National Park Service
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| Bureau of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior | |
| Established: | August 25, 1916 |
| Director: | Mary A. Bomar |
| Budget: | $2.256 billion (2006) |
| Employees: | 20,000 (2006) |
| Volunteers: | 140,000 (2006) |
The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations.[1] It was created on August 25, 1916 by Congress through the Organic Act (16 United States Code, sections 1,2,3 and 4) in order 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." It is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, which is in turn a Cabinet Office of the executive branch, overseen by a Secretary nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Most of the direct management of the NPS is delegated by the Secretary to the Director, who must now also be confirmed by the Senate.
The NPS oversees 390 units, of which 58 are designated national parks. Other units are designated national monuments, historical parks, national memorials, historic trails, heritage areas, national recreation areas, wild and scenic rivers, lakeshores, seashores, battlefields, and some national cemeteries. Not all NPS properties are considered to be distinct units. For example, Ellis Island Immigration Museum is not an independent NPS unit; it is a dependent area of Statue of Liberty National Monument which is one of the 390 units. None of the cemeteries count as a unit by themself. There is at least one National Park Service site in every state in the nation (and some territories), except Delaware.
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[edit] Special Divisions
The U.S. Park Police is a distinct law enforcement division of the National Park Service, with jurisdiction in all NPS sites, but primarily utilized in large metropolitan areas. Law enforcement services in rural, wilderness, and even some urban units are provided by specially trained and certified National Park Rangers. Other special NPS divisions include the Historic American Buildings Survey, National Register of Historic Places, National Natural Landmarks Program, the National Historic Landmarks Program, the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, Challenge Cost Share Program, Federal Lands to Parks, Hydropower Relicensing Program, Land and Water Conservation Fund, National Trails System, and the Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers Program.
[edit] Directors
- Stephen Tyng Mather (May 16, 1917 - January 8, 1929)
- Horace M. Albright (January 12, 1929 - August 9, 1933)
- Arno B. Cammerer (August 10, 1933 - August 9, 1940)
- Newton B. Drury (August 20, 1940 - March 31, 1951)
- Arthur E. Demaray (April 1, 1951 - December 8, 1951)
- Conrad L. Wirth (December 9, 1951 - January 7, 1964)
- George B. Hartzog, Jr. (January 9, 1964 - December 31, 1972)
- Ronald H. Walker (January 7, 1973 - January 3, 1975)
- Gary Everhardt (January 13, 1975 - May 27, 1977)
- William J. Whalen (July 5, 1977 - May 13, 1980)
- Russell E. Dickenson (May 15, 1980 - March 3, 1985)
- William Penn Mott, Jr. (May 17, 1985 - April 16, 1989)
- James M. Ridenour (April 17, 1989 - January 20, 1993)
- Roger G. Kennedy (June 1, 1993 - March 29, 1997)
- Robert Stanton (August 4, 1997 - January, 2001)
- Fran P. Mainella (July 18, 2001 - October, 2006)
- Mary A. Bomar (October 17, 2006 - )
[edit] National Park System
The National Park System is a term that describes the physical collection of parks and sites managed by the National Park Service. The system encompasses approximately 84.4 million acres (338,000 km²), of which more than 4.3 million acres (17,000 km²) remain in private ownership. The largest park is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. At 13,200,000 acres (53,000 km²) it is over 16 percent of the entire system. The smallest unit in the system is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Pennsylvania, at 0.02 acre (80 m²).
In addition to "units" and other properties that the National Park Service either owns or administers, it also provides technical and financial assistance to several "affiliated areas" authorized by Congress. The largest affiliated area is New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve at 1,164,025 acres (4711 km²). The smallest is Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at less than one hundredth of an acre.
[edit] National Parks
Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service manages each of the United States' National Parks, which have grown in number over the years to 58.
Although all national parks in the United States are controlled by the National Park Service, and share a common designation, each park in managed according to individual pieces of enabling legislation. For example, Congaree National Park is almost entirely wilderness area, yet Yosemite National Park has the Badger Pass Ski Area and the O'Shaughnessy Dam within its boundaries. Death Valley National Park actually contains an active mine within its boundaries.
[edit] National Park Service Holdings
| Type | Amount[1] |
|---|---|
| Buildings | 21,000 |
| Trails | 17,000 mi (27,350 km) |
| Roads | 10,000 mi (16,000 km) |
[edit] Concessions
In an effort to increase visitation and allow for a larger audience to enjoy national park land, The National Park Service has numerous forms of partnerships, or concessions, with private businesses to bring recreation, resorts, and other amenities to their parks. One example of a relationship formed to adaptively reuse historic buildings on park land in the name of recreation activities is Aviator Sports and Recreation within Gateway National Recreation Area. Other resorts and accommodations also exist such as Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park and the currently being renovated Fort Baker Retreat and Conference Center (currently under renovation / construction, due to open in 2008) in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These "adaptive reuses" have raised some controversy, however, from concerns about the historic integrity of these buildings after such extensive renovations and whether such alterations fall within the sprit and/or the letter of the preservation laws they are protected by.
At most Park Service sites, a bookstore is operated by a cooperating partner. The largest example is Eastern National, which runs bookstores in 30 states.
[edit] See also
- List of areas in the National Park System of the United States
- List of the United States National Park System official units
- U.S. National Monument
- U.S. National Park
- U.S. National Memorial
- U.S. National Heritage Area
- National park passport stamps
- Stephen Tyng Mather first Director of the National Park Service
- Ansel Franklin Hall the first Chief Naturalist and first Chief Forester of the National Park Service
[edit] References
- ^ NPS Overview. National Park Service (20-04-2006).
[edit] External links
- NPS official site
- Designation of National Park System Units
- A Message from the Director
- Park Service Overview
- Gallery of all US Parks
- Gallery of National Park "Welcome" Signs
- Community Assistance Available from the National Park Service
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| Acadia • American Samoa • Arches • Badlands • Big Bend • Biscayne • Black Canyon of the Gunnison • Bryce Canyon • Canyonlands • Capitol Reef • Carlsbad Caverns • Channel Islands • Congaree • Crater Lake • Cuyahoga Valley • Death Valley • Denali • Dry Tortugas • Everglades • Gates of the Arctic • Glacier • Glacier Bay • Grand Canyon • Grand Teton • Great Basin • Great Sand Dunes • Great Smoky Mountains • Guadalupe Mountains • Haleakala • Hawaii Volcanoes • Hot Springs • Isle Royale • Joshua Tree • Katmai • Kenai Fjords • Kings Canyon • Kobuk Valley • Lake Clark • Lassen Volcanic • Mammoth Cave • Mesa Verde • Mount Rainier • North Cascades • Olympic • Petrified Forest • Redwood • Rocky Mountain • Saguaro • Sequoia • Shenandoah • Theodore Roosevelt • Virgin Islands • Voyageurs • Wind Cave • Wrangell-St. Elias • Yellowstone • Yosemite • Zion List by: date established, state |
| National Recreation Areas of the United States Administered by the National Park Service |
