THE NATIONAL PARKS SYSTEM 261 



gramme to lead the defense of National Park con- 

 servation attacked in Congress, it mourned what it 

 thought was indefinite postponement of its purpose. 

 But, as seen in perspective later, the "war" that fol- 

 lowed, by nation-wide advertisement of the reasons 

 for defending the System, launched and developed 

 the educational cause, leading to the later organized 

 activity as nothing else could have done. Here and 

 there seeds rooted in widely separated localities, 

 from which activities have spread. 



One of the first practical results was organiza- 

 tion of a volunteer nature guide service in Yosemite 

 National Park which since has become a formal gov- 

 ernment activity spreading into other National 

 Parks. At this writing we see under government 

 salary Park Naturalists in several National Parks, 

 several rangers on whole or part time, and a Chief 

 Park Naturalist. The work is supplemented by vol- 

 unteer and privately salaried workers during the 

 summer, and an excellent outdoor school for teachers 

 and specialists is maintained under private support 

 in Yosemite. 



Congress yields very slowly to popular demand 

 for financial support of other than concrete recrea- 

 tional development and administration. For equip- 

 ping National Parks "for recreation," it inconsis- 

 tently appropriates nearly a dollar a year per na- 

 tional park visitor, including passing motorists, 

 while appropriating only a small fraction of a cent 

 per visitor for the same service in National Forests. 



