What Department Is National Park Service Under

Writer and historian Wallace Stegner in one case referred to our national park organisation as the "all-time thought we ever had."

The National Park Service (NPS) was created past Congress following President Woodrow Wilson's signing of the Organic Human activity in 1916, which was designed to preserve and protect parks for the "enjoyment of future generations."

By the 1930s, armed services parks and national monuments were added to the national preservation movement, along with national parkways, seashores, and urban parks that would be developed in the years to come. The unmarried, largest addition to our nation'southward park system occurred when near 47 million acres in Alaska were added.

Today the national park organisation includes more than 400 national parks and sites, many of which beautifully illustrate our nation's illustrious – and often sobering – past. Contempo statistics testify that more than 275 meg people visit our national parks every yr.

The National Park Service by the Numbers

The NPS, which is an agency within the Department of the Interior, works with an annual operating upkeep of more than $2.75 billion, in addition to another $5.iv billion in preservation and outdoor grants. The NPS now currently oversees:

84 million acres of state
4.5 meg acres of oceans, lakes and reservoirs
85,000 miles of perennial rivers and streams
Nearly 69,000 archeological sites
More than 43,000 miles of shoreline
27,000 celebrated structures
More than 2,400 national celebrated landmarks
582 national natural landmarks
400 endangered species
401 national parks
49 national heritage areas
25 battlefields or military parks
18 recreation areas
ten seashores
four parkways
4 lakeshores
2 reserves

Other interesting facts about our national park organisation:

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the largest park at more than than 13 meg acres.
Yellowstone National Park was established by Congress every bit the nation's offset national park in 1872 (before the creation of the National Park Service.
The Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial is the tiniest park in the system at just two-tenths of an acre.
The National Park Service generates 252,000 jobs for local economies every year.
The National Park Service provides $13 billion in local economic impact every year.
In 2012, more than 27 million people attended more than than 735,000 special events and ranger programs at national parks.
In 2012, more than than 800,000 children participated in the NPS' Inferior Ranger Program.
More than 275,000 Volunteers-in-Parks (VIPs) donate almost 6.4 million hours every yr.

National Park Service's Preservation Efforts

The NPS provides habitat protection for 421 species of threatened or endangered animals and plants. It as well ensures the preservation of more ane.v million archeological sites and more than than 27,000 historic and prehistoric structures.

Further, the NPS also oversees the preservation of historically or culturally significant museum items, such every bit George Washington'south inaugural coat.

The NPS oversees everything from the habitat of the Alaskan brown acquit to the towering Behemothic Sequoia trees, the world's largest living things. The longest cave organization in the globe, Mammoth Cavern National Park, is role of the NPS' preservation efforts, as is Mt McKinley in Denali National Park, the highest signal in North America.

National Park Service Partnerships

In add-on to maintaining and preserving our national park system, the NPS is also deeply involved with programs that assist native tribes, local governments, businesses, and citizens revitalize communities, preserve and celebrate local history, and provide our children and families with safe places to enjoy the outdoors.

Besides, many partners, communities and citizens assist the NPS accelerate its mission. In fact, each yr more than 150 non-profit park friends and groups contribute more than $50 million to national parks across the country. The National Park Foundation is also instrumental in creating partnerships and distributing grants to our national park system. In the past seven years, the Foundation has awarded more than than $137 one thousand thousand grants to the NPS. An additional 65 cooperating associations provide more than than $26 meg to the NPS in annual contributions.

National Park System Workforce

The NPS has a force of 28,000 year-round employees and more two million volunteers, in add-on to their seasonal workforce. The NPS workforce includes employees from well-nigh all backgrounds. The largest grouping of employees within the NPS is park rangers, with more than iii,800 working yr-round for this federal bureau. The NPS employs general park rangers, police force enforcement rangers, cultural/interpretive park rangers, ranger cadets, and supervisory park rangers, all of whom are responsible for conveying out the NPS' mission of protecting and preserving our national park system and ensuring the condom and enjoyment of the people who visit information technology.

The NPS likewise supports jobs in the following areas. The number shown for each represents how many NPS professionals work in these positions:

Forestry technicians: 320
Human resources specialists: 383
Ecologists: 218
Facility managers: 313
Archeologists: 201
Historians: 183
Information management specialists: 383
Maintenance mechanics: ii,080
Museum professionals: 330
Park constabulary: 580