JACKSON, Wyo. — The National Park Service (NPS) is celebrating its 104 birthday today.
“Today we celebrate 104 years of America’s best idea and preserving important places and stories for future generations to enjoy,” Grand Teton National Park said on social media.
According to the NPS website, on August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established.
This “Organic Act” says 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 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.”
Today more than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 400+ national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities.
Because of the celebration, national parks around the United States are allowing park-goers to enjoy free entrance into the parks.
To learn more about the history of our national parks, visit the NPS website.
