National Park Service
The National Park Service is the
United States federal agency that manages all
National Parks, many
National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916 by
Congress through the Organic Act in order to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life 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." It is a bureau of the
United States Department of the Interior, which is in turn an arm of the executive branch.
Encyclopedia
The
National Park Service is the
United States federal agency that manages all
National Parks, many
National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916 by
Congress through the Organic Act in order to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life 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." It is a bureau of the
United States Department of the Interior, which is in turn an arm of the executive branch. The NPS oversees
units, of which 58 are designated
national parks. Other units are designated
national monuments,
historical parks,
national memorials,
historic trails,
outdoor recreation areas,
wild and scenic rivers,
lakeshores,
seashores, and
battlefields. Not all NPS properties are considered to be distinct units. For example,
Ellis Island National Monument is not an NPS unit; it is a dependent area of
Statue of Liberty National Monument which is one of the units. There are National Park Service Sites in every state in the United States , except
Delaware.
Special Divisions
The
U.S. Park Police is a distinct
law enforcement division of the National Park Service, with jurisdiction in all NPS sites, but primarily utilized in large metropolitan areas. Law enforcement services in rural, wilderness, and even some urban units are provided by specially trained and certified National Park Rangers. Other special NPS divisions include the
Historic American Buildings Survey,
National Register of Historic Places, and the
National Historic Landmarks Program.
Directors
- Stephen Tyng Mather
- Horace M. Albright
- Arno B. Cammerer
- Newton B. Drury
- Arthur E. Demaray
- Conrad L. Wirth
- George B. Hartzog, Jr.
- Ronald H. Walker
- Gary Everhardt
- William J. Whalen
- Russell E. Dickenson
- William Penn Mott, Jr.
- James M. Ridenour
- Roger G. Kennedy
- Robert Stanton
- Fran P. Mainella announced pending retirement in July, 2006
- Mary A. Bomar, nominated on September 5, 2006, subject to Senate confirmation
National Park System
The
National Park System is a term that describes the physical collection of parks and sites managed by the National Park Service. The system encompasses approximately 84.4 million acres , of which more than 4.3 million acres remain in private ownership. The largest park is
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve,
Alaska. At 13,200,000 acres it is over 16 percent of the entire system. The smallest unit in the system is
Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial,
Pennsylvania, at 0.02 acre .
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 . The smallest is
Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at 0.00 acre.
National Parks
Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service manages each of the United States' 58 National Parks .
Although all national parks in the United States are controlled by the National Park Service, and share a common designation, each park in managed according to individual pieces of authorizing legislation. For example,
Congaree National Park is almost entirely wilderness area, yet
Yosemite National Park has the Badger Pass Ski Area and the
O'Shaughnessy Dam within its boundaries.
Death Valley National Park actually contains an active mine within its boundaries.
National Park Service Holdings
| Type | Amount |
|---|
| Buildings | 21,000 |
| Trails | 17,000 mi |
| Roads | 10,000 mi |
|
Concessions
In an effort to increase visitation and allow for a larger audience to enjoy national park land, The National Park Service has numerous forms of partnerships, or concessions, with private businesses to bring recreation, resorts, and other amenities to their parks. One example of a relationship formed to help restore historic buildings on park land in the name of recreation activities is Aviator Sports and Recreation within
Gateway National Recreation Area. Other resorts and accommodations also exist such as Wawona Hotel in
Yosemite National Park and the currently being renovated
Fort Baker Retreat and Conference Center in
Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These "adaptive reuses" have raised some controversy, however, from concerns about the historic integrity of these buildings after such extensive renovations and whether such renovations fall within the sprit and/or the letter of the preservation laws they are protected by.
At most Park Service sites, a bookstore is operated by a cooperating partner. The largest example is
Eastern National, which runs bookstores in 30 states.
See also
References
External links
