NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES for Natural Areas of the National Park System

UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Secretary
Washington, D.C. 20240

June 18, 1969

Memorandum

To: Director, National Park Service
From: Secretary of the Interior
Subject: Management of the National Park System

I have now had the opportunity to review with you the administrative policies, management principles, and long-range objectives for the operation of the National Park System. During this review, I have considered the letter of May 13, 1918, sometimes referred to as the Magna Carta of the National Parks, from former Secretary Franklin K. Lane to Mr. Stephen T. Mather, the first Director of the National Park Service; the memorandum to Mr. Mather of March 11, 1925, from former Secretary Hubert Work; and the memoranda of July 10, 1964, and January 15, 1969, to you from former Secretary Stewart L. Udall.

The broad guidelines established by Secretary Lane still undergird the management philosophy of the Service. Each successive policy statement has reconfirmed this philosophy, adding new guidelines and new program emphasis to reflect the changing role of the National Park System in response to the needs of our society.

For the information of the public and for your guidance in the management of the National Park System, it is appropriate that I should outline my views on this important area of Departmental responsibility.

1. I wish to make it clear that, except in one minor instance, I support the administrative policies, management principles, and long-range objectives of my predecessors. The exception relates to the operation of campgrounds by concessioners. I believe that the camping experience, even though more sophisticated equipment is being used, is still a meaningful part of the Government-operated visitor services program. Therefore, as a general policy, the National Park Service should operate campgrounds and not lease them to concessioners. Appropriate charges should be made for camping, except for backpack camping. Backpack camping is an historic program of the National Park Service and it should be encouraged.

You should also emphasize a program of providing low-cost and rustic back-country facilities such as the chalets in Glacier National Park and the High Sierra Camps in Yosemite National Park. At these facilities the visitor can obtain a hot meal, a bunk, or throw his sleeping bag on the floor. Such operations are small—usually a man and wife management team—and are accessible only on foot or by horseback. They enable an urban society—growing numbers of which are not prepared to cope with wilderness camping—to enjoy the scenic grandeur and re-creative values of a quality park experience at minimum cost and with minimum intrusion in the physical environment.

I am especially interested in your seeing that, to the greatest extent feasible, camping opportunities are made available to the youth of our Nation. To this end, I wish you to give emphasis in your management to an expanded program of hostels and group camps, especially in those areas near urban centers.

Also, I wish you would explore further the potential that might exist for the development of hostel facilities and organized camping on public and private lands surrounding park areas.

In connection with the camping program of the Service, I suggest that there might be considerable benefit in having the long-range objectives of this program considered by a Joint Task Force of outside citizens and National Park Service personnel.

2. Well before the birth of this Nation's system of National Parks, the belief that parks are vital to the physical and mental health of the people was eloquently expressed by Frederick Law Olmsted. In an 1865 Report to the California Legislature, recommending the policy which should govern the Yosemite Valley and the neighboring Mariposa Big Tree Grove, Olmsted wrote:

It is a scientific fact that the occasional contemplation of natural scenes of an impressive character, particularly if this contemplation occurs in connection with relief from ordinary cares, change of air and change of habits, is favorable to the health and vigor of men; and especially to the health and vigor of their intellect . . . it not only gives pleasure for the time being, but increases the subsequent capacity for happiness and the means of securing happiness.

To secure these values and benefits in our predominantly urban society, we must bring PARKS TO PEOPLE.

I wish you to initiate, in cooperation with the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, a study of what opportunities exist for an expanded program of Federal acquisition and Federally-assisted-acquisition of park and recreation lands in the large urban centers of our Nation. Specifically, I have in mind such studies as the one now under way by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation of the proposed Gateway National Recreation Area in New York and New Jersey. In your study, emphasis should be placed upon the strategic location and quality of the lands involved and not simply on the quantity.

Your study should also include proposals for financing such a program.

Time is of the essence in formulating an action program. Opportunities are being lost daily to acquire such lands. Once lost these opportunities can seldom be retrieved. The environmental health of our Nation and the well being of our society, consequently, will suffer.

3. The National Park Service now manages more significant parklands in and near large urban centers than any other agency of Government at any level. It is imperative that you inaugurate programs that will make these areas a more vital and meaningful part of the total environment of these urban centers.

I have reviewed with you the Living History programs now under way and the Summer-in-the-Parks program initiated for the urban parks in the National Capital Region. I am pleased and encouraged that the Congress has authorized the busing of youngsters from the District of Columbia to participate in educational and recreational programs in our Nation's parklands in this metropolitan area.

Program innovation such as this is a desirable—indeed, an essential—part of making our parks more meaningful to people. Accordingly, I ask you to experiment further with methods and programs of enhancing the educational, inspirational, and recreational values of all parks, especially for our youth.

4. I wish you to develop in cooperation with neighboring school districts a positive program for the use of park facilities, such as visitor centers and museums. You should work closely with school districts to encourage them to use these facilities as a part of their on-going school curriculum. In this connection, I am pleased to learn of your program to designate Environmental Study Areas as "outdoor laboratories" within the National Park System for the use of educational groups. As rapidly as funding permits and public demand exists, you should expand this program. The development of cultural centers to perpetuate native crafts, and artists-in-residence programs, for example, should be encouraged. A vigorous, creative program of environmental education is essential if we are to build environmental awareness into our society.

5. The National Park idea was first articulated in the Yellowstone National Park legislation of 1872. The Congress set aside this national treasure for preservation in perpetuity as a "public park or pleasuring ground." During the intervening decades it has become clear that the natural areas of the System (National Parks and National Monuments of scientific significance) are valuable to the Nation, additionally, for their inspirational and educational benefits. True, they still offer and should provide special experiences in quality outdoor recreation. However, to protect the fragile resources of these areas, recreational opportunities must be planned with due regard for their natural values and beauty.

It has become increasingly obvious in many parks, especially in Yosemite National Park during the height of the summer season, that the private automobile is impairing the quality of the park experience. As our population continues to increase in the decades ahead, accompanied by the growth in private automobile ownership, this condition will worsen unless we begin to deal with it now. Mass transportation facilities, such as shuttle buses, tramways, etc., will not only transport more people—they will also better protect the resources of the park. Moreover, mass transportation facilities in many instances will enhance the quality of the park experience.

In this connection, before major park road construction is initiated in the future in any natural area, I wish a thorough study to be made of alternative methods of access and transportation.

I am encouraged by the steps you have taken to plan jointly with other Federal land managing agencies, the States and the private sector to share the recreation load in the vicinity of the areas of the National Park System. I would like to see you, however, increase the emphasis on joint regional planning because in the long run the total environment in which the park is located depends on vigorous and coordinated action. The recent grant by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the State of Pennsylvania to aid in planning the area related to Gettysburg National Military Park is an example of what can be done. I would hope that you would work closely with HUD to assure that similar grants are made available to help plan communities in the vicinity of other park units.

You should take steps to broaden citizen participation, especially of our youth, in planning for the National Park System.

6. New partnership relations involving Federal, State and local governments and private organizations should be explored and encouraged. For example, the National Landmarks program recognizes those natural areas, historic places, and environmental education sites that possess national significance. They offer incomparable opportunities for research and environmental education. Many, especially the National Historic Landmarks, provide opportunities for communicating the significance of our cultural inheritance. At these places, one can learn of the courage, ingenuity, personal sacrifice and perseverance of hard-working and creative ancestors who built the foundations of our way of life.

Most of these areas are in private ownership and management. In far too many cases, private enterprise is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain these landmarks. In some cases, land values escalate by reason of urban growth or the restoration of historic treasures, resulting in assessment valuation increases and mounting taxes. When private citizens can no longer shoulder the burden, the property is lost to an incompatible development or the whole burden is transferred to the taxpayers.

You should explore programs, including legislation if necessary, that will encourage the continued participation of private citizens, the business community, and organizations involved with natural and historic preservation.

7. While I wish to move rapidly to bring PARKS TO PEOPLE and to innovate programs in parks for people, I am also deeply interested in preserving the wilderness of our National Park System. In this connection, I note that you are behind schedule in your wilderness studies of roadless areas of the National Park System. It is important that we get this program on track.

8. The National Park System should protect and exhibit the best examples of our great national landscapes, riverscapes and shores and undersea environments; the processes which formed them; the life communities that grow and dwell therein; and the important landmarks of our history. There are serious gaps and inadequacies which must be remedied while opportunities still exist if the System is to fulfill the people's need always to see and understand their heritage of history and the natural world.

You should continue your studies to identify gaps in the System and recommend to me areas that would fill them. It is my hope that we can make a significant contribution to rounding out more of the National Park System in these next few years.

9. With accelerating leisure time for recreational pursuits by our highly mobile society, there is a growing shortage of trained park and recreational personnel. As rapidly as funding permits, you should work with colleges and universities to develop joint training opportunities for State and local park and recreation staffs. You should, also, in cooperation with the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, work with technical and professional institutions to broaden training and educational opportunities to encourage young people to seek careers in park and recreation programs. The training facilities of the National Park Service should be made available for these purposes as opportunities permit.

10. The National Park idea is a unique contribution of this Nation to world culture. More than 90 nations have been inspired by this idea to establish National Parks and similar preserves. You should initiate studies as to ways and means of improving our cooperation and assistance with these Nations.

I would like to see, for example, a park and recreation plan for the North American Continent developed by this country and our neighbors by 1972, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Yellowstone—the world's first National Park. Also, you should plan for a Second World Conference on National Parks to be held at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in 1972 and for other appropriate activities to commemorate the centennial of National Parks.

A quality environment knows no national boundary. National Parks will become increasingly important keystones for building environmental awareness into the hearts and minds of the world community.

11. You know of my great interest in improving the economy of the Indians. In this respect, lands on many of the Indian Reservations comprise outstanding recreational outlets for the people of this country as well as potential means of improving the Indian economy in that particular area. Neither the Indian people nor the Bureau of Indian Affairs has sufficient expertise for planning and developing recreation areas and parks. I wish you would take the lead in working cooperatively with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation in developing a joint proposal, including proposed legislation if necessary, for utilizing the expertise of the National Park Service in furthering the economy of the Indian Reservations by developing their recreational and cultural resources.

In summary, the National Park System represents those precious and irreplaceable remnants of our natural world and the landmarks of our cultural inheritance. To understand the strands of our heritage is to have pride in, and love for, our country. Recognition and appreciation of these roots of our society will generate a sense of stability and continuity among our citizens, increasing millions of whom are isolated by asphalt and concrete in our metropolitan centers.

Through program innovation in response to the changing needs of our society and by sensitive management, the National Park System can contribute enormously to our national goals of enhancing the life of every American and supporting the effort to articulate an environmental ethic as a rule of human conduct. Let this be your constant guide as we approach the decade of the seventies.

WALTER J. HICKEL, Secretary of the Interior