Laws and Regulations

Laws

The Organic Act of 1916 established the National Park Service (NPS). The Organic Act tells us our mission is:

"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."

Other important statutory directives for the National Park Service are provided by the NPS General Authorities Act of 1970, including amendments to that law enacted in 1978. There are numerous other laws related to the national park system and how we manage parks. These include enabling legislation for each park, the Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Park System Resource Protection Act, and most recently the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998.