.gif){kind=small}
Public Use of the
National Park System
MENU
Chapter 1
|
Public Use of the National Park System (1872-2000)
Chapter 1 |
|
Public Use, 1872-1966
a. Rescuing Scenic Wonders from Exploitation 1872-1908.
b. Establishing a National Park Service 1908-1917.
c. Promoting Public Use 1917-1929.
d. Enlarging and Developing the System 1929-1941.
e. Surviving Two Wars 1941-1956.
f. Catching Up and Going Ahead through MISSION 66.
DIGEST
In the beginning (1872-1908), the big conservation problem was developing appreciation for and saving the superlative scenic and wilderness wonders of the west from private exploitation by timber, mining, grazing and other interests and making them public national parks. With establishment of the Service, it was essential, at least until 1929, to promote travel to the parks to prove the national usefulness of the national park idea. Once the idea was firmly established, the System was expanded (1929-1941) (a) into the east, (b) into the field of historic sites, and (c) into recreation at first via parkways and reservoirs. World War II and the Korean War posed major challenges which were overcome. By this time, physical facilities had deteriorated and travel was mounting rapidly. MISSION 66 was created to enable the whole System to catch up and go ahead. It was only now, 84 years after Yellowstone was authorized, that mounting public use became the central issue in managing the System.
In recent years the perennial problem of balancing preservation and public use in the National Park System has taken on new urgency, caused by the tremendous growth in travel since World War II. In 1946, visits to the National Park System totaled less than 22,000,000, but 20 years later had multiplied over six times, to 133,000,000--growth at a rate many times greater than the increase in population, and accelerating to as yet unknown dimensions. Of all the conservation and management problems facing the National Park System in 1967, balancing the claims of rapidly mounting public use and the requirements of preservation is probably the most pervasive and difficult.
It was not always so. Viewed in the perspective of National Park Service history, other issues took the foreground in earlier periods. It is primarily in recent years that public use problems have come to dominate park management, The history of the National Park System needs deeper study than has yet been given it, which we may hope will be accomplished by historians before the centennial of Yellowstone in 1972. Meanwhile, the place of public use in Service history may be very briefly summarized as follows:
a. Rescuing Scenic Wonders from Exploitation 1872-1908. The pioneers in national park conservation--John Muir, Cornelius Hedges, Frederick Law Olmsted among others--sought to develop public appreciation for the superlative scenic and wilderness wonders of the west, rescue them from private exploitation for grazing, timber cutting, mining, and commercial resorts, and protect them in perpetuity as public parks and pleasuring grounds for the American people. The theme of the era was public parks vs. private exploitation. Knowledge of the areas destined to become famous was still limited, visitors were few, and the impact of public use was not, as yet, even a remote problem.
b. Establishing a National Park Service 1908-1917. As David Swain has pointed out in the Wisconsin Magazine of History (Autumn 1966), these years saw a conflict between the "utilitarian conservationists" like Gifford Pinchot who were interested in national forests and reclamation projects, and the "aesthetic conservationists" interested in national parks. [1] The "aesthetic conservationists," aided by public officials and See America Firsters, won the battle and the act establishing the Service was approved on August 25, 1916. President Taft sent a special message to Congress in 1912 recommending a National Park Service which presents the case for preservation and public access in these words:
"I earnestly recommend the establishment of a Bureau of National Parks. Such legislation is essential to the proper management of those wonderful manifestations of nature, so startling and so beautiful that everyone recognizes the obligations of the government to preserve them for the edification and recreation of the people, The Yellowstone Park, the Yosemite, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Glacier National Park, and the Mount Rainier National Park and others furnish appropriate instances. In only one case have we made anything like adequate preparation for the use of a park by the public. That case is the Yellowstone National Park. Every consideration of patriotism and the love of nature and of beauty and of art requires us to expend money enough to bring all these natural wonders within easy reach of our people. The first step in that direction is the establishment of a responsible bureau, which shall take upon itself the burden of supervising the parks and of making recommendations as to the best method of improving their accessibility and usefulness." [2]
c. Promoting Public Use, 1917-1929. The greatest task that confronted Steve Mather and Horace Albright in 1917 was to marshal public support for the new bureau and promote public use of the embryonic National Park System. In the 1915 travel year, 335,299 people visited the national parks which were equally difficult to reach and to travel in after arrival. Appropriations both to Interior and War Departments for the national parks totaled $498,000. To arouse the nation to the need for greater support, Mather and Albright launched a major program of public education, through speeches, periodicals, the press, national park conferences, and special group and Congressional visits to the parks. But to secure public support also required better means to reach the parks and to get around within them afterwards. The first automobile entered Mount Rainier in 1908, General Grant in 1910, Crater Lake in 1911, Glacier in 1912, Yosemite and Sequoia in 1913, and Mesa Verde in 1914. Over some opposition from railroad officials, stagecoach concessioners, and wilderness preservationists, Mather also opened Yellowstone to automobiles in 1915. By this time, much effort was being devoted to a proposed "park-to-park highway" and to seeking funds for park roads. These efforts culminated in a major road appropriation for the national parks in 1924. Close relationships were also developed with the leading western railroads. Concession policies were drastically revised so that better accommodations would be available when visitors reached the parks. By the time of Steve Mather's retirement in 1929, travel to the national parks had multiplied over seven times to 2,757,415 and the national monuments received an additional 490,845 visitors, Appropriations for the 1929 fiscal year were $4,754,015 for administration and maintenance or ten times greater than in 1915, and in addition, $4,000,000 was authorized for the construction of roads and trails. "In the last analysis," commented Mather in 1920, "travel is the deciding factor as to whether or not the parks are measuring up to the high standard that has been set for them and all that is being said about them as the great recreational grounds of the American people." [3]
The above paragraph should not leave the mistaken impression that Steve Mather and Horace Albright were not also very much concerned with preservation. Among many urgent preservation problems they tackled energetically were acquisition of park inholdings; strenuous resistance to new efforts by grazing, lumbering, and mining interests to invade the national parks during World War I; and successful opposition to mounting demands for new reclamation projects that threatened the integrity of the national parks. Important as were these problems, attracting public support was still the dominant theme of this period.
d. Enlarging and Developing the System 1929-1941. During this period under the leadership of Horace Albright, Arno B. Cammerer, and Arthur E. Demaray, the National Park Service which had already secured Congressional authorizations some years before, entered the east in a large way. In 1929 the National Park System contained only one reservation--Acadia National Park--east of the Mississippi River, The Great Smokies was established in 1930, Mammoth Cave in 1934, and Shenandoah in 1935 (all three had been authorized in 1926). Isle Royale was established in 1940. A program of national parkways was initiated in the east also, beginning with the George Washington Memorial Parkway in 1930, the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1933, and the Natchez Trace in 1934. The Service also entered the field of historic preservation with major new programs, centered largely in the east. George Washington's Birthplace and Colonial National Monuments were established in 1930, and Morristown three years later. On August 10, 1933, over 50 historic properties previously administered by the War and Agriculture Departments were added to the National Park System at one stroke of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's pen, including such famous places as Gettysburg, Fort McHenry, the Castillo de San Marcos, and the Statue of Liberty. The Historic Sites Act of 1935 confirmed the central role of the Service in Federal historic preservation. By 1941, the National Park System combined a great array of historic and natural areas and was beginning to move toward a third category--recreation. Furthermore, park holdings were now widely distributed over the nation--a truly National Park System. The Park, Parkway and Recreation Area Study Act of 1936 provided the basis for broad resource planning and confirmed the great contribution the National Park Service made in this period to major strengthening of state park systems.
This was also the period of great public projects all over America. The National Park System and the state parks as well felt the benefits and impact of a wide range of emergency programs supported by the Civil Works Administration, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Public Works Administration, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. An immense amount of long-needed conservation work was accomplished in the National Park System and the state parks, from erosion control to trail building, from construction of signs to ranger stations.
With the rise of public construction programs in the 1930's, major park preservation controversies began to develop more often from the competition of other public projects, such as dams or highways, with park land use, and less often from the threat of private exploitation. Planning park developments to minimize intrusions became a major objective. Public use rose steadily, from about 3,000,000 in 1929 to 21,236,900 in 1941, but visitor impact on park resources did not yet constitute the major Service problem. One note, however, pointed to the future. A small group of conservationists meeting because of their concern over Congressional enthusiasm for sky-line drives, organized the Wilderness Society in 1934.
e. Surviving Two Wars 1941-1956. It is difficult now to realize the impact of World War II and the Korean War on the National Park Service and System. The large emergency programs of the 1930's came to an abrupt end. CCC camps were closed and new construction stopped. Travel fell sharply with war conditions and gas rationing. Appropriations were cut sharply. In effect the National Park System was put on a custodial basis from 1941 to 1946. During this period the dominant problems were belt-tightening and resistance to war-inspired threats to park resources, particularly minerals and timber. Under the leadership of Newton B, Drury, the Service moved energetically to meet war-time public use needs and preserve the System intact for post-war generations. This proved a major responsibility.
By 1946, hopes rose that the National Park System would soon be back to normal. Progress was being made toward that objective when war broke out again in 1950--the Korean War. Appropriations again became hard to get and the resumption of normal park programs was postponed. For over a decade, national park operations had been at a custodial level, and deferred maintenance needs piled up alarmingly. Meanwhile, park travel, instead of slackening as it had during World War II, grew almost two and one-half times between 1946 and 1955, from nearly 22,000,000 to over 50,000,000 visits By the mid-fifties, deterioration of the National Park System's physical facilities in the face of mounting use had become acute. Bernard de Voto wrote his famous article in Harper's Magazine, "Let's Close the National Parks." [4] At this moment, Director Conrad L. Wirth, with the full support of the Department, the President and the Congressional Committees on Appropriation and Interior and Insular Affairs, launched MISSION 66.
f. Catching Up and Going Ahead Through MISSION 66, 1956-1966. It is not necessary here to review the origin and achievements of MISSION 66. It is still fresh in the memories of all participants. It was a magnificent concept, timed with great skill, and conducted with energy, foresight and unusual professional talent. MISSION 66 met with extraordinary success and had far-reaching effects on the National Park System as well as several other government programs.
The eight objectives of MISSION 66, set forth in Our Heritage, A Plan for its Protection and Use: "MISSION 66," [5] issued by the National Park Service in 1956, reveal the dominant themes of this period--bringing the neglected physical facilities of the National Park System fully abreast of the needs anticipated by 1966, preserving and protecting the parks, and making them more usable, enjoyable and meaningful for the American people. The problem of visitor impact was growing and great efforts were made to provide the physical plant and staff services needed to meet the visitor load anticipated for 1966. Six of the eight objectives dealt with this problem. It was pointed out that the National Park System of 1955 was developed to care for 21,000,000 visitors, whereas 80,000,000 were expected by 1966 and the parks should be ready. A seventh objective was a coordinated nation-wide recreation plan for all levels of government. Last of all, the program sought to provide for the protection and preservation of the wilderness area within the National Park System and encourage their appreciation and enjoyment in ways that would leave them unimpaired. This objective sought to help realize the long standing objectives of wilderness organizations and others, going back many years, to insure the perpetuation of substantial wilderness on Federal lands.
This period also saw important additions to the National Park System. Perhaps the most significant was a group of national recreation areas, including the new national seashores and lakeshores. For the first time, recreation areas began to take their place beside natural areas and historic areas as parallel segments of the National Park System. During this period, however, responsibility for making a national recreation survey and coordinating a government-wide park and open space acquisition program for the nation was transferred from the National Park Service to the new Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.
Conclusion
Eighty-four years after Yellowstone was authorized, mounting public use at last became the central problem of National Park System management during the 1956-1966 period. In these years the solution to growing visitor impact on park resources was sought through carefully planned physical development and enlarged staffing. It was hoped, however, that through nation-wide park planning part of the visitor load in natural areas could be diverted to recreation areas inside and outside the National Park System.
Top
Last Modified: Thurs, Mar 14 2002 7:08 am PDT
public_use/lee1.htm