Karen Gandolfo

The idea of preserving in a national grouping such spots of scenic beauty and historic memory originated here in this country...In Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, other countries have followed our pioneering example and set aside their most magnificent scenic areas as national treasures for the enjoyment of present and future generations.
— Dwight D. Eisenhower

For the first century of our nation, there was an abundance of space, people sought gold in the territories, established farms on the flat lands of the mid-West, needed to surmount the Rockies to reach Pacific treasures, fought American natives who had inhabited these lands for 15,000 to 20,000 years. Struggles for the land, its ownership was paramount yet “spacious skies” and “purple mountain majesty” were not under threat. In 1872, the first national park, Yellowstone, 3,474 sq miles, in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, was signed into legislature-The Yellowstone National Park Protection Act by Ulysess Grant. Yellowstone was not only the first US national park, it was first national park in the world.

Presidents over the centuries have been steadfast advocates of national parks. In 1916, the National Park Services was birthed to build capacity, expertise for managing burgeoning natural treasures, to protect these lands for the people of the United States – 330 million visitors a year to 433 units covering 85 million acres across 50 states, DC and US territories. National parks, their expansion and protection has never been partisan – from Grant to Teddy Roosevelt, to Harding, to FDR, to Eisenhower, to Carter, to Clinton, to the Bushes, to Obama, to Biden.National Parks have for over a century been irrefutably Presidential–associated with Presidents giving significant attention and funding to preserving the natural beauty of this nation – for the pleasure of the people, for prosperity.