Bill Clinton

“ Today, the National Park System has grown to 378 sites visited by more than 285 million people each year. Each of these sites is interwoven with America's richly diverse natural and cultural heritage to make up the pattern of our past, the fabric of our present, and the promise of our future. ”

“ At these and so many other parks and historic sites across the country, the dedicated men and women of the National Park Service preserve America's heritage and teach a new generation the importance of informed and careful stewardship of our Nation's treasured places. During National Park Week, let us give thanks for the wisdom of all those who established our national parks and for the hard work and generous spirit of all those who continue to preserve them for our benefit. ”

“ Conservationist John Muir emigrated to the United States as a child 150 years ago this year. As a young man, he experienced for the first time the high country of California's Sierra Nevada and Yosemite, and for the rest of his life he championed America's wild places. "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread." he wrote, "places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." ”