The National Park Service Centennial
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Stephen Mather and W. B. Lewis studying road location of Tioga Road in 1925[/caption]
Here at Scenic Wonders, we’re excited about two very special birthdays in 2015 and 2016. October 1st marks the 125th anniversary of Yosemite National Park’s establishment, a fantastic occasion we’ll devote several blog posts to in the coming months. Today, though, we want to give a nod to next year’s big party: the National Park Service Centennial!
Like people all around the world, we’re immensely grateful for what the National Park Service does to maintain America’s most glorious places—and hugely passionate about what the agency stands for.
This year and next, we hope you’ll come visit Yosemite—one of the world’s oldest national parks—in the spirit of celebrating the venerable NPS!
Birth of the Park Service
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the earliest parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite were established, they fell under the auspices of the Interior Department but there wasn’t really any sort of unified management. In Yosemite’s first decades, the U.S. Army oversaw the park, contending with issues such as the rampant sheep grazing in the high meadows that so outraged John Muir. Over in Yellowstone, the Cavalry was instrumental in combating the poaching threatening that park’s famous big game.
Given the issues facing the young parks and their haphazard enforcement, momentum strengthened for a single governing agency to take over their administration. Stephen Mather and Horace Albright helped spearhead the campaign. On August 25, 1916, the National Park Service was born through a bill signed by President Woodrow Wilson, and Mather became the agency’s first director.
Yosemite Centennial Efforts
Yosemite National Park is honoring the NPS Centennial with 10 so-called “signature projects” that embody the guiding mission of the agency. Among them is the ongoing restoration work in the Mariposa Grove, the park’s flagship sequoia stand, and the reintroduction of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep in the Cathedral Range of the Yosemite Wilderness.
We’re excited about these worthy initiatives, and excited to be celebrating two amazingly important occasions this year and next: the “one-two punch” of Yosemite’s and the Park Service’s birthdays! Come stay with Scenic Wonders in a Yosemite West vacation cabin and join the party!
Stephen Mather and W. B. Lewis studying road location of Tioga Road in 1925[/caption]
Here at Scenic Wonders, we’re excited about two very special birthdays in 2015 and 2016. October 1st marks the 125th anniversary of Yosemite National Park’s establishment, a fantastic occasion we’ll devote several blog posts to in the coming months. Today, though, we want to give a nod to next year’s big party: the National Park Service Centennial!
Like people all around the world, we’re immensely grateful for what the National Park Service does to maintain America’s most glorious places—and hugely passionate about what the agency stands for.
This year and next, we hope you’ll come visit Yosemite—one of the world’s oldest national parks—in the spirit of celebrating the venerable NPS!
Birth of the Park Service
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the earliest parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite were established, they fell under the auspices of the Interior Department but there wasn’t really any sort of unified management. In Yosemite’s first decades, the U.S. Army oversaw the park, contending with issues such as the rampant sheep grazing in the high meadows that so outraged John Muir. Over in Yellowstone, the Cavalry was instrumental in combating the poaching threatening that park’s famous big game.
Given the issues facing the young parks and their haphazard enforcement, momentum strengthened for a single governing agency to take over their administration. Stephen Mather and Horace Albright helped spearhead the campaign. On August 25, 1916, the National Park Service was born through a bill signed by President Woodrow Wilson, and Mather became the agency’s first director.
Yosemite Centennial Efforts
Yosemite National Park is honoring the NPS Centennial with 10 so-called “signature projects” that embody the guiding mission of the agency. Among them is the ongoing restoration work in the Mariposa Grove, the park’s flagship sequoia stand, and the reintroduction of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep in the Cathedral Range of the Yosemite Wilderness.
We’re excited about these worthy initiatives, and excited to be celebrating two amazingly important occasions this year and next: the “one-two punch” of Yosemite’s and the Park Service’s birthdays! Come stay with Scenic Wonders in a Yosemite West vacation cabin and join the party! Share This Post!
