August 25, 2016 marks the centennial or 100th year of the National Park Service.
The mission of the Park Service is to preserve “ the unimpaired natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”
Surprisingly, the first National Park was designated in 1872, 44 years before the National Park Service as we know it came into existence in 1916. Yellowstone was the first National Park in the U.S. that was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.
On August 25, 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill into law to create the National Park Service to oversee the already-established national parks and “such other national parks and reservations of like character as may be hereafter created by Congress.” The NPS was also directed “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”