National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government, within the United States Department of the Interior. The service manages all national parks; most national monuments; and other natural, historical, and recreational properties, with various title designations. The United States Congress created the agency on August 25, 1916, through the National Park Service Organic Act. Its headquarters is in Washington, D.C., within the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior.

The NPS employs about 20,000 people in 433 units covering over 85 million acres (0.34 million km²) in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. In 2019, the service had more than 279,000 volunteers. The agency is charged with preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management and with making them available for public use and enjoyment.

History

Artist George Catlin, during an 1832 trip to the Dakotas, was perhaps the first to suggest the concept of a national park. Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness were all in danger, wrote Catlin, unless they could be preserved "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!" Yellowstone National Park was created as the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no state government to manage it (Wyoming was a U.S. territory at that time), so the federal government managed it directly through the army, including the famed African American Buffalo Soldier units.