YELLOWSTONE

"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst." Wallace Stegner famously quotes in a 1983 commentary. For as long as they’ve existed, National Parks have served as an inspiration to the American People as to what can be accomplished and what can be preserved. National Parks instill pride in citizens and help provide perspective as to what a world untouched by Western civilization would look like. Most other nations will agree that National parks are one of America’s greater accomplishments. But how did this all begin? To understand the complexity of today’s national parks, one must return to their humble beginnings in Yellowstone National Park. The founding and early management of Yellowstone National Park set a precedent for how most national parks in the United States would operate.

        Yellowstone National Park is the oldest national park in existence. It has been running since for nearly 150 years since its opening in the year 1872^[1]. Today, Yellowstone covers 2.2 million acres, or 3,471 square miles.^[2] Yellowstone is home to a great variety of creatures - 67 types of mammals alone^[3], not to mention the birds, fish, reptiles, and insects. The park serves as a refuge for them. Yellowstone also hosts a number of geological features, such as forests, geysers, and mountains. As one can imagine, it’s quite the sight to behold and thus draws in a lot of visitors. Conservative estimates suggest that in 2018 alone, the park saw as many as 4 million visitors.^[4]  The tourism aspect of Yellowstone is what distinguishes it from any other type of protected land. The human recreation was inherent to the park from its earliest drafts and would have massive implications for its predecessors.

        There’s a lot to explore when it comes to the founding of Yellowstone. One would find that the original plan for the park remains fulfilled, not only within Yellowstone, but for practically every national park in America. To mention exploring though, it’s time to take a look at the expedition that led to the founding of the Yellowstone National Park.

        Secretary of the Interior appointed Ferdinand V. Hayden as U.S. Geologist. Prior to this, Hayden was renowned for a number of geologic/geographic surveys. As such, the Department of the Interior saw it fitting that he should lead the expedition into Yellowstone, where he was instructed “to secure as much information as possible, both scientific and practical, you will give your attention to the geological, mineralogical, zoological, botanical, and agricultural resources of the country. You will collect as ample material as possible for the illustration of your final reports, such as sketches, sections, photographs, etc.”^[5] Hayden was allowed to assemble his own team to follow him out. This included a great number of scientists, artists, and experts, but most notable among them being the artist Henry W. Elliott, the photographer William H. Jackson, and Thomas Moran, described as “an artist of Philadelphia of rare genius”. ^[6] In the end, it was the work of these artists, along with Hayden’s own writing, that helped to capture the majesty of Yellowstone and that would convince Congress to protect this land. The Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 ended on October 2, 1871. By March of 1872, within the span of six months, the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act had been established.^[7]

        The express purpose of the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act was to protect the land from private development and settlement, as the rest of the West was pioneered and homesteaded. However, there was also an established clause for the land to act “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”^[8] The first act was brief and unspecified - likely owing a lot to the fact that it gave the Secretary of the Interior full control over the management and legislation of the park. It was no longer a legislative concern. The Department of the Interior was at complete liberty with the park.

        For context, The Department of the Interior was not limited to Yellowstone. Although it was the first national park, it was not the first of its kind. Actually, the area that would become Yosemite National Park was already extant by that time. The only difference was that it existed as a state park.^[9] It only became a national park in 1890. Elsewhere, in the country, other national parks were sprouting up. Within only forty four years of the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, thirty-five national parks had been created nationwide.^[10] The separate management of all these spaces was quickly becoming incoherent and uncoordinated. In August of 1916, the National Park Service was born. The National Park Service was a new federal bureau responsible for the management of all current and future parks.^[11] In time, it would come to be responsible for over four hundred parks within the United States. The early establishment and management of Yellowstone was invaluable in shaping the National Park Service.

Since Yellowstone National Park was such a huge product, and since it was virtually unprecedented, it took a lot of trial and error to get to where it is today. As is to be expected, its early days were marked with tumult and controversy. To begin with, Yellowstone National Park was underfunded. While pleading for the park’s creation, Hayden had promised it would not require any funding from Congress, knowing well that a monetary request would likely halt any mentions of the park ever again. While Hayden’s promise allowed the protection act to have been passed in the first place, it was a great handicap in Yellowstone’s early years. The then superintendent, Nathaniel P. Langford, could not even erect buildings or afford to pay rangers.^[12]Since neither Langford or Congress were able to pay for the amount of work the park required, this was not an especially fruitful period. In fact, it was downright destructive. Without money or resources, Langford was unable to protect the land or game that had been staked out. At the same time, the park was still open and calling out to tourists. This meant there were even more people in the area, but nobody to ensure that they behaved. There was more destruction and death caused in the park during its early years than there was before it was even protected. Langford’s failures in this department led to his removal. However, the second elected superintendent, Philetus W. Norris was able to make significant progress in the park. While Norris was certainly innovative and driven, a lot of the achievement gap between him and his predecessor can also be explained by how Congress finally agreed to appropriations, sending $10,000 in 1878.^[13]

Regardless, with Norris in the superintendent position, the real work on the park began. We can trace Norris’s improvements in three areas - protecting the park, making the park more favorable to tourists, and reinforcing the overall infrastructure. Norris began construction of some of the first buildings and facilities that would make the park easier for administrators to live in and tourists to visit. He also cleared construction of tourist-friendly roads within the park, which had not existed prior. The park overall became more catered to the viewers' experience. Although Norris made Yellowstone accessible to the general public, he did not neglect the more academic and scientific work that would be needed to help the park succeed. Norris was renowned for his intense study of the land he now ruled; he wrote in great detail of the history of park, both natural and historical. With such care given to the land, it should come as no surprise that he made great efforts to protect it. As previously mentioned, Yellowstone had come under fire by hunters and trappers who had scavenged the land for game. It was a great task to protect the land from this point on. Norris did his part to combat this by implementing new legislation and guidelines for the park to practice. By 1881, he had elaborated on several pre-existing rules so that they may be closely followed, as well as relied more on the law to discourage any disruptive or destructive behavior. He also requested money for the construction of new boundaries and paths for visitors to follow, in order to keep them from interfering or damaging any aspects of the park. However, that alone wasn’t enough. Wild populations such as bison were still plunging in numbers due to illegal hunting and trapping. A known explorer and colleague of Haydens,  Harry Yount was introduced as the park's first groundskeeper. His revolutionary idea was to form a police force that would protect animals from harm and prevent any visitors or outsiders from breaking the rules of the park. Protection would come to be known as “The First Pillar of Park Management.” The second was Use. The third would then be Science, as established by Norris.^[14] 

These tenants are important because they specify not only how Yellowstone would function, but also how the National Park Service would develop over time. A visual guide by Ronald F. Lee, titled National Park System Family Tree, even depicts Yellowstone as the acorn from which the National Park System sprouted^[15]. There are numerous similarities between the early management of Yellowstone and the current legislature that dictates NPS policy. To begin with, upon viewing the National Park Service Organic Act, one will notice repeated language trends and purposes. The NPS Organic Act stares their purpose as "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." Compare this with the act that set aside Yellowstone, “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”. This isn’t where public consideration ends, either. With Norris’s efforts already being accounted for, Yellowstone was modified to be more accommodating to the public and to truly allow visitors to flourish by introducing buildings, roads, and facilities. This consideration for the common people has not gone away with time; it's a value that persisted and solidified in the National Park Service. The Official NPS website even explains this in their policy guide, under the section “May the public participate in policy-making?” that states “The travel and tourism industry [...] have a strong interest in the way the national parks are managed. They also have a strongly held belief in their right to participate in the decision-making process. This belief is supported by the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires agencies to give the public an opportunity to comment on major policy decisions that will affect them.” Public consideration has not been left out.

Another similarity between how Yellowstone was managed and how the NPS is managed is in terms of legal intervention. With the exception of some occasional appropriations given to the park, Congress has taken a very hands-off approach to the development of the parks. Originally, full power was given to the Secretary of the Interior, so long as they followed the few vague guidelines for Yellowstone. Some years down the line, the Department of the Interior is still responsible for managing national parks. Just the same, Congress has passed no new legislation or detailed guide as to how it should be done. Though there is now a larger council to make decisions, most power still belongs to those who work closest with the park and are most qualified to run it. Again, the NPS website remarks on this itself, stating that “Congress’s broad, legislated policies are somewhat general and usually do not specify how the end goals are to be achieved. Fortunately, the Organic Act also authorizes the NPS to "regulate the use" of national parks,”^[16]

The article Absolutely American and Absolutely Democratic: National Parks and Policy Change by John Freemuth details the inner workings of the National Park Service. This provides greater insight into how the park is managed, especially in regards to its scientific body. The NPS operates under a “professional accountability system”, which means that “public officials must rely on skilled and expert employees to provide appropriate solutions.”^[17] The NPS is known for hiring a great variety of experts, across multiple disciplines.^[18] This is very reminiscent of  The Hayden Geological Survey that led to the creation of Yellowstone. For the expedition, there was not just a team of explorers. They had an ensemble of scientists, but also artists, photographers, topographers, hunters, and cooks! With experts for each problem that could come up, their success was all but guaranteed. That spirit of diversity lives on in the National Park Service today.

National Parks today represent an ancient vision carried out. In a changing world, they still fulfill their purpose - to protect nature within their borders, to conduct research on the natural happenings, and to make a place for the enjoyment of the public. With that, NPS does seem to be the spiritual successor to Yellowstone. The metaphor of the acorn and the tree is very astute. Though Yellowstone was not the first of its kind, the work that happened there was instrumental in the country’s understanding of what a national park could be. The management of Yellowstone National Park served as a blueprint for the National Park Foundation and nothing can undermine its influence.