WHAT IS A NATIONAL PARK Subject: Social Studies, History Theme: National Parks OBJECTIVE Students will be able to:
METHOD Students work in small groups to explore specific national parks. Together they learn about the mission of the National Park Service and discover how each individual park fits into the larger system. BACKGROUND "There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and wildlife are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of this great human principle." - Franklin D. Roosevelt Summary of Events
The words "national park" have special meaning to most people, conjuring up images of Old Faithful, Yosemite Falls, and the Grand Canyon. Historically the first parklands trace their origins to the 17 public reservations that the federal government acquired in 1791 for the nation’s capital. They included the National Mall, the White House grounds, and other units in the District of Columbia. In 1832 Congress set aside an area around the Hot Springs of Arkansas. This reservation was designated for public use as a park in 1880. The earliest action by Congress to create a large natural park took the form of a land grant of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California in 1864. In 1890 California established these areas as a park. They were returned to the federal government in 1906 to become Yosemite National Park. Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, was the first federally managed national park. It was the first unqualified embodiment of the national park idea – the world’s premier example of large scale natural preservation for all the people. Since then the idea has been adopted around the world. After Yellowstone’s establishment, the national park idea was attacked by special interests, stoutly defended by friends in Congress, and successively refined and confirmed. Fourteen more national parks were established in the West between 1872 and 1916, most of them closely following the Yellowstone prototype. While the early national parks were being established, a separate movement got underway to protect the magnificent cliff dwellings, pueblo ruins, and early missions discovered by cowboys, army officers, ethnologists, and other explorers on the vast public lands of the Southwest. They were especially threatened by plunder and destruction at the hands of artifact hunters and vandals. The effort to secure protective legislation began among historically minded scientists and civic leaders in Boston and spread to similar circles in Washington, New York, Denver, Santa Fe, and other places during the 1880s and 1890’s. With important help from Rep. John F. Lacey and Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, an Antiquities Act was passed in 1906 to help protect such areas and structures The act authorized the President "to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" situated on lands owned or controlled by the U.S. government to be national monuments. It also prohibited excavation or appropriation of antiquities on federal lands without a permit. The first national monument, proclaimed by President Theodore Roosevelt some three months after he signed the Antiquities Act, was Devils Tower. It was established to protect a prominent Wyoming landmark, an 867-ft massive stone shaft visible for a great distance and a guidepost over the centuries for Indians, explorers, and settlers. Today there are more than 70 monuments in the National Park System. A new era for national parks and monuments opened on August 25, 1916, 44 years after the establishment of Yellowstone, when President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating a new federal bureau, the National Park Service, in the Department of the Interior. This action culminated years of efforts to establish a separate bureau to administer and coordinate policies and plans for parks and monuments. The act created the National Park Service to: "…conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife 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." This mission statement, known as the Park Service Organic Act, continues to guide the management of the parks today. National park, lakeshore, military park, historic site, memorial, preserve and trail are just a few of the titles that have bee used to designate our national parklands since Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872. Over the years, new titles have been created whenever new parklands were authorized that differed somewhat from those already in the National Park System. Today there are more than 370 areas in the national Park System covering more than 83 million acres in every state, the district of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These areas include national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House. Units of the National Park System have been created in two principle ways: Acts of Congress and presidential proclamations. When congress creates an addition to the National Park System, it determines the name and designation for each area and makes reference to the general concepts under which it will be managed. Sometimes congress is very specific about management terms; sometimes Congress simply refers to the 1916 National Park Service Act. The areas in the system are a remarkable representation of the nation’s greatest natural and cultural places and recreational areas of outstanding attraction. Not every park is a Yellowstone, not every historic site boasts an Independence Hall. But all have resources and values that make them special and nationally significant. MATERIALS Flip chart or newsprint Map of the United States Markers to use with the newsprint and map PROCEDURE Ask the whole group to brainstorm what they think of when they hear the term "national park". Record the students’ responses on newsprint or a flip chart. Briefly introduce the history of the National Park System. Explain that Yellowstone National Park, set aside by Congress in 1872, was the first national park in the system and the world. Organize the class into groups of four or five students. Assign each group a national park. Explain that each group’s assignment is to research their national park and report their discoveries to the class. Have the students answer the following questions:
The final product can be in the form of a poster display, presentation, or report. At the end of the presentations, ask all the students if there is anything they would like to add to or delete from their national park brainstorm list as a result of what they learned in this activity. Ask the students to make an inference as to what they think the purpose for the National Park Service is, based on what they know and what they have learned so for. Together, brainstorm a mission statement for the National Park Service and write it on newsprint or flip chart. Have the class put its National Park Service mission statement on the wall. Copy the National Park Service mission statement from the Organic Act on the flipchart. (see following section). Ask the class compare the two mission statements and discuss the purpose for the National Park Service. Note: In 1916, the National Park Service was established as an agency to manage the national parks, 44 years after Yellowstone, the first national park was established. Explain that the national parks belong to us all. It is everyone's responsibility to learn about and care for the parks. Refer to Franklin D. Roosevelt's quote in the beginning of the background section and discuss what it means. Ask the students to imagine that they are on a talk show and the interviewer asks them to answer the question "What to you think of the national parks?" Have them write their response in their journal and record their own quote. EXTENSIONS 4 Visit a national, state, county or city park in your area. Learn why and how it became a park, who were the people who worked to have it established, and why it is so special. SOURCE Explore Your National Parks Teacher's Guide: Yellowstone |