26/08/2022
I’m a day late to the celebration! But here it is
Happy Birthday to the National Parks!
Happy birthday to the National Park Service! On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act creating the National Park Service to, “promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations... which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the 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."
Established in 1872, Yellowstone was the first national park. Over the following decades, Americans decided to preserve many other natural and cultural sites across the country that were overseen by several departments, including the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of War. The National Park Service combined management of many of those various sites under one agency and has greatly expanded over the last 106 years. Taking over from the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks, the National Park Service began its stewardship of the National Mall and the capital's iconic memorials in 1933.
Photo of people creating the NPS Arrowhead on the National Mall to celebrate the Centennial in 2016 by National Park Service.