National Parks History 101 Part - 1

Hey tour guide, I would like to do the blog tonight.  OK, what will it be about.  I think it's time the readers of this blog had a history lesson on the National Parks.  Sounds good to me, have at it KW.

The National Parks:


By the Act of March 1, 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and placed it "under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior".  The founding of Yellowstone National Park began a worldwide national park movement.  Today more than 100 nations contain some 1,200 national parks or equivalent preserves.

"After the discovery of gold in the region, Montana was designated as a United States territory (Montana Territory) on May 26, 1864 and with rapid population growth, as the 41st state on November 8, 1889."

"Wyoming overcame the obstacles of low population and being the only territory in the U.S. giving women the right to vote, and the United States admitted Wyoming into the Union as the 44th state on July 10, 1890."

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established.  This "Organic Act" states that "the Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations...by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments and reservations, which purpose 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."

Part Two tomorrow.

TTFN:

PS:
President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the park systems greatest patrons.  During his administration (1901-09) five new parks were created, as well as 18 national monuments, four national game refuges, 51 bird sanctuaries, and over 100 million acres (40 million hectares) of national forest.