Was ‘Promote’ Dropped from Park Service Mission?

Let’s Go Back to ‘the Act’ This First Day of NPS Year 109!

Sunrise is coming slowly south down the Blue Mountains and into my viewshed.

Happiest day, beloved Joy Train Rider! I love you. Bless you! I affirm you’re doing well. I’m happy to say we are doing great here in the company of birds and clouds.

Last Saturday I took us on a journey dedicated to the observation of the National Park Service’s 108th anniversary August 25! National Parks, Politics Link is Overlooked. Then I learned something else major that seems “overlooked” by the Park Service itelf.

A friend responded to my article with”

“. . .It is part of the 1916 NPS Organic Act, “The service thus established shall “PROMOTE” (my emphasis) and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations hereinafter specified by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purposes of the said parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life 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.

“. . .promoting is right there in the first six words and for some reason it just is left off and starts with, ‘…to conserve the scenery…’

Whoa!

This explains why, for years I’ve had a nagging feeling that the Park’s mission statement is incomplete. Something was missing but didn’t know what, since googling it gives me the information on the Park Service website beginning with “conserve…”

Oddly, last Friday I was looking for something in our closet full of books and papers, and an old copy of “The National Parks Index” from the 1990s caught my eye. So this morning I went and got it and the very first few lines cited the Act and the order to “promote” the parks as quoted above.

Has the Park Service’s mission changed, or been changed? I think the question requires an answer. The Service has multiple small programs across the country, but nothing of the scale of nationwide promotion required to engage the American public. For example, my friend mentioned:

“That has been one of our key efforts with the Amtrak - National Park Service Trails Partnership Program, “Promote” our “Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations” to passengers along select Amtrak routes for nearly 25 years. 2025 marks the 25 anniversary of the partnership. “

Sure, but how much does that mean to a whole country of people? What demographic are they promoted to and who uses them? How does this address the vitally important history in the parks that’s mostly unknown? While some of the most iconic parks suffer from a superfluity of visitors, the sparsity of America’s racially diverse sons and daughters among those numbers represent a huge chasm in citizen awareness and support, since many visitors are foreign tourists.

On this first day of the Park Service’s 109th year we should require a new direction that acts to promote and to conserve. We need to know them intimately so they can help heal our people, our politics and our climate.