Click to Return to Beginning		THE NATIONAL PARKS AND EMERGENCY CONSERVATION ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE It was not until 1916, forty-four years after the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, that the National Park Service was created in the Department of the Interior as the definite Federal agency to maintain the areas "dedicated and set apart for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." Until 1915 the various national parks and national monuments had received limited supervision as part of the miscellaneous work handled in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. In that year Secretary Franklin K. Lane, realizing the specialized nature of national park work and the desirability of unifying the parks into one definite system, induced Stephen T. Mather, an old college friend and a keen lover of the mountains and the outdoors generally, to accept appointment as his assistant for the purpose of devoting his energies entirely to park matters. After the passage of the act creating the National Park Service, Mr. Mather was appointed its first Director. Horace M. Albright, appointed as Assistant Director of the Service at that time, in 1929 succeeded Mr. Mather as Director. Glacier Point Lookout, Yosemite National Park The general administrative work of the National Park Service is carried on in the Washington office. That is the place where all policy matters are decided; detailed estimates prepared of appropriations needed for park work and accurate cost records kept of every cent of Government money expended; appointments to all field positions considered; broad naturalist and historical programs worked out for field use; and general public relations work maintained, including the preparation and distribution of park literature and visual educational matters of various types.
Top		History | Links to the Past | National Park Service | Search | Contact Last Modified: Tues, May 23 2000 09:38:48 am PDT http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/ecw/ecw5.htm