The National Parks Service, which celebrates its 100th anniversary Thursday, was started by Congress and President Woodrow Wilson to preserve natural, historical and cultural landscapes and make them accessible to the public. The 87,500 acre area, which was donated by the founder of Burt’s Bees, will now be taken care of by the National Park Service.
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The agency has been plagued with corruption and mismanagement.
If you do get the chance to visit the splendor of Yosemite National Park though, the majority of tourists never venture beyond Yosemite Valley, so we encourage you explore some its wild back country and Tuolumne Meadows.
For those of you homebound, Google has created a pretty awesome virtual tour of five national parks: Kenai Fjords National Park, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Dry Tortugas National Park (check out the below embedded video). A Sequoia tree and bison represent vegetation and wildlife, mountains and water represent scenery and recreation and the arrowhead shape represents history and archaeology.
The monument’s creation was opposed by state lawmakers and critics who fear that it will hinder efforts to rebuild a forest-based economy in the region.
For a time, both fire and ice hindered travel into Yellowstone National Park on the park service’s centennial anniversary. A special celebration was held Thursday in honor of the big milestone. National parks contributed almost $650 million to the MA economy and supported 7,000 jobs. Jewell said climate change is a concern for the future of other national parks from Alaska to the Florida Everglades.
To mark its centennial, the National Park Service is offering free admission to all 412 national parks from August 25 through August 28.
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Entrance to all the national parks is free Thursday through the weekend.
