NPS Family Tree MENU Contents Foreword Introduction Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII Acknowledgements Abbreviations		Family Tree of the National Park System Part IV part IV GROWTH OF THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM 1933-1964 CONCLUSION The above account of Recreation Areas added to the National Park System provides only a partial glimpse of the exceptional momentum developed by the national movement for parks and recreation between 1933 and 1964. The National Park Service, especially through the leadership of Conrad L. Wirth, as CCC administrator, planner and Director, played an influential role in that movement throughout this period. The need for more outdoor recreation facilities approached crisis proportions before the end of the 1950's, the result of growing population, increasing leisure time, rising incomes, and the automobile age. In 1958 Congress created an Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission to make a new comprehensive study of recreation facilities in the United States. The Commission presented its report, Outdoor Recreation for America, to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. Based on that report, Secretary Udall established the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation in the Department of the Interior in April 1962 and transferred longstanding National Park Service responsibilities for the formulation of a nationwide outdoor recreation plan and important aspects of cooperative relationships with States to the new bureau. In May 1963, Congress passed organic legislation confirming the responsibilities of the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. With this action a new chapter in federal participation in outdoor recreation began.
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