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"The parks are the nation's pleasure grounds and the nation's restoring places," said J. Horace McFarland, president of the American Civic Association, in 1916. Obviously, the millions of people who visit the national parks annually agree. Last year, there were more than 413 million visits to the nearly 400 areas administered by the National Park Service. |
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Conservationists, civic leaders and government officials submitted testimony before Congress in favor of the establishment of the National Park Service on April 5 and 6, 1916. The congressional debate over the proper management of the growing system of national parks began in 1912 and culminated with the passage in 1916 of the National Park Service Act, which created the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior. |
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