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Part VI
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Family Tree of the
National Park System
Part VI |
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part VI
GROWTH OF THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM, 1964-1972
RECREATION AREAS, 1964-1972
Between 1964 and 1972, 20 new recreation areas, situated in 35 of the 50 States, were added to the National Park System. Eight were National Seashores or Lakeshores, eight reservoir-related Recreation Areas, three National Scenic Riverways, and one a National Scenic Trail. The last two categories were entirely new to the System. These additions more than doubled the number of recreation areas, increasing it from 17 to 36. The list of additions follows:
| National Seashores and Lakeshores: | ||||
| 1964, | Sept. | 11 | Fire Island N.S., N.Y. | |
| 1965, | Sept. | 21 | Assateague Island N.S., Md.-Va. | |
| 1966, | March | 10 | Cape Lookout N.S., N.C. | |
| 1966, | Oct. | 15 | Pictured Rocks N.L., Mich. | |
| 1966, | Nov. | 5 | Indian Dunes N.L., Ind. | |
| 1970, | Sept. | 26 | Apostle Island N.L., Wisc. | |
| 1970, | Oct. | 21 | Sleeping Bear Dunes N.L., Mich. | |
| 1971, | Jan. | 8 | Gulf Islands N.S., Fla.-Miss. | |
| Reservoir-related Recreation Areas: | ||||
| 1964, | Dec. | 31 | Bighorn Canyon N.R.A., Wyo.-Mont. | |
| 1965, | Feb. | 1 | Arbuckle R.A., Okla. | |
| 1965, | Feb. | 11 | Curecanti R.A., Colo. | |
| 1965, | March | 15 | Sanford R.A., Texas | |
| 1965, | Sept. | 1 | Delaware Water Gap N.R.A., Pa.-N.J. | |
| 1965, | Nov. | 11 | Amistad R.A., Texas | |
| 1968, | Oct. | 2 | Lake Chelan N.R.A., Wash. | |
| 1968, | Oct. | 2 | Ross Lake N.R.A., Wash. | |
| National Scenic Riverways: | ||||
| 1964, | Aug. | 27 | Ozark, Mo. | |
| 1968, | Sept. | 4 | St. Croix, Minn.-Wisc. | |
| 1969, | Sept. | 4 | Wolf, Wisc. | |
| National Scenic Trail: | ||||
| 1968, | Oct. | 2 | Appalachian, Maine-N.H.-Vt.-Mass.-Conn.- N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.-Md.-W. Va.-N.C.-Tenn.-Ga. | |
The rapid growth in the number of recreation areas in the System during the period was a consequence of several factors including groundwork laid by the Service in earlier surveys and creation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Concurrently with those developments, President John F. Kennedy formed a Recreation Advisory Council composed of the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Defense, Commerce, and Health, Education and Welfare, plus the Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, to coordinate Federal programs for outdoor recreation. In 1963, the Council's Policy Circular No. 1 established criteria for new National Recreation Areas.
The Council expected new National Recreation Areas to be established by act of Congress and to be limited in number since most of the outdoor recreation needs of the American people should be met locally. Whatever their type — Seashore, Lakeshore, Riverway, or Reservoir — National Recreation Areas were expected to be spacious, including as a rule not less than 20,000 acres of land and water, with high recreation carrying capacity based on interstate patronage. They were also to have natural endowments well above the ordinary in quality and recreation appeal, transcending that normally associated with State and local recreation areas but less significant than the unique scenic and historic elements of the National Park System. They were to be situated where crowded urban populations could easily reach them and to be of a nature justifying Federal investment. While some National Recreation Areas would be incorporated into the National Park System others would be managed by the Forest Service, the Corps of Engineers, and possibly other Federal agencies. Within this general framework, 20 Recreation Areas were added to the System between 1964 and 1972, classified into four types as follows:
National Seashores and Lakeshores Eight new National Seashores and Lakeshores were authorized in seven years, tripling their number — a sparkling accomplishment. Preservation of most of these areas had been actively sought by the Service since the 1950's when seashore surveys were largely completed. There are now 12 such areas in the System, including five along the Atlantic shoreline, two along the Gulf coast, one on the Pacific coast, and four around the Great Lakes. These areas reflect the national determination to save significant and unspoiled examples of all our vanishing shorelines while it is still possible.
In most cases creation of these reservations stabilized a rapidly deteriorating shoreline landscape threatened by real estate subdivisions highway construction, and commercial development and preserved natural and historical values in imminent danger of loss. At the same time they provided important outdoor recreational opportunities in a natural environment while holding back from offering facilities for mass recreation in the Jones Beach style of highly intensive use. The balance between preservation and use contemplated by Congress varies from area to area.
Fire Island National Seashore protects some 25 miles of the largest remaining barrier beach off the south shore of Long Island, 50 miles from downtown Manhattan. It contains relatively unspoiled and undeveloped beaches, dunes, and other natural features. The Secretary is to administer Fire Island "with the primary aim of conserving the natural resources located there."
Assateague Island preserves a 35-mile barrier island of beach, marsh, ground cover, and marine and wildlife along the Maryland-Virginia portion of the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. The boundary embraces the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and Assateague State Park, which continue as separate reservations although management plans are coordinated. The Secretary is directed by law to administer the area "for general purposes of public outdoor recreation, including conservation of natural features contributing to public enjoyment."
Cape Lookout, North Carolina, authorized in 1966, protects three barrier islands of the Outer Banks below Cape Hatteras, embracing beaches, dunes, salt marshes, and Cape Lookout Lighthouse.
Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida and Mississippi, was authorized on January 8, 1971, to protect four Gulf Coast islands, a portion of Perdido Key, the ancient Naval Live Oaks Reservation, and several historic Spanish and American forts "for public use and enjoyment."
Pictured Rocks, Michigan, was the first of four successive National Lakeshores authorized by Congress. When completed it will embrace a unique scenic area on the south shore of Lake Superior some 32 miles long containing multi-colored sandstone cliffs, broad beaches, bars, dunes, waterfalls, inland lakes, ponds, marshes, hardwood and coniferous forests, and abundant wildlife. These resources are to be preserved "for the benefit, inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public."
Indiana Dunes, Indiana, protects a section of the southern shore of Lake Michigan between Gary and Michigan City containing beaches, 200-foot high sand dunes, and hinterlands. This area was proposed as a National Park as long ago as 1917 but failed because of World War I. A State Park was established there in 1923. The preservation and public use clauses of the law are patterned after those for Cape Cod.
Apostle Islands, Wisconsin, was authorized to protect 20 of the 22 Apostle Islands and an 11-mile strip of adjacent Bayfield Peninsula along the south shore of Lake Superior. These clustered islands are heavily forested, with shores marked by steep slopes, picturesque arches and pillars of stone, and protected bays and inlets with white sand beaches.
Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan, the fourth National Lakeshore, preserves outstanding natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations, and ancient glacial phenomena along a 34-mile stretch of the eastern mainland shore of Lake Michigan together with similar resources on nearby North and South Manitou Islands.
Reservoir-related Recreation Areas. Eight new public reservations were added to the National Park System during this period to conserve and use recreational resources surrounding major Federal reservoirs. These additions brought the total number to thirteen. Four of these new areas — Bighorn Canyon, Delaware Water Gap, Lake Chelan and Ross Lake — were authorized by special Acts of Congress and are named National Recreation Areas
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Montana-Wyoming embraces a 71-mile-long reservoir called Bighorn Lake, impounded behind Yellowtail Dam, constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation across the Bighorn River in the heart of the Crow Indian Reservation The lower 47 miles of the reservoir lie within the rugged, steep-walled Bighorn Canyon.
Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas, Washington, were authorized in 1968 as reservations contiguous with and complementary to North Cascades National Park. They were planned as areas in which to concentrate the locations of physical developments especially accommodations for visitors next to but outside the National Park — the first time a provision of this particular type has been made at the very outset in conjunction with the establishment of a National Park. The Ross Lake area lies between the North and South Units of the National Park, bisecting it. It includes most of 24-mile Lake Ross, the lands on either side, and Diablo Lake and portions of the Skagit River valley. The Lake Chelan area adjoins the National Park on the southeast but embraces only a small part of the artificial lake, The North and South Units of the National Park and these two National Recreation Areas collectively embrace 1,053 square miles of magnificent mountain country in the Cascade Range near the Canadian border.
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania-New Jersey, was authorized by Congress in 1965 to encompass the Corps of Engineers' 37-mile-long Tocks Island Reservoir, and 70,000 acres of outstanding scenic lands in the adjoining Delaware Valley, including the famous Delaware Water Gap. This National Recreation Area is the only one in the System east of the Mississippi River. It is located within approximately 50 miles of New York City and 90 miles of Philadelphia, and has been planned to serve ten million visitors annually. Within the last two years, however, the concept underlying the Tocks Island Dam, a unit in the comprehensive plan for the Delaware River Basin, has been vigorously attacked by many conservationists on the grounds that it will seriously damage the natural Delaware Valley environment, and contradict policies adopted by Congress in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The protests against Echo Park Dam in Dinosaur National Monument during the 1950's, and later over Lake Powell and Glen Canyon, reflected a similar viewpoint. Now, however, the National Environmental Policy Act has made it obligatory for Federal agencies to evaluate and report on environmental effects previously ignored or at best treated lightly. The current struggle over plans for Tocks Island Dam and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area may well foreshadow vigorous environmental protests against new reservoirs in relatively unspoiled country and against their accompanying recreation areas. If this proves to be the case, this sub-category in the System may be slow to grow in the future.
Four other reservoir-related recreation areas — Amistad, Arbuckle, Curecanti and Sanford — were established during this period by cooperative agreements between the National Park Service and other agencies pursuant to legislation enacted in 1946. That legislation authorized the use of Service appropriations for the "administration, protection, improvement and maintenance of areas, under the jurisdiction of other agencies of the Government, devoted to recreational use pursuant to cooperative agreements." These four are simply called Recreation Areas.
Amistad Recreation Area, Texas, has unique features because it is on the international boundary between the United States and Mexico. Amistad Dam, constructed across the Rio Grande by the International Boundary and Water Commission, was dedicated by Presidents Nixon and Diaz Ordaz on September 8, 1969. The dam impounds Amistad Lake, which will extend 74 miles up the Rio Grande and have an 850-mile shoreline of which 540 miles will be in Texas. By cooperative agreement with the International Boundary and Water Commission, the National Park Service is responsible for planning, constructing, and managing recreational facilities and programs for the public on the United States side of the international reservoir. It is an unusual responsibility, even for the National Park Service.
Arbuckle Recreation Area, Oklahoma, is situated within a few miles of Platt National Park, with which it is jointly administered. It embraces the eight-mile-long Lake of the Arbuckles impounded by the Bureau of Reclamation's Arbuckle Dam and adjoining recreational lands.
Curecanti Recreation Area, Colorado, comprises three reservoirs and adjacent lands located in the deep canyons of Gunnison River in western Colorado. These reservoirs are or will be impounded behind three dams constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation — the Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and Crystal Dams — all elements in the Curecanti Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project.
Sanford Recreation Area, Texas, embraces 20-mile-long Lake Meredith and adjoining lands. The reservoir is impounded behind the Bureau of Reclamation's Sanford Dam on the Canadian River. The Recreation Area adjoins the Alibates Flint Quarries and Texas Panhandle Pueblo Culture National Monument near the south side of Lake Meredith.
The obverse of a recreation area established around a reservoir behind a dam is one created to preserve a free-flowing river for its own value. This new and alternative concept for river-related recreation brings us to the next category.
National Scenic Riverways. A new kind of Recreation Area was introduced into the National Park System in 1964. On August 27 of that year Congress authorized establishment of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri, the first National Riverway. This new area is in effect an elongated park, embracing all or stretches of two wild, free-flowing rivers, the Current and Jacks Fork, which flow unimpeded for 140 miles. The park is planned to protect 113 square miles of land and water managed to provide many recreational benefits while preserving scenic, scientific, and natural qualities. Land acquisition arrangements are marked by sensitive regard for the respective interests of Federal, State, and local governments and private owners of improved property. Three Missouri State Parks — Big Springs, Alley Springs, and Round Spring — which protect significant caves and springs have been added to Federal holdings with the consent of the State. The National Park Service is undertaking a comprehensive recreational program on the riverways, with emphasis on preserving and interpreting their natural wonders and interesting early-American folk culture.
Ozark National Scenic Riverways reflected a determination in Congress to take new steps to protect America's natural environment, so widely threat ened by such forces as the population explosion and the juggernaut of modern technology. On October 2, 1968, President Johnson signed a comprehensive new law to provide for a National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. It contains a statement of national policy highly important to the National Park System:
(b) It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Congress declares that the established national policy of dam and other construction at appropriate sections of the rivers of the United States needs to be complemented by a policy that would preserve other selected rivers or sections thereof in their free-flowing condition to protect the water quality of such rivers and to fulfill other vital national conservation purposes.
The act established three kinds of riverways: (1) wild river areas, (2) scenic river areas, and (3) recreational river areas. It identified eight rivers and adjacent lands in nine States as the initial components of the national wild and scenic rivers system — St. Croix, Minnesota and Wisconsin; Wolf, Wisconsin; Eleven Point, Missouri; Middle Fork of the Clearwater, Idaho; Feather, California; Rio Grande, New Mexico; Rogue, Oregon; Middle Fork of the Salmon, Idaho. The first three were to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior, the next four by the Secretary of Agriculture, and the last by either as might be subsequently determined. Twenty-seven other riverways were identified as potential additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and their study authorized. It was anticipated that of these some would be designated and managed by States and their political subdivisions provided they met national criteria.
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, placed under Service jurisdiction in 1969, protects lands and waters along some 200 miles of the lovely St. Croix River and its Namekagon tributary. It is canoe country marked by wildness, solitude, clear flowing water, and abundant wildlife. Under the comprehensive plan for this riverway, the Northern States Power Company early announced its intention to donate 25,000 acres of its property along the St. Croix River to public agencies, about 7,000 acres going to the National Park Service, 13,000 to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and 5,000 to its Wisconsin counterpart. These transfers with some subsequent adjustments are taking place over a period of years. The Wolf National Scenic Riverway was scheduled to be placed under Service jurisdiction in 1969, to protect 24 miles of fast, wild water ideal for canoeing, fishing, and scenic enjoyment. The land involved must be acquired from the Menominee Indians who have so far been unwilling to part with it. Establishment of the area awaits resolution of this problem.
National Scenic Trails. The year 1968 was remarkable for conservation legislation. On the same day he approved the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, President Johnson also signed the National Trails System Act. It established another highly significant national policy:
Sec. 2. (a) In order to provide for the ever-increasing outdoor recreation needs of an expanding population and in order to promote public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas of the Nation, trails should be established (i) primarily, near the urban areas of the Nation, and (ii) secondarily, within established scenic areas more remotely located.
(b) the purpose of this Act is to provide the means for attaining these objectives by instituting a national system of recreation and scenic trails, by designating the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail as the initial components of that system, and by prescribing the methods by which, and standards according to which, additional components may be added to the system.
The act provided for recreational trails, scenic trails, and connecting or side trails. National Scenic Trails may be designed only by Act of Congress. National Recreation Trails may be designated, under certain circumstances by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture.
The act established two National Scenic Trails as initial components of the National Trails System: (1) the Appalachian Trail in the eastern United States, extending approximately 2,000 miles along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains from Mount Katahdin, Maine, to Springer Mountain, Georgia, to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture; and (2) the Pacific Crest Trail, extending 2,350 miles northward from the Mexican-California boundary along the mountain ranges of the West Coast States to the Canadian-Washington border near Lake Ross, to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior. The act requested the two Secretaries to study the routes of 14 other trails as potential additions to the National Trails System.
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail was established in 1968 and immediately added to the National Park System. The Trail has a long history. It was conceived in 1921 by Benton Mackaye, forester, philosopher, and dreamer, who thought the trail should be the backbone of a primeval environment, a refuge from a mechanized civilization. Initially four older New England trail systems, including the Long Trail in Vermont, begun in 1910, were linked to begin the Appalachian Trail. Additions were made farther south, including long sections through National Forests in Virginia and North Carolina. The initial Trail was completed from Georgia to Maine in 1937 when the last two miles were opened on Mount Sugarloaf in Maine.
The Secretary of the Interior has appointed an Advisory Council for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail including members to represent each of 14 States, the Appalachian Trail Conference and other private organizations, and involved Federal agencies. The official trail route was designated by the National Park Service by notice in the Federal Register on October 9, 1971. The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for development and maintenance of the Trail within federally administered areas, but encourages the States to operate, develop, and maintain portions of the trail Outside federal boundaries.
During 1972, studies of four other potential National Scenic Trails were being conducted by the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation in cooperation with the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the States, and other agencies. Special attention was being given to (1) Continental Divide Trail from the Mexican to the Canadian border; (2) Potomac Heritage Trail, from the mouth of the Potomac River to its source including the 170-mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath; (3) North Country Trail, linking the Appalachian Trail in the Vermont-New York vicinity to the Lewis and Clark Trail in North Dakota; and (4) the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri, to Fort Vancouver, Washington. These studies will include recommendations on the proposed Federal administering agency, which in some cases, perhaps in several, is likely to be the National Park Service.
Under the new law components of the National Trails System will include not only National Scenic Trails but also National Recreation Trails. On June 2, 1971, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton designated 27 new National Recreation Trails in 19 States and the District of Columbia. Of these, 20 will be administered by state or local authorities and the remainder by Federal agencies. One of these National Recreation Trails is situated within the National Park System—the Fort Circle National Recreation Trail, 7.9 miles long, within National Capital Parks.
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