DIVERSITY | Offering a place for everyone
15 July 2008
U.S. Parks: The Timeline
1872
The U.S. Congress creates Yellowstone National Park from 2 million acres (more than 800,000 hectares) in the Wyoming and Montana territories “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
1890-1916
Thirteen more scenic parks are authorized by Congress. Including Mount Rainer National Park in Washington, Yosemite in California, and Rocky Mountain in Colorado, all the designated sites are in the West.
1906
The importance of preserving prehistoric Native American sites is recognized with passage of the Antiquities Act, giving U.S. presidents authority to declare sites of value as national monuments. By 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt had proclaimed 18 national monuments.
1916
Congress passes a bill creating the National Park Service (NPS) within the U.S. Department of the Interior to manage the 35 parks and monuments under the agency’s jurisdiction.
1926
Congress authorizes the Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, and Mammoth Cave national parks in the Appalachian region. Establishment of parks in the eastern United States made parks accessible to larger population centers and increased support for the park system in the Congress.
1930
The first parks are designated because of their significance in national history rather than their natural beauty. They include George Washington’s birthplace in Virginia and the site where the British surrendered to American forces in 1791, ending the American Revolution.
1933
Management of national parks and monuments is consolidated within the National Park Service, which establishes authority over sites previously under the jurisdiction of the War Department and the Forest Service.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is created under the New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to economic depression. Within a few years, more than 120,000 CCC personnel are at work in national parks building features such as trails, lodges, and tourist facilities.
1935
The Historic Sites Act is passed, creating “a national policy to preserve for public use historic sites, buildings, and objects of national significance for the inspiration and benefit of the people of the United States.” Broad powers to carry out the policy are assigned to the National Park Service.
1936
The Park, Parkway, and Recreation Study Act is passed, empowering the National Park Service to work with other government agencies to plan parkways and facilities at the federal, state, and local levels.
1941-1945
World War II brings sharp reductions in funds dedicated to park operations and in visits to the parks by the public.
1958-1962
Congress establishes the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, directing it to conduct a four-year study examining several issues: the outdoor recreation wants and needs of the American people, the recreation resources of the nation available to satisfy those needs, and the policies and programs that would meet those needs into the future.
1963
An advisory committee led by biologist A. Starker Leopold recommends significant changes in NPS management of natural resources and ecologic communities.
1964
The National Wilderness Preservation System Act is passed, leading to protection of areas “where the Earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
1965
The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act is passed. Ultimately it earmarks revenues from visitor fees, surplus property sales, and other sources for federal and state parkland acquisition.
1966
The National Historic Preservation Act enrolls all historic parks on the National Register of Historic Places and gives state and federal preservation officials authority to review management of the historic sites.
1968
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the National Trails System Act and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System Act. The former was the first law to provide for the creation of recreation trails accessible to urban areas and scenic trails in remote areas. The rivers act set national policy for preservation of certain rivers that “possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or similar values.”
1970
Congress passes the General Authorities Act, which codifies NPS policies calling for differing management approaches for natural, historical, and recreational sites.
1978
The National Parks and Recreation Act authorizes 15 new additions to the park system. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California was among those included, with terrain ranging from rugged mountains to sandy beaches and rocky shores.
1980
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act is passed, increasing the land area under NPS jurisdiction by 50 percent to 47 million acres (almost 20 million hectares).
1981
The Park Restoration and Improvement Program is launched to devote more than $1 billion over five years to stabilize and upgrade existing park resources and facilities.
2006
President George Bush announces the National Park Centennial Initiative, creating a matching fund for government and philanthropic contributions to benefit the parks in the years approaching the system’s centennial.
2016
The 100th anniversary of the National Park Service will take place.
Information in this timeline is drawn from The National Parks: Shaping the System, a 2005 publication of the National Park Service.
