National Park Service Centennial

When the National Park Service celebrates its centennial in 2016, it should do so as a proud agency with a sound record for living up to the mandate set down by the 1916 National Park Service Organic Act, 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.

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees began looking forward to the centennial in 2006, when it proposed that a National Park Service Centennial Commission be appointed to foster a national dialog on the future of the national park system. Part think tank and part pathfinder, the commission would both examine how the park system can benefit society and our nation as a whole as well as report on issues and challenges faced by the system with an eye on finding solutions.

In charting the National Park Service’s second century, the coalition recommends creation of an Institute of National Park Studies that would support the agency beyond 2016 by producing scholarly studies on issues relevant to the second 100 years.

To help prepare for the Park Service centennial, the coalition has crafted a vision for the agency’s next century. Paramount in that vision is that the Park Service ensures that the national park system continues to both preserve the landscape and allows visitors “to enjoy the truly special places of our common heritage – the inalienable patrimony – of our nation…”

At the same time, the coalition believes the national park system should be “driven by a current and constantly-renewed vision, nationally and in each individual park.”