U.S. National Park Service Created (1916)
On August 25, 1916, Congress created the U.S. National Park Service through the National Park Service Organic Act. In particular, President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill into law that created the U.S. National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife 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."
National parks and monuments in the United States were originally managed under the Department of the Interior. And in March 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone National Park as the nation’s first federal park "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
Over time, movement grew for an independent agency to oversee the federal lands managed through the Department of the Interior. Individuals including Robert Sterling Yard and Stephen Mather publicly promoted the creation of a national park service and eventually gained the support of Congress. On this day, August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Act to create the U.S. National Park Service.
Today, the National Park Service manages all national parks, numerous national monuments, historical properties, battlefields, recreation areas, and many other scenic rivers and trails. There are well over 20,000 employees within the National Park Service and around 145,000 volunteers. The land managed by the National Park Service covers more than 84 million acres across the United States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Starting with Yellowstone NP in 1872, now there are almost 60 national parks including such notable parks as Grand Canyon NP, Yosemite NP, Glacier National Park, Acadia NP, Rocky Mountain NP, among many others. Total visitors to the national parks are in the hundreds of millions every year!