The National parks are known as some of the most beautiful places in our country. These places were established to conserve their beauty and allow a place for people to connect with the outdoors. Today there are 63 national parks and 429 National Park service managed areas, however this was not always the case. There is a long history of how the national parks came to be.
The Idea of the national Parks
The idea of creating the national parks is usually credited to an artist named George Catlin, who had the idea after visiting the Great plains of the US in the 1830s. This visit made him concerned about the destruction of the wildlife, wilderness, and Indian civilization, So he proposed the idea of creating protected areas for people to enjoy without the fear of them being developed.
Yellowstone, The first National Park
Yellowstone was the first National Park established in 1872. Even though Native Americans had lived in the Yellowstone area for at least 11,000 years, the written history of it began in 1795 when the first description of the Yellowstone River was written. It was not until 1809 when the first American visited the Yellowstone area, a man named John Colter who traveled with Lewis and Clark on their expedition. Organized expeditions of the land began in the 1860s when management of the land was under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, then in 1872 The Act of Dedication was signed into law which created Yellowstone National Park.
More National Parks Established
In the coming years after Yellowstone many more places were established as national parks. The second national park was Mackinac Island, however it was only a national park from 1875 to 1895 then it was given to the state of Michigan. Following Mackinac in 1890 both Sequoia and Yosemite were both established as national parks after California lawmakers had been pushing for protection of these areas for years. Since then hundreds of areas have been named either national parks or monuments.
Teddy Roosevelt
President Theodore Roosevelt is one the most influential presidents when it comes to land conservations. He once spent four days camping with John Muir, another very influential man in conservation who is credited with the creation of the national park System and the Sierra Club. After this trip President Roosevelt was highly impacted about the importance of conservation. During his presidency He set aside 230 million acres of land for National Parks, national forests, and national monuments. He is also responsible for forming the US Forest Service. He is one of, if not the most influential presidents when it comes to land conservation.
National Park Service
By 1916 there were 14 national parks and 21 national monuments, and even though they were under jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior there was no governing body specific to the parks. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act into law which created the The National Park service to help operate the national parks. Even though the National Park Service was created at the time it was not the sole operator of the parks. Each park was overseen by the NPS but managed by various different organizations.
Reorganization
In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt Signed an executive order that moved 56 national parks, monuments, military and historical sites to the direct management of the National Park Service. This act doubled the amount of areas in the national park system. Before this reorganization organizations like the department of war, and the department of agriculture as well as others were all responsible for the management of different parks.
Current NPS
Nowadays the NPS oversees about 400 different areas, 85 million acres of land and around 20,000 employees. Since the reorganization in 1933 there have been many policies that have changed and shaped the National Park service into what we know today. Today instead of many different organizations managing different parks and sites there are regional NPS offices that are responsible for managing their own area. Even though they manage all the land they still work with a number of non-profit, indigenous tribes, and local governments to make it all possible. They still maintain the goal of conserving land and providing areas for people to have great experiences in.