national parks and monuments. They were aided by journalist Robert Sterling Yard, who wrote several articles regarding the scenic and historical significance of America’s parks. They were successful and the NPS was created in 1916.
In 1917, Mather became the first director of the NPS, a position he held for 12 years. He also professionalized the management of parks and other protected areas, by making sure that career civil service personnel are hired to do the job.
In 1933, there was a reorganization in the executive department that affected the NPS. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued two executive orders that transferred the management of the War Department’s parks and monuments, as well as the already established national monuments, to the NPS. This paved the way for the unified goal of preserving all national parks and services.
Coverage
NPS manages over 85 million acres of protected natural resources in 419 areas, including the 50 states of the U.S. and other territories, like the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, among others. Aside from national parks and monuments, the other national areas managed by the service are battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, scenic rivers and trails, recreation areas, and the White House.
The largest park it manages is the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, which covers over 13.2 million acres of natural resources in Arkansas. The smallest area NPS manages is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Pennsylvania, which commemorates the life and work of Polish military man Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who became an American hero during the American Revolution. The building was Kosciuszko’s home on 301 Pine Street, in Philadelphia.
As far as parks go, the smallest is the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. It’s so small one could fit 2,400 Hot Springs National Parks in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. There are 62 national parks in the U.S.
Some of the national parks have also made world records like the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, which is known as the longest cave system in the world. Denali in Alaska’s Denali National Park has been recorded as the tallest peak in North America. The Death Valley National Park in California is the lowest point in North America, and also the hottest spot in the world, which recorded a temperature of 49 degrees Celsius in 1913.
The largest tree in the world, which is known as the German Sherman, stands among the giant sequoias of the Sequoia National Park.
Most visited parks
Close to 320 million people visited the different areas managed by the NPS in 2018. This is down by four percent compared to the 2017 park visits. The most visited area is the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which received some 15.2 million tourists in 2018. For national parks, the most visited one was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which received 11.4 million visitors. The park, which sits in both North Carolina and Tennessee territories, is also the third most visited area among those managed by the NPS.
Completing the top 10 most visited national parks in the U.S. are the following: Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (6.38 million visits); Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado (4.59 million); Zion National Park in Utah (4.32 million); Yellowstone National Park, which traverses three states: Idaho, Montana and Wyoming (4.16 million); Yosemite National Park in California (4.01 million); Acadia National Park in Maine (3.54 million); Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming (3.49 million); Olympic National Park in Washington (3.1 million) and Glacier National Park in Montana (2.96 million).
If Yellowstone was the first national park, the youngest one is the Indiana Dunes National Park in Indiana. It was established as a national park on Feb. 15, 2019. But the area was already a popular tourist spot as a national lakeshore since Nov. 5, 1966.
The Arrowhead
The agency’s logo is in the shape of an arrowhead. Inside the arrowhead are the most common and most significant images found in parks: sequoia tree, bison, grasslands, conifer trees, mountains, and water. The arrowhead is an archeological gem, as it represents the first inhabitants of the U.S. Most of the archeological sites in parks yielded arrowheads, which indicate that Native Americans from at least 10,000 years ago use this type of tool to hunt food.
Leadership
Currently, David Vela is acting as director of the park authority. He sits as deputy director and has been working in the NPS for 28 years. There are 20,000 people under his authority, assigned in the country’s 419 national parks and other protected areas. He previously had management roles at the Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Memorial Parkway. Since the inception of the National Park Service in 1916, there have been 18 people who served as director of the agency.
While the main task of the agency is the protection and conservation of national parks, there are three major goals and related programs that the NPS adheres to:
Working with communities – NPS aims to support a diverse range of conservation projects as well as recreation activities across the country.
History is everywhere – NPS ensures cultural preservation programs to uphold history for the consumption of future generations.
Global connections – The agency seeks aims to extend programs beyond the country’s borders.
Achievements
NPS goes beyond the preservation of the country’s most stunning natural resources. It also aims to enrich public engagement in the preservation of nature, as well as history and culture. The agency partners with diverse non-government organizations including Indian tribes and other private entities, to enhance the public’s experience in every park as well as the rest of the American communities.
In coordination with its partners, this includes state and local governments, NPS works for the building of trails and playgrounds around the parks and the surrounding communities. The agency also lobbies for the return of historic buildings to productive use—utilizing them in historical education or preserving, and have them listed as a historic place.
The agency has successfully aided in the historic preservation of assets amounting to $55 billion while awarding more than $5 billion in the preservation and outdoor grants. The NPS also helped add around 85,000 properties to the National Register of Historic Places. Most of these properties are within the premises of national parks and other protected areas. Over 1,000 National Recreation Trails were also designated by the NPS.