I4 6 PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



The National Park Service: 3 The nation's parks consti- 

 tute a great outdoor museum of natural history. The 

 National Park Service was established in the Department 

 of the Interior by act of Congress on August 25, 1916* 

 charged with their administration. The principle upon 

 which the Service operates is to provide for the utmost 

 enjoyment and use of the national parks by the present 

 generation but in such a way that the flora and fauna will 

 remain unimpaired for future generations. The Service 

 does not attempt to develop artificial forms of plant and 

 animal life or to eradicate the so-called predatory animals 

 unless they exist in such numbers as to be a menace to other 

 forms of animal life. It aims merely to maintain the parks 

 in their primitive state in so far as is compatible with good 

 sense. 



The idea of setting aside portions of the public domain 

 to serve as national parks open to use and enjoyment of the 

 citizens of the whole nation dates back to the establishment 

 of Yellowstone Park in 1872. From this beginning has 

 come the system of national parks which span the continent, 5 



Although the first national park was established in 1872, 

 it was not until 1916 that the management of the whole 

 park system was centralized in the hands of the then newly 

 established National Park Service. Indeed, it is doubtful if 

 the Service would have been created then except for the un- 

 tiring efforts of the American Civic Association and the 

 official support which the movement received from several 

 secretaries of the Interior. 6 



3 Name changed to Office of National Parks, Buildings and Reserva- 

 tions by Executive Order of June 10, 1933, but changed back to National 

 Park Service by appropriation act for fiscal year 1935. 



* 39 Stat. L. 536. 



5 For a complete history of the growth of the National Parks system, 

 see Cameron, Jenks, The National Park Service, Institute for Govern- 

 ment Research (1923). 



Cameron, Jenks, ibid., p. n. 



