A brief history of US national parks
America’s national parks turned 100 years old in 2016, marking the signing of the Organic by President Woodrow Wilson, which enabled the National Park Service to be created. This was a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior protecting 35 national parks and historic monuments, making them ‘Federal’ areas. The purpose of this was, according to the Act, 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.”
Read more The first national Park, Yellowstone, was created earlier than this, however, under the Yellowstone Act 1872. This was also the beginning of a worldwide movement of national parks which we can all benefit from today. One name that is closely associated with this movement within the USA was naturalist John Muir, a Scottish-American, whose elegant writing, essays and campaigns contributed, in particular to the protection of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. You can read more about this journey and his experiences traveling through the wild places of America in many books, such as Wilderness Essays and The Wild Muir.
Another eminent writer on national parks was President Theodore Roosevelt, who not only created five parks during his presidency (1901-09) but also wrote about his feelings in two books: Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and The Wilderness Hunter. In contrast with many contemporary conservationists, however, President Roosevelt’s love of landscape and passion for conservation came out of a similar love of hunting. Indeed, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park is in the Badlands of North Dakota, where he shot his first buffalo and had set up a ranch.
In these early years of creating national parks, a time of idealism and inspiration, the parks were not governed by one body, and began to be exploited by private enterprises, such as hotels, railway companies, ranches and logging companies, many of whom went un-policed. The parks were suddenly at risk, and discussions arose as to how they could best be managed. There was a lot of pressure from the National Forests Service to bring them under its umbrella, with a view to sustainable exploitation of the woodland. But the preservation ethos won the day, thanks in part to entrepreneur and conservation activist Stephen Mather, who gathered support from leaders in industry and education for the creation of a National Parks Service. When it was indeed created, thanks to the 1916 Organic Act, Mather became its first director.
As of 2020 there were 62 American national parks, but around 400 areas in total coming under the National Park Service administration, including National Monuments, National Battlefields and National Seashores. Not without controversy, of course, one issue being the displacement of native peoples in various regions over the years. You can read more about this in another highly regarded book, American Indians and National Parks by Robert H. Keller and Michael F. Turek (1999).
The administration of Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, has also, among its many controversies, come under significant criticism its attitude to America’s national parks. Funding and resources are being stripped, ranger numbers slashed, and previously protected areas opened up for development by the oil, gas and mining industries putting who knows how many habitats at risk. Environmentalists, sportspeople and outdoor recreation enthusiasts are leading a spirited fightback, but the current situation is bleak. Jim Lyons, formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior Department in the Obama administration, believes “It will set conservation back a generation or two.”
