National Park Service Employees

The National Park System was initiated by the United States Congress in 1872, during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, when Yellowstone National Park was created. This landmark act established Yellowstone as "a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of people."

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act creating the National Park Service as a federal bureau within the Department of the Interior. Its mission is to preserve, protect, and manage the national, cultural, historical, and recreational areas of the National Park System. In 1916, the park system contained less than 1 million acres. Today the country's national parks cover nearly 84 million acres of mountains, plains, deserts, swamps, historic sites, lakeshores, forests, rivers, battlefields, memorials, archaeological properties, and recreation areas.