National Parks Conservation Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is the only environmental organization devoted exclusively to advocacy on behalf of the National Parks. Its mission is "to protect and enhance America's National Park System for present and future generations."
Founded in 1919 by journalist Robert Sterling Yard as the National Parks Association, the organization was designed to be a citizen's watchdog for the National Park Service (NPS) created in 1916. Although Yard received personal financial support from Stephen Mather, the first NPS director, the two often differed on development issues in the parks. Taking a strong preservationist position, Yard objected to such commercialization of the parks as the jazz bands and bear shows at Yosemite National Park.
The association continued to resist commercial efforts to build dams and promote mining, logging and hunting in the National Parks. Responding to the national attention to a new range of emerging environmental issues, including air and water pollution, the organization changed its name in 1970 to the National Parks and Conservation Association. This was shortened to National Parks Conservation Association in 2000.
An activist network of members monitors conditions in the National Parks, and each year NPCA publishes a list of the "10 most endangered parks."
NPCA has headquarters in Washington, DC, and nine regional offices. It publishes a quarterly magazine, National Parks, with a circulation of 300,000.
[edit] Reference
- John C. Miles, Guardians of the Parks: A History of the National Parks and Conservation Association (Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis, 1995). ISBN 1-56032-446-5
