CHAPTER II 



ACTIVITIES 



In the preceding chapter the functions of the National 

 Park Service — ^the supervision, management, and control of 

 the various parks and monuments — have been pointed out ; and 

 some indication has necessarily been given of the activities 

 of the Service in the performance of those functions. In 

 considering the activities in detail it will simplify matters to go 

 back for a moment to what may be termed the first principles 

 of the Service, and note once more that the "National Park 

 Idea," as expressed in the organic laws of the Service, the 

 Yellowstone and the National Park Service acts, emphasizes 

 two things: the retention of the parks, their scenery, natural 

 wonders, forests, waters, etc., in their original state; and, 

 the public enjoyment of the things and places thus conserved. 

 The work of the National Park Service consists in the further- 

 ance of these two objects, and all of its activities are con- 

 cerned with either the conservation of the parks and monu- 

 ments or the promotion of their use and enjoyment by the 

 people. In discussing the Service's activities, therefore, at- 

 tention will be given, first to conservational activities, and, 

 then, to promotive activities. 



Conservation of Physical Features. Conservational activ- 

 ities of the National Park Service are concerned with two 

 kinds of conservation. First, there is the preservation in 

 their natural states of the actual, physical parks themselves, 

 their formations, their forests, and their waters. Then there 

 is the protection of the wild life in the parks to the end that it 

 may be preserved from extermination and given a chance to 

 increase freely and develop in natural surroundings. 



.so 



