Foundation Documents

Every unit, also commonly referred to as “parks”, of the National Park System has a foundational document to provide basic guidance for planning and management decisions—a foundation for planning and management. Foundation documents are at the core of each park's planning portfolio.

Each foundation document aims to answer several key questions, including:

• What is the purpose of this park?
• Why was it included in the national park system?
• What makes it significant?
• What are its fundamental resources and values?
• What legal and policy requirements, special mandates, and administrative commitments apply to this park?

Foundation documents are a great resource for park staff, as well as visitors and partners—they can be found on most park unit homepages.

Find Foundation Document Overviews

Overviews of foundation documents provide a summary of a longer foundation document. Foundation document overviews for most national parks, park units, and other sites within the National Park System are available through the Electronic Technical Information Center (ETIC) database. Many of these documents can also be found on the websites of individual park units.

Additional Resources