National Park System

“ My Administration continues to advocate for initiatives that protect and expand National Parks. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act promotes conservation and creates new job opportunities in National Parks, and the Omnibus Public Land Management Act designates thousands of miles of trails for the National Trails System, protects more than 1,000 miles of rivers, and secures millions of acres of wilderness. ”

“ The National Park System must continue to evolve to better reflect all of the people of our Nation, and to work in partnership with Tribal Nations whose historic and sacred lands often fall within the boundaries of National Parks and Monuments that have been dedicated through the years. ”

“ National Parks also help Americans learn more about our shared history. From the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument to the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, National Parks allow Americans to explore our Nation's past and to understand events that occurred over the long course of our history. Our system of National Parks is entrusted to each generation of Americans. We have an obligation to our children to keep these spaces pristine. As citizen stewards, Americans can participate in efforts in their communities to preserve National Parks, and support policies that achieve this end. ”

“ The sites or areas within the National Park System vary widely in size and type from vast natural wilderness to birthplaces of Presidents to world heritage archaeology sites to an African burial ground memorial in Manhattan and include national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House. ”

“ We will work to enhance park habitats, expand visitor services, increase educational opportunities, implement new technologies, and hire additional seasonal park rangers. By maintaining and improving our park system, we can ensure that our national parks will thrive for the next 100 years and beyond. ”

“ Deer are returning in some numbers from the mainland.
In brief, the Lafayette National Park, small though it is, is one of the most important members of the national parks system. For the pleasure seeker no other provides so wide and varied an opportunity. To the student, no other offers a more readable or more distinctive volume; it is the only national museum of the fascinating geology of the east, and I can think of no other place in the east where classes can find so varied and so significant an exhibit. ”

“ The Act adds 97 million acres of new parks and refuges, more than doubling the size of our National Park and National Wildlife Refuge Systems. The bill triples the size of our national wilderness system, increasing its size by 56 million acres. And by adding 25 free-flowing river segments to the Wild and Scenic River System, the bill almost doubles the river mileage in that system. ”

“ With increasing numbers of visitors using the Parks, how can this tremendous conflict between man and wildlife be reconciled without the impairment of primitive wildlife or the restriction of human occupancy? It probably cannot be, and each ideal will have to sacrifice a portion of the original grand intentions. In every decision of human or wildlife use, the Park Service makes a strenuous effort to establish a happy medium and still conform to the basic purpose of the national parks. ”

“ Area, 10,000 Acres
It has been the policy of Congress to create national parks only from public lands, the title to which costs nothing to acquire. It may be many years before the nation awakes to the fact that areas distinguished for supreme scenery, historical association, or extraordinary scientific significance are worth conserving even if conservation involves their purchase. The answer to the oft-asked question why the national parks are all in the west is that the east passed into private possession before the national park idea assumed importance in the national consciousness. ”

“ A National Park is an island of safety in this riotous world. Splendid forests, the waterfalls that leap in glory, the wild flowers that charm and illuminate the earth, the wild sheep of the sky-line crags, and the beauty of the birds, all have places of refuge which parks provide.
A National Park is a fountain of life. It is a matchless potential factor for good in national life. It holds within its magic realm benefits that are health-giving, educational, economic; that further efficiency and ethical relations, and are inspirational. Every one needs to play, and to play out of doors. ”

“ Not only do the Parks contain some of the world's sublimest and most beautiful scenes, but [xiii] each Park is a wild-life reservation, a place where guns are forbidden. Thus protected, these wildernesses will remain forever wild, forever mysterious and primeval, holding for the visitor the spell of the outdoors, exciting the spirit of exploration. Within them will survive that poetic million-year-old highway, the trail. Among their pathless scenes wild life will be perpetuated. ”

“ The National Park Service is responsible for managing the lands in its care "in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." It is a noble and important task because our national parks are more than scenic preserves. ”

“ Many persons do not realize the difference between a forest reserve and a National Park. A forest reserve is primarily used for cattle-grazing and saw-mills, while a National Park is a region wholly educational and recreational for your children and yourselves. A forest reserve is a commercial proposition, while a National Park must be estimated by higher values. In a paper on the conservation of [Pg 273] scenery, in "The Rocky Mountain Wonderland," I have said:—
We need the forest reserve, and we need the National Park. ”

“ Is there a State in the Union that has developed park areas that are large enough for the people of the State? With present development, our National Parks cannot entertain one fifth of the number of Americans who annually go abroad. ”

“ The two services have developed simultaneously; as the boundaries of parks and forests often impinge, so have their policies. Both services have many ends in common; each learns from the other. [279] The essential differentiation of service lies in the difference between “conserving an area for its greatest value” and “utilization of resources in multiple purpose.” It is a matter of degrees of conservation according to circumstances. For example, public hunting is prohibited in all 23,899,030 acres of the 181 areas under the supervision of the National Park Service. ”

“ The forester must cut trees before they are over-ripe or his crop will waste, while the park man wants the groves to become aged and picturesque. The forester pastures cattle in his meadows, while the park man has only people and romping children among his wild flowers. The park needs the charm of primeval nature, and should be free from ugliness, artificiality, and commercialism. For the perpetuation of scenery, a landscape artist is absolutely necessary. It would be folly to put a park man in charge of a forest reserve, a lumbering proposition. ”

“ Nearly all proposed National Park areas are of territory in the public domain—still owned by the Government. The privately owned areas that are proposed for National Parks are places admirably fitted for park purposes, and are located close to millions of people. ”

“ The idea of a forest park, intact and inviolable, calls to mind our national parks of the West, which were actually established by Congress for that very purpose. Possessing, as they do, wonders of nature and exceptional scenery, these parks have been thought worthy of preservation solely for their own sakes. ”

“ I earnestly recommend the establishment of a bureau of national parks. Such legislation is essential to the proper management of those wondrous manifestations of nature, so startling and so beautiful that every one recognizes the obligations of the government to preserve them for the edification and recreation of the people. The Yellowstone Park, the Yosemite, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Glacier National Park and the Mount Rainier National Park and others furnish appropriate instances. ”

“ Its forests are handled scientifically with the object of securing the largest annual lumber output consistent with the proper conservation of the future. Its spirit is commercial. The spirit of national park conservation is exactly opposite. It seeks no great territory—only those few spots which are supreme. It aims to preserve nature's handiwork exactly as nature made it. No tree is cut except to make way for road, trail or hotel to enable the visitor to penetrate and live among nature's secrets. Hunting is excellent in some of our national forests, but there is no game in the national parks ”

“ That said public park shall be under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be, as soon as practicable, to make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the care and management of the same. Such regulations shall provide for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition. ”

“ The guiding philosophy of National Forest management is known as “multiple use.” This term describes a broad program involving the inter-relationship of wild life protection, livestock 231 grazing, logging, mining, irrigation watersheds, wood chopping, recreation, summer home areas, and hunting and fishing activities. Railroads and other roads are built in National Forests according to plan and under supervision. How much of this esteemable policy and program has been derived from the National Park experience? ”

“ A Park should stand alone, and stand high. If we think of the Parks separately, keep them free from the dominion of commercialism, of interests, and of organizations, we may hope in a short time to receive the best use of them. ”

“ Since the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916, our national parks have grown to occupy a special place in the hearts of the American people. As responsible stewards, we must leave them in good condition for those who follow us. ”

“ That is the kind of a woman with whom to start a world. We still need park places full of hope and beauty, with birds, flowers, and trees, that with their help we may live long and happily and harmoniously upon a beautiful world.
Scenic parts of this poetic and primeval world—parts rich in loveliness and grandeur—are saved for us in our National Parks. The National Parks and Monuments are filled with Nature's masterpieces, and contain splendid scenic and scientific features not elsewhere to be seen. The traveler might spend a lifetime in them without exhausting even their best attractions. ”

“ Our national parks have become so extensive and involve so much detail of action in their control that it seems to me there ought to be legislation creating a bureau for their care and control. The greatest natural wonder of this country and the surrounding territory should be included in another national park. ”

“ A new breed has sprung up since the people have made such wide use of their National Parks. Not only the modern guides outwit the savage elements, but, under the National Park administration, they are required to have a fund of general information, especially nature lore, to be able to identify the thousands of varieties of wild flowers, the birds, animals and trees; to conduct field classes in geology, and to explain every phenomenon of weather and climate. Such a guide must have the patience to answer numberless questions. ”

“ My Administration is dedicated to ensuring that our national parks remain a source of pride for our citizens, and we are expanding our ability to protect America's historical and natural wonders. By insisting upon management excellence, the National Park Service is ensuring that the most vital maintenance and conservation needs of our parks are met and that resources are spent where they are needed the most. ”

“ A properly planned structure, whether it be of a single building or of a whole city, with all its homes and shops and streets, means the Conservation of the people's efficiency through all the generations that shall ever come to dwell therein. Similarly, the park movement, as we see it scientifically promoted, is almost wholly a measure of Conservation. ”

“ Nearly all the large nations of the earth now have national parks or are planning to create them. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are especially thoughtful in park matters. Switzerland has a number, and is planning new ones. A number of South American countries are making investigations with the view of establishing national parks.
National parks are an institution intimately allied with the general welfare. You need this institution, and it needs your help. Every one ought to be glad to help better and beautify our land. ”

“ The better and stronger nation of the future will be a park-using nation. Many wrecked nations have tried to get along without outdoor parks and recreation-places. It is but little less than folly to spend millions on forts and warships, on prisons and hospitals, instead of giving [Pg 383] people the opportunity to develop and rest in the sane outdoors.
The population of the United States now numbers a hundred millions and is growing with amazing rapidity. The harassing, exacting life of to-day makes outdoor life more important than ever before. ”