Idea to service

FROM AN IDEA TO A (GREAT) SERVICE

We have studied how the idea of public land for the benefit of all emerged in the United States during the second half of the XIXth century, we have read part of the legislative act that created Yellowstone National Park, and we are ready to understand how the imaginative dreams of an enlightened minority started an overwhelming movement.

Some political resistance

Just a few years before, the attitude towards nature was clear : the magnificence of Nature were used as a commercial good that could be sold. Back in 1832, a reserve established by Congress - four square miles of Arkansas mountain land called the `Hot Springs of Washita' - became known as `the National Spa' when opulent bath houses were built on the site.

Hot Springs National Park

Yosemite

However at the same time the evolution in mentality began taking effect, slowly but surely. In 1864, Congress granted the Yosemite Valley to the State of California for administration as a park on condition that `it should be held in trust for public use and recreation for all time'.
One of the main reasons for choosing this region was its marvelling scenic beauty and its great groves of redwood trees. This act, as a former Director of the US National Park Service saw it, sowed `the seed of an idea and the beginning of a new public-land policy ¹⁶'. It set legal precedent for the first named national park.

But the idea was not completely widespread. As historian Alfred Runte points out, Ť politicians once promised that should a national park ever be needed for some more worthwhile purpose than `scenery', its authorizing legislation could always be rescinded ¹⁷ť. This is significant of the resistance encountered by the national park pionneers in the debates surrounding the public decisions. In every case the main argument was the `worthlessness' of the landscapes designated to be parks : the Yosemite Valley was Ť for all public purposes worthless ¹⁸ť, Yellowstone was judged Ť so high above the sea ¹⁹ť that it had no value for stock raising, Crater Lake was Ť a very small affair - only eighteen by twenty-two miles...no agricultural land of any kind ²⁰ť. This awkward way of defending the now `priceless national assets' of America was Ť no rhetorical ploy ²¹ť in the days when the economic development of the West was a singular objective.

The Antiquities Act and the Organic Act of 1916

The next important event in the evolution of the national park movement was the passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906. This act seemed to have nothing to do with the protection of the scenery, for it dealt with penalties against the disturbance or the removal of any object of antiquity, and it instructed the government to preserve Ť all objects of historic or scientific interest ²²ť on federally owned land. It didn't need the authorization of Congress to protect the land, so before he left office, President Roosevelt had created 18 what-were-to-be-called National Monuments. Several other presidents used this act : according to Barry Mackintosh, Ť nearly a quarter of the units today [...] sprang from the Antiquities Act ²³ť.

Roosevelt

However there was no unity in the organization of the National Parks : in 1916, the Interior Department could scarcely do the job of administering the 37 units, the national parks, monuments and reserves. From the very beginning it was clear a different structure was needed : when Yellowstone was placed under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior in 1872, no staff was available to carry out the edict, and the U.S. Army had to take on the job. In 1916, many other areas where placed under the protection of the army. The administration of the parks was a mess, and the result was a disaster.

Wilson

Increasingly, the idea of a special bureau gained vocal support, and in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the `National Park Service Organic Act' (16 U.S.C. 1,2,3 and 4). He appointed Stephen T. Mather first director. Mather, a succesful California businessman, wanted to counter the `worthless' lands concept by giving value to the parks : if the public thought them valuable, Congress would too. He enlisted the railroad companies to advertise the National Parks, he induced concessioners to establish lodges, campgrounds and public services. Many concepts in our parks were forged at that time.

Recent developments

Mather succeeded in his work ; his successors continued this labor by adding several sites controled by other organisms, such as the historic sites by the War Department or some forests by the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture. The General Authorities Act of 1970 stated that Ť it is its purpose [...] to include all such areas in the National Park System ²⁴ť.

Other legislations reinforced the strength of the National Park Service : the Endangered Species Act(1973), the Clean Water Act (1972), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act (1965), the Outdoor Recreation Act (1963), and so on.

It all culminated with the amended Redwoods Act that states that Ť Congress [...] reaffirms, declares, and directs the regulation of the areas of the National Park System [...] to the common benefit of all the people of the United States²⁵ ť.

Most recently, the N.P.S. redefined its Strategic Plan in 1996 to Ť chart the course of the National Park Service ²⁶ť. Four categories of goals were adopted. It is interesting to notice that to the `original' goals were added some more `modern-type' missions. The goals of the National Park Service are : to preserve the park resources, natural, cultural or scenic, to provide for the public enjoyment and visitor experience of parks, to perpetuate heritage resources managed by partners (wild and scenic rivers, national trails, national landmarks,...), and to ensure organizational effectiveness ²⁷. The two first goals are `classic', the next one is of coherence (educate,amaze and entertain), and the last one is a contemporary concern : the national parks should adapt to current events, while staying true to their original objectives.

Since the very first times the idea of a national park for all appeared in the States, mentalities have not drastically evolved in the way parks are conceived, but the `park' mentality has spread and we can speak of a real park mysticism

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