National Park Origins
"Pioneers would 'discover' landscapes of such breathtaking and unusual beauty that written descriptions of the lands were sometimes assumed by people in the East to be works of fiction"
About the Series
Congressman John F. Lacey created a bill that finally protected Yellowstone National Park's last buffalo herd.
About the Series
The Secretary of the Interior had trouble regulating and protecting the National Parks, so in 1883 Congress authorized calling on the Secretary of War for assistance so military presence could protect the lands.
Harpers Ferry Center
The concept of large-scale natural preservation for public enjoyment is often credited to George Catlin, who pondered the future of America's glorious landscapes with the trends of manifest destiny.
Harpers Ferry Center
The romantic portrayals of nature by James Fenimore Cooper and Henry David Thoreau enticed the common man to appreciate nature.
Harpers Ferry Center
Yosemite and Sequoia followed Yellowstone after eighteen years.
Harpers Ferry Center
165,000 people work in the National Parks.
Himiak
"With Yellowstone's establishment, the precedent was set for other natural reserves under federal jurisdiction."
Harpers Ferry Center
"[They might be saved] by some great protecting policy of government... in a magnificent park... a nation's park, containing man and beast, in all the wild[ness] and freshness of their nature's beauty!"
Harpers Ferry Center
Expeditions led by David E. Folson, Henry D. Washburn, and Ferdinand Hayden led the little known Yellowstone to be an iconic giant to the eastern United States.
Harpers Ferry Center
A recent attempt by the Walt Disney Corporation to build a ski resort near the Giant Forest failed when a grassroots movement composed of park enthusiasts thwarted the purchase.
History of Sequoia
Hale Tharp was the first homesteader in the region. He famously built his cabin out of the log of a fallen Sequoia tree.
History of Sequoia
"Ancient and awe-inspiring, trees are the roots of the park's history."
Sequoia History
"Naturalist John Muir helped popularize the park's ecological significance, and the Giant Forest was incorporated into a National Park in 1890."
Sequoia History
The National Park System did not expand east of the Mississippi River until after 1926.
Mackintosh
Hale Tharp was the first Caucasian to settle in the Sierra Mountains.
Dilsaver
In the 1880's the logging turned into a commercialized industry. The native flora and fauna was impacted dramatically.
Dilsaver
John Jordan created a toll road that passed right through the heart of present-day Sequoia National Park.
Dilsaver
John Muir, a Scotsman, left his home in Yosemite Valley to visit the Sierra Range in September of 1873.
Dilsaver
Once the toll road enabled everyone to travel through the Sierra Mountains, spots of land were claimed and guarded viciously.
Dilsaver
During the expedition, "Old Faithful" was given its name.
Finley
Visitors start streaming to the park as the railroads begin catering to the tourists.
Finley & Harpers Ferry Center
Yosemite Valley and John Muir were at the heart of the national parks movement.
U.S. National Parks
The national parks instill, upon first glance, a sense of surprise, followed by beauty, and then astonishment.
Yard
Sen. John Conness sponsored the protection of Yosemite Valley in 1864 so it might be used for the benefit of mankind.
Harpers Ferry Center
The first National Park was Yellowstone, set aside in 1872. It remained in the custody of the Department of the Interior.
Mackintosh
"The native people of the southern Sierra Nevada used the high mountain passes in what is today Sequoia National Park as summertime trade routes that connected them with the tribes to the east."
History of Sequoia
James Mason Hutchings desired to build a resort in Yosemite Valley.
About the Series
The National Parks are an idea as "uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical."
About the Series
The birth of the idea of the National Parks was in the mid-1800s.
About the Series
Among those dedicated to saving the future national park was Professor Samuel Pierpoint Langley, who attempted to protect the natural resources by performing an experiment.
Dilsaver
Finally, with the full-time help of Frank Walker, George Stewart campaigned the proposal and had the bill passed in four months.
Dilsaver
George Stewart influenced John F. Miller to propose a National Park protecting the Giant Forest and Sierra Mountain Range.
Dilsaver
The previous mine located in the mountain range failed and was converted into a summer resort.
Dilsaver
The richest resource in the Sierra is the pine trees above five thousand feet and the soft wood trees in the valleys.
Dilsaver
A private group of citizens set out to officially document the region in 1970. The scribe of the survey, Pitt Langford, recorded their experiences.
Finley
After twenty-five years, the trip was too expensive, and the level of attraction only enticed five thousand people to visit a year.
Finley
Hayden presented a 500-page report to Congress, lobbying the idea of making Yellowstone a national park, upon his return.
Finley
John Colter, traveling with Lewis and Clark, was most likely the first white man to gaze upon Yellowstone. His written accounts of "fire and brimstone" were met with unbelief in the eastern United States.
Finley
President Grant signed Yellowstone National Park into existence. "The 2.2 million acres of wilderness was set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
Finley
President Woodrow Wilson changed National Parks forever with the creation of the National Park Service.
Finley
The Bottler brothers established a mine halfway between Yellowstone and the nearest town of Bozeman. Three mine workers set out to explore the region and realized the area needed to be preserved from industry.
Finley
Theodore Roosevelt visits Yellowstone and is astounded at the beauty and wildness of the Park.
Finley
Ferdinand Hayden, head of the US government's new geological survey, heard Langford's reports and received permission from Congress to make a governmental survey expedition.
Finley & Harpers Ferry Center
Skeptics questioned the integrity of setting aside such a large area for preservation.
Harpers Ferry Center
The National Park System is comprised of 392 areas covering more than 84 million acres of land.
Himiak
The first National Park was Yellowstone National Park, signed into effect by President Grant on March 1, 1872.
Himiak
The Act of March 1, 1872, passed the first National Park, Yellowstone National Park, as a "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
History
The National Park Service, a federal bureau in the Department of the Interior, was created by Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916.
History
The National Park System is comprised of over 400 area covering more than 84 million acres of land.
History
"Sequoia National Park was founded in 1890 to protect the trees that bear its name, and expanded over the course of its history to include additional land."
History of Sequoia
"Catlin's vision was partly realized in 1864, when Congress donated Yosemite Valley to California for preservation as a state park."
Mackintosh
"The national park concept is generally credited to the artist George Catlin. On a trip to the Dakotas in 1832, he worried about the impact of America's westward expansion on Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness."
Mackintosh
By 1916, the Interior was managing fourteen National Parks and 21 monuments. They did not have enough organization.
Mackintosh
President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service into existence inside the Interior Department on August 25, 1916.
Mackintosh
Stepehn T. Mather, a wealthy businessman from Chicago worked to create a National Parks bureau designed to control only these lands.
Mackintosh
The mismanagement of the parks became clear when a dam was commissioned in Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Mackintosh
To be a National Park, a region must illustrate rare natural landscapes, harbor a biotic area otherwise nonexistent, or have an abundance of a certain resource.
National Park Service, Criteria
"A national park is an area set aside by a nation's government to protect natural beauty, wildlife, or other remarkable features."
National Park Service, National System
"Though we use the term "national park" in a general sense when referring to the individual units within the National Park System, the classification system used by NPS actually encompasses 19 separate designations. Some are descriptive listings, such as lakeshores, seashores, and battlefields, but others also include titles that can't be neatly categorized because of the diversity of resources within them."
National Parks, Brief History
"But the decision to set these special places aside was not an obvious, or easy, one. No road map existed for the journey that created the national parks because no places quite like them existed anywhere in the world."
U.S. National Parks
At the turn of the 20th century, the parks lacked funding and protection as a result of disorganization. The future of the parks was "very much in doubt."
U.S. National Parks
The National Park Service was created around the ideal of preservation, not restoration.
U.S. National Parks
Lafayette Bunnell returned from Yosemite Valley with stories of beauty and granduer.
Yosemite National Park
The discovery of gold enticed the first non-natives to come to California around 1850. Conflict arose between the Native Americans and the Caucasian.
Yosemite National Park
