RODERICK NASH

University
of California,Santa Barbara

The AmericanInvention
of National Parks*

SHORTLY AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR, ARTHUR SCHLESINGER SR.

directedan essay to the questionof America'scontributions to worldcivili-
zation.1In doingso he both recognizedand expressedthe nation'schronic
tendencyto worryaboutthesuccessofitsself-conceived missionto improve
mankind.Schlesingeridentifiedten contributions, includingthe principle
of federalism,the spiritof philanthropy, and the public school. He could
have added one more the national park. The establishmentof Yellow-
stone National Park on March 1, 1872 was the world's firstinstanceof
large-scale wildernesspreservationin the public interest.Since then we
have exportedthe nationalpark idea aroundthe world.We are knownand
admiredforit,fittingly,because theconceptofa nationalpark reflects some
ofthecentralvaluesand experiencesin Americanculture.
In explainingAmerica's leadershipin nationalparks,fourfactorsmerit
comment.In the firstplace there is the nation's unique experiencewith
nature in general and wildernessin particular.Yet withoutthe existence
of a democraticideology,the second factor,the nationalpark idea would
have been inconceivable.A thirdnecessitywas the existenceof a sizable
amountof undevelopedland at the momentwhen the firsttwo influences
combinedto producea desireforits protection.Finally,Americanciviliza-
tion has remainedsufficiently affluentto affordthe luxuryof preserving
natureforitsnon-utilitarian values. Had any of thesefactorsbeen missing,
nationalparks could not have arisenin the United States in the formthey
did.
Untilthe Americaninventionof nationalparks,the word "park" (or its
equivalentin otherlanguages) was understoodas being synonymous with

*A faculty research grant from Resources for the Future, Inc., Washington,D.C.,
helpedmakethispaper,partofa comparativehistoryofconservation, possible.
'The essay is found most convenientlyin his Paths to the Present (Boston, 1964), pp.
5 1-61.

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 The InventionofAmericanParks 727

"garden." Nature in both was supposed to be pleasant. This meant cut

grass,trimmedhedges,forestscleared of undergrowth, and artisticplant-
ings.One thinksof the hanginggardensof Babylon,the estatesof ancient
Greece, Roman villas, Versailles and the Tuileries,the traditionof En-
glishlandscape design of music,philosophicaldialoguesand lawngames.
Gardeningor park-makingconsistedof shapingthe environment to man's
will. The idea of a wild park was self-contradictory. The ideal environ-
ment,and the one a park was intendedto display,was the pastoral,the ar-
cadian. Wildernesswas the frightening, unorderedconditionfromwhich
man was relievedto have emerged.Parks were symbolsofthisemergence,
ofcontrolovernature.2
The initialAmericanattitudetowardthe environment paralleledthatof
the Old World fromwhich it sprang. Preservingwildernessfor public
benefits,the national park idea, was perhaps the last thingthe colonists
desired. Their problemwas too much ratherthan too littleraw nature.
Wild countryhad to be battledas a physicalobstacleto comfort,even to
survival.The uncivilizedhinterlandalso acquired significanceas a moral
wasteland,a dark chaos whichcivilizationand Christianity would redeem
and order. The originalAmericanmissionhad no place forwilderness.It
was, afterall, a cityon a hill that Winthropcalled upon his colleagues to
erect,and for two more centuriesdeveloping,not preserving,wilderness
preoccupiedAmericans.Given the ratio of wildlandto civilizationin the
New World,itcouldnotreallyhave been otherwise.
Againstthis backgroundof bias againstwilderness,the ideas that pro-
duced the national park concept struggledinto existence.Some can be
labeled "Romantic" and entailedan enthusiasmforthe solitaryand wildin
nature.Otherscenteredarounda change in aesthetics:the emergenceof a
sense of the sublime and picturesque.Still other idea complexes,chiefly
deism and Transcendentalism, linkedreligionand wildernessin a way that
mitigatedseveral thousand years of Judeo-Christianantipathy.But the
mostimportanttrainofthoughtwas thatwhichled to recognition ofwilder-
ness as an essentialpart of the Americanidentity.Some Americansgrad-
ually perceivedthat their countrywas different and, they believed,dis-
tinguishedon accountof its contactwithwilderness.As Thomas Cole, the
landscapepainter,observedin 1836: "thoughAmericansceneryis destitute

2The standard historyof gardens is Marie Luise Gothein, A History of Garden Art
(2 vols.; London, 1928). Also relevantto an understandingof man's early attitudetoward
natureare Clarence J. Glacken, Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature and Culturein West-
ern Thoughtfrom Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century (Berkeley,
1967),George F. Chadwick,The Park and the Town(New York, 1966),George H. Williams,
Wildernessand Paradise in ChristianThought(New York, 1962), Paul Shepard, Man in
the Landscape (New York, 1967), and my own Wildernessand the American Mind (New
Haven, 1967).

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728 AmericanQuarterly

of manyof those circumstancesthatgivevalue to the European,stillit has

features,and gloriousones, unknownto Europe . . . the most distinctive,
and perhapsthe mostimpressive,characteristicof Americansceneryis its
wildness."3Others,notablyHenry David Thoreau, argued that not only
Americanscenerybut Americancharacterbenefitedfromwildness.Proud
of beingpioneers,Americansgraduallyrealizedthatwildernessmade pio-
neering possible. It was also thoughtto provide ethical and aesthetic
nourishment fortheyoungnation.Nature,particularly wildnature,figured
prominently inthenationalego.4
Appreciationofwildernessled easilyto sadnessat itsdisappearancefrom
the American scene. The idea of preservationfollowed.A comparative
glance at the Canadian experienceis instructive in this regard.Geograph-
ical accident placed Americans in a region that could be settled from
borderto borderwithrelativeease and the Canadians againstthe Arctic.
The Americans,as a consequence,raced the lengthand breadthof their
countryin littlemore than a century.Canadians are still running,north-
ward, and the pioneer emphasison developmentdominatesCanadian at-
titudetowardthe naturalenvironment. In contrastmany(but byno means
all) Americanstranscendeddominationto appreciationand preservation.
It is a case of the old idea of valuingsomethingonlywhenthreatenedwith
deprivation.It is also an example of the tendencyforlove of wildernessto
increasein proportionto the degree of civilization.Cities,not log cabins,
produce Sierra clubbers.Ironicallythe veryprocess that destroyswilder-
ness stimulatesits appreciation.Canada has too much wildernessleftfor
widespread appreciationto exist. America took the lead in parks and
preservation because itswildernesswas exhaustedsooner.5
The birthof the nationalpark idea in the United States can be dated
quite precisely.In May 1832 George Catlin arrivedat Fort Pierre in pres-
ent-daySouth Dakota. A sudentand painterofthe AmericanIndian,Cat-
lin had alreadymade severalsummerexcursionsto the frontier. He wanted
to capturewithbrushand pen "the grace and beautyof Nature" beforeit
was obliteratedby the advance of civilization.At Fort Pierre in 1832 Cat-
lin was delightedto see a large numberof Sioux but horrified to learnthat
3"Essayon AmericanScenery,"AmericanMonthlyMagazine, 1(1836), 4-5.
'I have discussed these ideas at lengthin "The Cultural Significanceof the American
Wilderness," Wildernessand the Quality of American Life, eds. Maxine McCloskey and
JamesGilligan(San Francisco,1969),pp. 66-73.
Seminal in the studyof this topic are Perry Miller's "Nature and the National Ego,"
Errand into the Wilderness(Cambridge, Mass., 1956), pp. 204-14; Charles Sanford, The
Quest for Paradise: Europe and the American Moral Imagination (Urbana, Ill., 1961)
and Merle Curti,The Roots ofAmericanLoyalty(New York, 1946).
'I have made this point in more complete form in "Wilderness and Man in North
America," The Canadian National Parks: Today and Tomorrow,eds. J. G. Nelson and R.C.
Scace (2 vols.; Calgary,Alta., 1968),I, 66-93.

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 The InventionofA mericanParks 729

a fewdays prior to his arrivalthe Indians had tradedfourteenhundred

freshbuffalotonguesfora fewgallons of whiskey.The remainderof the
carcasses were leftto rot while the Indians debauched. Such a spectacle
confirmed Catlin's suspicionthatthe extinctionof both Indian and buffalo
was imminent.Saddened at thisthought,he climbeda bluffand spread a
pocket map of the United States beforehim so as to betterconsiderthe
effectsof an expandingcivilization."Many are the rudenessesand wildsin
Nature's works," he reflectedin his journal, "which are destinedto fall
beforethe deadly axe and desolatinghand of cultivatingman." Yet Cat-
lin was convincedthat the primitivewas "worthyof our preservationand
protection."Keeping it matteredbecause "the furtherwe become sep-
arated fromthatpristinewildnessand beauty,the more pleasuredoes the
mindofenlightened manfeelin recurringto thosescenes."6
Continuinghis reverieon the bluff,it occurredto Catlin that Indians,
buffaloand the wildernessin whichtheyboth lived mightnot have to dis-
appear completelyif they were "(by some great protectingpolicy of the
government)preserved ... in a magnificent park." Fascinated by this
thought,Catlin continued:"what a beautifuland thrillingspecimenfor
Americato preserveand hold up to the viewof her refinedcitizensand the
world,in futureages! A nation'sPark, containingman and beast,in all the
wild [ness] and freshnessof their nature's beauty!" Sensing,it may be,
the seminal qualityof his idea, Catlin continued:"I would ask no other
monumentto my memory... than the reputationof having been the
founderofsuchan institution."7
Several thingsin Catlin's statementneed underscoring. In the firstplace
he was a highlycivilizedman absolvedfromthepioneer'sconcernofwrest-
ing a livingfromthe land. From the perspectiveof his easternstudioand
summerrambles,wildernessseemed a delightful novelty.He substantiated
his own contentionthatthe furtherone becomes separatedfromwildness,
the more it appeals. Secondly,it was the thoughtthatwildernesswas dis-
appearing in the United States that stimulatedthe national park idea
in Catlin's mind. National pride led also to his desire for preservation.
Catlin referredto the park as a specimenforthe nationto displayto all
the world for all time. He envisionedit, in otherwords,as an American
contribution to humanity.Catlin's parkwould,apparently,have been large.
He impliedat one pointthat a stripof land east of the Rocky Mountains
and extendingfromMexico to Lake Winnipegwouldmake a splendidpark.
It would have consistedof wild ratherthan manicurednatureand thusde-

6NorthAmerican Indians: Being Letters and Notes on their Manners, Customs, and
Conditions,writtenduringEight Years' Travel amongstthe WildestTribes of Indians in
NorthAmerica(2 vols.; Philadelphia,1913) I, 2-3.
7Ibid.,pp. 289, 292-93.

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730 AmericanQuarterly

parted from park precedents.And Catlin's park would have been ad-
ministeredby the national governmentfor the benefitof all the people.
These were the essentialsof the national parks as they later developed.
The onlysignificant differencein Catlin's schemewas his proposalthatthe
Indian,"in hisclassicattire,"be partofthewildlifeinthepreserve.
AfterGeorgeCatlinthenumberofcalls forwildernesspreservation grad-
ually increased.Thomas Cole contemplatedwritinga book in the 1840s
concerning, in part,"the wildernesspassingaway and thenecessityofsaving
and perpetuatingits features."8Afterseeingthe absence of wildnaturein
Englandin 1851, Horace Greeleychargedhis countrymen to "spare, pre-
serveand cherishsome portionofyourprimitive forests;forwhentheseare
cut away I apprehendtheywillnoteasilybe replaced."9A fewyearslatera
little-known Albany lawyernamed Samuel H. Hammond concludedthat
in referenceto the AdirondackMountainsit would be desirableto "mark
out a circle of a hundredmiles in diameter,and throwaroundit the pro-
tectingaegis of the constitution."The land reservedwould be "a forest
forever"in which "the old woods should stand ... always as God made
them." 10
Exactly40 years afterGeorge Catlin's call fora "nation'sPark," Presi-
dent Ulysses S. Grant signedan act designatingover two millionacres of
northwesternWyoming as Yellowstone National Park. The language
of the law leftno doubtthatthe area was to be a wildernesspark: the Sec-
retaryof the Interiorwas instructedto "provide forthe preservation...
of all timber,mineraldeposits,naturalcuriosities,or wonderswithinsaid
park ... in theirnaturalcondition."" This was not,then,to be a garden-
park,butrathera displayof rawnature.
The initial,statedobject of protection,however,was notwildernessbut
geysers, hot springs,waterfallsand similar "curiosities,or wonders."
Nathaniel P. Langfordand Cornelius Hedges, the initiatorsof the move-
mentfor a park in the Yellowstonecountryand, significantly, men with
eastern,Ivy League backgrounds,contemplatedthe protectionof only a
fewacres aroundeach of the geysersand along the rimsof the canyonand
shore of the lake. Even FerdinandV. Hayden, directorof the Geological
and Geographical Survey of the Territoriesand the man responsiblefor
suggestingthe park's boundariesto the legislators,included over three
thousandsquare miles not in the interestof preservingwildernessbut be-
cause he thoughtthere mightbe undiscoveredhot springsand geysersin

8Louis Legrand Noble, The Life and Works of Thomas Cole, ed. Elliott S. Vesell
(Cambridge,Mass., 1964),p. 299.
9Glancesat Europe (New York, 1851),p. 39.
"0WildNorthernScenes; or SportingAdventureswith the Rifle and Rod (New York,
1857),p. 83. "1U.S.,Statutesat Large, 17,p. 32. Italicsadded.

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 The InventionofAmericanParks 731

the vicinityof the knownones.12Only later,in the 1880s and 1890s,did a

few people begin to realize that wildernesshad also been preservedin
1872. We had a nationalpark, in otherwords,beforewe realized its full
significance.Ideas, for once, lagged behind action. But FrederickJack-
son Turner,and the beginningof widespreadrecognitionof the value of
the frontieralong with nostalgia over its passing,were just around the
corner.The special Americanrelationshipto wilderness-havingit, being
shaped by it and then almost eliminatingit soon providedthe strongest
reasons for appreciatingYellowstone and the subsequentnationalparks.
While recognitionof the value of unmodifiednature was neces-
sary,it was not alone sufficient
to explainthe birthof nationalparksin the
UnitedStates. A comparisonmakesthisclear. In the Far East, particularly
India, China and Japan, a traditionof appreciatingwild natureextended
back at least twothousandyearsbeforetheNew Worldwas evensettled.In
factJainism,Shinto and Taoism were formsof natureworshipin which
wildness took precedence over pastoral and urban environments.Yet
there were no national parks or their equivalentsin the Far East until
afterthe Americanexample. The reason was the absence in India, China
and Japan of a democratictraditionand of the idea of public ownership
of the land. Their presencein the United States is the second vital factor
in explainingour inventionofnationalparks.
Justas garden-parksexistedcenturiesbeforenationalparks,so did ex-
tensivereservesof wild forest.They were, however,private. As far back
as recordsare available, kingsand othernobilitydelightedin maintaining
huntingpreserves. No lord was great without his forest. Occasion-
ally a kindly landowner permittedcommoners to enjoy his private
park,but more oftenthan not he had trespasserspunishedharshly.Some
feudalcodes even made poachinga capital crime.Ensuringan abundance
of game for the chase necessitatedkeeping the preserve in something
approximatinga wild condition,but in regardto clienteletherewas little
resemblanceto national parks. Similarly,the great estates of postfeudal
gentrythroughoutthe westernworld had the purpose of protectingland
fromthe masses.'3
The genius of American land policy and the fact makingthe creation
of Yellowstone National Park possible was the existence of the
public domain. The roots of common ownershipof the land extendback
"2ForHayden's attitudesee his "The Hot Springs and Geysers of the Yellowstoneand
Firehole Rivers," AmericanJournalof Science and Art, III (1872) and his "The Wonders
oftheWest II: More Aboutthe Yellowstone,"Scribner'sMonthly,III (1872).
"3C. Frank Brockman,Recreational Use of Wild Lands (New York, 1959), pp. 47-83;
Charles E. Doell and Gerald B. Fitzgerald,A BriefHistoryof Parks and Recreationin the
UnitedStates (Chicago, 1954), pp. 12-22; Aldo Leopold, Game Management(New York,
1947),pp. 3-21.

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732 AmericanQuarterly

to the 17th century.Perhaps in reactionagainst the monopolisticland-

holdingpracticesof feudalismand the enclosuresystem,the firstAmer-
icans acted to protectsociety'sinterestin the environment. Privateland
ownershipexistedto be sure, but so did the idea of publicownershipand
the institutionof the "common." The Boston Common dates to 1634.
Seven years later the MassachusettsBay Colony passed the Great Ponds
Act reservinglarger bodies of water as a public resourceopen to all for
fishingand fowling.The creationof the publicdomain, however,awaited
independenceand the states' relinquishment of theirwesternland claims
to Congress. New York's 1780 cession,whichstartedthe trend,deserves
more recognitionthan it has receivedas a major determinant in our early
national history.Between then and 1802 the remainingsix states with
westernland ceded theirclaims, and the followingyear the federalgov-
ernmentpurchasedthe vast territory of Louisiana includingthe area later
to be designatedthe firstnational park. In keepingwiththe democratic
ideal, all this land was held in trustfor the people. It was expected,of
course,thatprivateownershipwould eventuallyreplacethatofthegovern-
ment,but the initialfederalcontrolopenedthe possibilityof keepingsome
land public.When and whereto make such exceptionswere decidedby the
republicancriterionofpublicinterest.
The 1832 reservationof the Hot Springsin Arkansas is usuallyrecog-
nized as the beginningof federal involvementin the managementof
land for recreationalpurposes. Only foursections(2,560 acres) were in-
volved,and a town quicklydeveloped around the healingwaters,but the
publicinterestin a naturalobject had been asserted.More importantfrom
the standpointof national parks was the 1864 federalgrantof Yosemite
Valley to the State of Californiaas a state park "for public use, resort
and recreation."'4The area reservedtotaled about ten square miles and
soon lost its wild characterto a flourishingtourist-cateringbusiness.Yo-
semiteNational Park did not appear for26 more years. Nonethelessthe
1864grantstrengthened the precedentforpreservingpartofthe publicdo-
main forall the people forscenic and recreationalreasons.Yosemite was
an importantmilestoneon the road to Yellowstone.
Writingin the AtlanticMonthlya fewyears beforethe Yosemitegrant,
HenryDavid Thoreau dramatizedthe waydemocracyfiguredin the advent
of national parks. Thoreau concluded an articledescribinga trip to the
Maine woodswiththe observationthat"the kingsof Englandformerly had

14U.S., Statutesat Large, 15, p. 325. For the fullstoryof the 1864 grantsee Hans Huth,
"Yosemite: The Story of an Idea," Sierra Club Bulletin, XXX (1948), 47-78; John
Ise, Our National Park Policy: A Critical History (Baltimore, 1961), pp. 52-55; and es-
pecially Holway R. Jones,John Muir and the Sierra Club: The Battlefor Yosemite (San
Francisco,1965),pp. 25 ff.

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 The InventionofAmericanParks 733

theirforests'to hold the king'sgame.'" Sometimes,he pointedout, they

evendestroyedvillagesto create huntingroom. In Thoreau's opinionsuch
privatepreservesof wildernesswere admirablebut unsuitedto the needs
and ideals of his country."Why shouldnot we," he concluded,"who have
renouncedthe king'sauthority,have our nationalpreserves,whereno vil-
lages need be destroyed,in which the bear and panther ... may still
exist ... our forests,not to hold the king's game merely,but to hold
and preservethe kinghimself."'5In a democracy,of course,the kingwas
the people, and the "national preserves" Thoreau contemplatedwere
national parks. In 1872 his hopes bore fruitwhen Yellowstonewas "re-
servedand withdrawn fromsettlement, occupancy,or sale . .. and set apart
as a publicpark or pleasuringgroundforthe benefitand enjoymentofthe
people.9"1In the UnitedStatesthe royalforesthad beentransformed intoa
nationalpark.
The last two factorsin the birthof nationalparkscan be quicklystated.
One, certainly,was the existenceof wildernessin the United States at a
timewhendemandforitspreservationdeveloped.This circumstanceis ex-
plained in part by the timingof the colonizationof the New World. Had
North America been settled between the 11th and 15th centuries,the
appearance of national parks would have been highlyunlikely.At this
timetherewas no bodyof ideas in westernthoughtsupportingthe preser-
vation of wilderness,and there was no democratictradition.As it was,
however,the settlementof the United States coincidedwitha change in
westernopinionofwildnatureand ofdemocracy.
Also importantin explainingthe nationalparks was the patternof this
settlement.Because the nation expanded fromeast to west, it was pos-
sible for an establishedcivilization,and the enthusiasmforwildernessit
engendered,to exist in one part of the countryand vast areas of unde-
veloped land in another part. Had the continentbeen settledfromthe
west as well as the east, it is conceivablethatcivilizationwould have swept
across the land before a countermovement on behalf of wildernesspres-
ervationemerged. Older nations,such as England, foundthemselvesin
precisely this position. When the national park movement arrived,
there was little wildland left to protect. As a consequence England's
national parks were obliged to include farms,homes and even entire
towns.A quarter of a millionpeople lived in them in 1961. Russia, like
Canada, on the otherhand,has a hugenorthcountry wildernessand is cur-
rentlyfollowing(withoutacknowledgment) the Americanlead in national
parkcreation.
The finalfactorwas simplyaffluence.The wealthof the United States

15"Chesuncook,"AtlanticMonthly,11(1858), p. 317. 16U.S. Statutesat Large, 17, p. 32.

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734 AmericanQuarterly

subsidizednationalparks. We were richenoughto affordthe luxuryofset-

ting some land aside for its non-materialvalues. Had we been strug-
glingat the subsistencelevel, wildernesspreservationwould have, at the
least, demanded a much harder decision. Ironically,our success in ex-
ploitingtheenvironment increasedthelikelihoodofitsprotection.
To establishthe national park as an American contributionto world
culture,it remainsto show how our inventioninfluencedother peoples.
Canada was the firstcountryto followthe American lead. In 1885 ten
square miles around the hot springsat Banif,Alberta were reservedby
Order-in-Councilfor the purpose of preventingprivateexploitation.The
followingyear JohnR. Hall, the firstof manyofficialforeignobserversof
Americanparks, visitedthe Arkansas hot springsand reportedto Prime
MinisterJohn A. Macdonald on their managementor, rather,misman-
agement,since the Canadian was shocked at the concessionaire'sopera-
tion. In 1887,the true beginningof nationalparks in Canada, the Rocky
MountainsPark Act enlargedthe Banffreservationto 260 square miles.
The wordingof the act's dedicatoryparagraphis almost identicalto that
of Yellowstone's fifteenyears before. The Canadians created "a public
park and pleasure ground for the benefit,advantage and enjoymentof
the people."17The Americanversionhad been "a publicpark or pleasur-
inggroundforthebenefitand enjoymentofthepeople."
Outside North America the influenceof the Americannational parks
has also been strong."8The Dutch patternedthe Udjun Kulon reserve
in Java, establishedin 1915, afterthe American example. In 1919 King
Albert of Belgium visitedYosemite, Grand Canyon and other national
parks in the United States and returnedhome determinedto implement
preservationin his country.As a result the Herzogenwald or Duke's

"7As quoted in J. R. B. Coleman, "The National Parks of Canada" (mimeo-

graphed paper submittedto the First World Conferenceon National Parks, 1962), p. 3.
Also importantare William Pearce, "Establishmentof National Parks in the Rockies,"
Alberta Historical Review, X (1962) and W. F. Lothian, "A Brief History of National
Park Administrationin Canada" (mimeographedissue of the National Parks Branch,
DepartmentofNorthernAffairsand National Resources,1955).
8The followingdata on world national parks is drawn largelyfromBrockman,Recre-
ational Use, pp. 259-311; Doell and Fitzgerald,BriefHistory,pp. 12-22; Ise, National Park
Policy,pp. 658-69; J. P. Harroy,"The Developmentofthe National Park Movement"(a pa-
per delivered to the Universityof Calgary's conference,The Canadian National Parks:
Today and Tomorrow, Calgary, Oct. 10, 1968; Lee Merriam Talbot, "Wilderness
Overseas" in Wildlandsin Our Civilization,ed. David Brower(San Francisco,1964),pp. 75-
80; Carl P. Russell, "WildernessPreservation,"National Parks Magazine, LXXI (1944), 3
ff.; Richard Carrington,Great National Parks of the World (Washington,D.C., 1967);
InternationalCommission on National Parks, InternationalUnion for Conservationof
Nature and Natural Resources, UnitedNations List of National Parks and EquivalentRe-
serves, ed. Jean-Paul Harroy (Brussels, 1967). Kai Curry-Lindahland J. P. Harroy,
The NationalParks ofthe Worldis currently in press.

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 The InventionofAmericanParks 735

Foreston the Germanborderwas changedto a publicpark. In 1925Albert

National Park, now over six millionacres, was set aside in the Belgian
Congo. About the same time Lord Bledisloe visitedthe Americanparks
and started a campaign that ultimatelyresultedin England's National
Parks and Access to the CountrysideAct of 1949. The Japanese,who be-
gan an aggressivecampaign for national parks in the 1930s, credittheir
inspirationto the United States example. "Needless to say," a publication
of the National Parks Association of Japan declares," . . . the urge was
directlystimulatedby the creationof YellowstoneNational Park."'9 New
Zealand likewiseadmitsthat "the seedlingsown in Wyomingwas trans-
plantedto flourishin both islandsof New Zealand."20 FrequentlyAmeri-
can national parks personnelhave done such cultivatingthemselves.In
the past decade the National Park Service has sent advisersto morethan
twenty-five countries.
Anotherindicationof the Americancontribution to the worldwidena-
tional park movementis the numberof foreignpark officerswho have
come here to look and learn. National Park Service recordsindicate a
steady flow of such observers.Many come individually,but since 1965
summercourses in national park administrationhave been held for for-
eigners.The 1967 program,lastingfourweeks and includinga tourof the
major parks, attracted34 representatives from25 countries.2" There was
a lot to see. Not onlyhad the National Park Systemexpandedgreatlysince
1872, but the National Wilderness PreservationSystem, launched by
Congressionalact in 1964,was in fulloperation.AnotherAmericaninno-
vationin environmental engineering,the WildernessSystemwas designed
to guarantee a permanentresource of wild countryfor the American
people. Considerable portions of existingnational parks (the so-called
backcountry) willeventuallybe includedin the new systemwhichis actual-
lyonly logicalextensionofpartofthenationalparkidea.
a
Of course foreignobserverscan learn how not to manage parks and
wildernessfromthe United States, and it is to the creditof nationalpark
administrators that theyfreelypointup theirerrorsin the hope theycan
be avoided elsewhere.But,forbetterand forworse,Americais the mecca.
Fittinglythe First World Conferenceon National Parks, withdelegates
from63 countries,met in Seattle in 1962. The second will be held in 1972
in Yellowstone National Park the place where it all began a century
before.

"National Parks AssociationofJapan,NationalParks ofJapan(n.p., 1966),p. 1.

20Asquoted in Peter Farb, "National Parks: Noisy,Crowded Crisis," in The Call of the
VanishingWild(Boston, 1967),p. 19.
2Robert Cahn, "'All Mankind has a stake ...,'" ChristianScience Monitor,July 17,
1968.

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