Birth of the National Park Service: 1915-WW2
Birth of the National Park Service: 1915-WW2 (RSM 200)
Historical Context: The Progressive Era and Key Events
Progressive Era (1890s – 1920s)
A period of political reform aimed at addressing issues stemming from industrialization, immigration, and corruption.
Key Leaders: Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Rockefeller Jr., Gifford Pinchot, Thomas Edison.
Major Societal Shifts and Events:
Prohibition Act (1919): Led to the "Roaring 20s," the Jazz Age, and a rise in organized crime.
Immigration Act (1921): Instituted a quota system to restrict the number of immigrants entering the United States.
Stock Market Crash (October 29, 1929) - Black Tuesday: Caused widespread bank failures, wiping out the savings of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Great Depression (1929-1939): At its worst point (1932-1933), approximately 13 million Americans were unemployed, representing about 25% of the workforce.
The 1920s: A Decade of Change
End of World War I brought more income for many.
New Freedoms for Women: The 19 ext{th} Amendment (1920) granted women the right to vote.
Increased acceptance of African American culture.
Rise of Automobiles: Transformed travel and recreation, leading to the auto-camping craze.
Influential Figures and Their Contributions
Stephen Mather (1867-1930)
Role: First Director of the National Park Service (1916 - 1929).
Background: Made wealthy by his "Twenty Mule Team Borax" business, a marketing innovator.
Motivation: Complained to his friend, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane, about the poor condition of Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, leading to his appointment.
Policies: Set the early direction for the NPS, emphasizing preservation, interpretation, access, recreation, and concessions.
Marketing Strategy: An innovative marketer who effectively "blurred the distinction between utilitarian conservation and preservation by emphasizing [the] economic value of parks as tourist meccas" to gain support.
Launched a vigorous public relations (PR) campaign with Robert Sterling Yard.
Generated unprecedented press coverage, including articles in National Geographic and Saturday Evening Post.
Hired his own publicist and secured funding from 17 railroads to produce "The National Parks Portfolio" (1916).
Legacy: Bronze plaques placed in every national park upon his death, bearing the inscription: "There will never come an end to the good that he has done."
Horace Albright (1890-1987)
Role: Assistant Director of NPS at inception (1916 - 1919), Acting Director when Mather was ill (1917 - 1919).
Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park (1919 - 1929).
Immediately worked to designate Grand Teton National Park, with financial help from Rockefeller, Jr.
Second Director of National Park Service (1929 - 1933).
Influence on FDR: Influenced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to expand the NPS's role during a "Sunday drive," leading to the Reorganization Act (1933).
Key Policies Instituted:
Expansion of national park areas east of the Mississippi River.
Introduction of historic preservation into the National Park Service's mission.
Ralph Henry Cameron – An Early NPS Foe
Actions against NPS: Fought Teddy Roosevelt's use of the Antiquities Act to declare the Grand Canyon a national monument.
Exploitation: Built a hotel at the Bright Angel Trailhead and charged a toll to use the trail and outhouse; filed thousands of strategic and suspect mining claims at scenic viewpoints.
Political Interference: Became a U.S. Senator (1920 - 1926), attempting to remove Mather as Director and block funding for parks.
Defeat: Mather's PR campaign successfully thwarted Cameron's proposals for 2 dams in the Grand Canyon, and the resulting public outcry ended all his projects. He subsequently lost reelection.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 – 1945)
Role: Elected U.S. President in 1932, serving until 1945 (during the Great Depression and WWII).
"3 Rs" of the New Deal: Relief for the suffering, Recovery of the economy, Reform to prevent future collapses.
Government Role: Government became the primary provider of recreational opportunities during this time of high unemployment.
New Deal Programs: Instituted programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the National Youth Administration (NYA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which employed millions.
Key Legislation: Signed the Reorganization Act (1933).
Key Legislation and Park Designations
Organic Act (1916)
Purpose: Created the National Park System with the core mission:
"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."
Challenge: Established an inherent, ongoing confusion and challenge in managing the system for both preservation and recreation.
Early and Important Parks:
Grand Canyon:
Declared a national monument in 1908 via the Antiquities Act, valued as an "object of scientific interest."
Became a national park in 1919.
Grand Teton (1929): Controversial due to numerous conflicting stakeholders.
Great Smoky Mountains (1934): Unique for being the first park where federal funds were used for land acquisition (FDR approved ext{US} ext{ extdollar}1.5 ext{ million}), inspired by locals raising ext{US} ext{ extdollar}5 ext{ million} and Rockefeller, Jr. contributing an additional ext{US} ext{ extdollar}5 ext{ million}.
Everglades (1934): Notable for not being traditionally "scenic" like earlier parks; a "River of Grass" set aside specifically for preservation.
Acadia (1919): Named the first national park east of the Mississippi River.
Federal Water Power Act (1920)
Authorization: Authorized the construction of dams on federal lands to coordinate hydroelectric projects.
Threat: Posed a "grave threat" to national parks, following the controversial Hetch Hetchy dam debacle.
NPS Response: Mather and Albright strongly opposed. Albright famously ordered wooden trail bridges removed in Yellowstone when surveyors came to inspect for dams.
Congressional Amendment (1921): Added an amendment to forbid dams in national parks and monuments without specific Congressional approval.
Reorganization Act (1933)
Context: Part of a Congressional effort to streamline and reduce costs of the federal government.
Impact on NPS: Made the NPS the sole agency responsible for all federal parks, monuments, and memorials.
Transferred all national monuments from the Forest Service.
Transferred all battlefields and memorials from the War Department.
Preservation of Historic Sites Act (1935)
Policy: Provided "a national policy to preserve historic sites, buildings, [and] objects of historic significance."
Impact: Expanded the park system's mission with a new focus on historic preservation.
Act for the Relief of Unemployment (1933)
Creation: Established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
NPS Challenges and Policies in the Early Years
Early Challenges:
Public Support: The park idea was not universally supported.
Maximum Use: Efforts were encouraged to ensure maximum public access and use, considered both democratic and prudent.
Limited Access: Existing parks were often remote, leading to the belief that only large-scale concession monopolies could financially survive.
Underdeveloped Science: Lack of scientific data made it difficult to counter popular (but often damaging) wildlife management practices.
NPS Dual Mission:
Secretary Lane's 1916 directive: "Every activity of the Service is subordinate to the duties imposed upon it to faithfully preserve the parks for posterity in essentially their natural state."
Mather's and Albright's conviction: More visitors must be attracted.
Reconciliation: Accommodation for visitors included low-priced camps, comfortable hotels, and recreational activities like mountain climbing, horseback riding, swimming, boating, fishing, and winter sports.
Attracting Visitors and Early Park Programming
Automobiles Revolutionize Park Access:
Initially, automobiles were controversial (John Muir feared their "gas breath").
By 1918, Yellowstone tourists by car outnumbered those by train by 7 ext{ to } 1.
Mather aggressively promoted driving tourism:
Partnered with car clubs, good roads associations, local governments, and car manufacturers.
Lobbied for the National Park-to-Park Highway (1916) to link western parks.
Urged states to build park networks slogan: "A State Park Every Hundred Miles."
Organized publicity stunts, like a car caravan to Mesa Verde (1925).
Visitor Growth: Visitor numbers surged: over 1 ext{ million} in 1920, over 2 ext{ million} in 1925, and over 3 ext{ million} in 1928.
Democratization: Parks became accessible not just to the upper class, but to the expanding (mostly white) middle class.
Accommodating the Auto-Driving Public:
Congress increased funding, primarily for road improvements.
Mather championed ambitious road projects, like Glacier National Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road (1932), to open up scenic wonders.
Park experience was redesigned for motorists, including scenic turnouts, rest stops, new maps, and guidebooks.
Challenges arose with clogged roads, impromptu camping, and overwhelmed facilities, but visitors gained independence from guides and hotels.
Early Park Programming:
First Interpretive Program (Yosemite, 1920): Mather, impressed by an educational nature program at Lake Tahoe, funded its transfer to Yosemite.
"Ranger Naturalists": Soon, guided nature walks and campfire lectures led by these rangers became one of the NPS's most popular programs.
Image Building: Mather sought to create an image of friendly professionalism.
First Female Park Ranger: Clare Marie Hodges (1917).
Museums and Exhibits: Developed to explain park resources.
The Ranger System:
Initial Issues: Early ranger jobs were often political patronage appointments, leading to poor results.
Mather's Reforms: He began hand-picking superintendents and even paid early staff from his own pocket, setting high standards.
Ranger Requirements: "Men between the ages of 21 ext{ and } 40, of good character, sound physique and tactful in handling people. Must be able to ride horses, build trails, fight forest fires, handle firearms, have survival experience in extreme weather conditions and be willing to work long hours with no overtime pay. From a salary of ext{US} ext{ extdollar}1000 ext{ a year}, [they were] expected to buy their own food and bedding and pay ext{US} ext{ extdollar}45 ext{ for} [uniform elements]."
Attracting Visitors: Recreation and Entertainment:
NPS utilized Railroad Administration booklets.
Proposed golf courses, zoos, and even a race track; controversially proposed Yosemite as a Winter Olympics site.
Staged events, like having the Secretary of Interior detonate dynamite remotely for publicity, and "Buffalo Plains Week" where cowboys and Crow people stampeded bison for visitors.
Negative Reactions to Development and NPS Response
Criticism of Automobile-Focused Development:
Robert Sterling Yard (National Parks Association): Feared provisions for "motor tourists," calling it "the altar of Gasoline"; argued against the ideal of inspiration and "elevation of the spirit."
Also opposed the designation of Shenandoah and Mammoth Cave National Parks, deeming them not up to "National Park Standards."
Wilderness Society (1935): Founded by Aldo Leopold and others, aiming to "preserve the primitive" and protect wilderness from developers and even the park service itself.
NPS Response to Criticism:
The NPS had solidified public support and defined its management priorities, establishing its philosophy for the next four decades.
Began studies for potential new park areas, especially in the eastern U.S. where most people lived but few parks existed.
Recognized the need for limits on park tourism, leading to the Superintendents Resolution on Overdevelopment (1922).
Efforts to Protect Parks and Address Early Policies
Conservationist Alarm: Continued concern over the scale and pace of development.
NPS Predator Policy Letter (1931): Asserted that all animal life should be kept inviolate.
* Fauna of the National Parks (1932) Survey: Set ground rules for scientific wildlife management and research, addressing previous inadequate scientific data.
Emergency Conservation Committee (1936): Formed by Rosalie Edge (who also advocated for Kings Canyon and Olympic National Parks), challenging "progress" that destroyed pristine wilderness, particularly criticizing "Roads and More Roads in the National Parks and National Forests."
Heading into the Depression Years: Internal Issues:
Park Planning: Haphazard and varied, necessitating efforts to streamline and standardize planning procedures to manage parks as a coherent system.
Quality of Care and Preservation: Early "anthropocentric" ideas led to damaging practices such as predator destruction, vista clearing of forests, introduction of exotic species, and the use of herbicides and pesticides.
The Great Depression and NPS Expansion
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Creation: Established by the Act for the Relief of Unemployment (1933) to help unemployed young men through a military-style program of public works on federal and state lands.
Impact on NPS: The Great Depression spurred the most significant expansion initiatives for the NPS, increasing interest and accessibility.
Activities (Examples):
Improved infrastructure, primarily for tourist comfort: hotels, amusements, survey new areas, museums, roads, employee housing, campground stations, visitor facilities, park planning.
Fire-fighting, archeological surveys, stabilizing ruins.
Conserving roads/trails, reforestation, recreational facilities.
Erosion control, exhibit building, guide services, insect control, campgrounds, research.
Goals of the CCC in Parks:
Conserve natural resources.
Preserve historical and archeological resources.
Develop recreational resources within park areas.
Three Major Processes Characterizing NPS During this Period:
Continued definition of natural resources policy, emphasizing the importance of research.
Albright recognized inadequate scientific data in management and called for more systematic research.
Development of infrastructure versus challenges to perceived overdevelopment.
Accelerated expansion into new areas of preservation.
Conservation vs. Preservation
Conservation:
Definition: The wise and careful use of resources to ensure their availability for present and future needs.
Renewable Resources: Living or nonliving resources that can be used within prudent limits and replenished to support future use.
Preservation:
Definition: The protection of resources in their natural state, generally involving restriction of development or consumptive human uses.
Nonrenewable Resources: Any living or material resource that once depleted cannot be replenished within one person's lifetime.