Concept
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properties with various title designations. The U.S. Congress created the agency on August 25, 1916, through the National Park Service Organic Act. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., within the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior. The NPS employs approximately 20,000 people in individual units covering over in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. As of 2019, they had more than 279,000 volunteers. The agency is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management while also making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment. History of the National Park Service National Park Service Organic Act Yellowstone National Park was created as the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no state government to manage it (The state of Wyoming did not exist at that time), so the federal government assumed direct control. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior. Artist George Catlin, during an 1832 trip to the Dakotas, was perhaps the first to suggest a novel solution to this fast-approaching reality. Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness were all in danger, wrote Catlin, unless they could be preserved "by some great protecting policy of government...in a magnificent park.... A nation's Park, containing man and beast, in all the wild[ness] and freshness of their nature's beauty!" The movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior.
