-
Spanish explorers passed through Petrified Forest
The Indians were the first to live in the Petrified Forest, but by 1800's, when the first Spanish explorers passed through the area, Indians no longer lived in the area. -
Hot Springs Reservation
Hot Springs Reservation was protected first in 1832 before it was a national park. -
Captain Lorenzo Silgreaves
Captain Lorenzo Silgreaves of the U.S. Army was the 1st person to publish information about the petrified forest in 1851. -
Creation of Yellowstone
President Grant signs the bill creating the nation’s first national park at Yellowstone. The Yellowstone Act of 1872 designated the region as a public “pleasuring-ground,” which would be preserved “from injury or spoilation, of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within.” -
Mackinac National Park
Mackinac National Park is established in Michigan. -
The Arrival of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway
The arrival of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway in 1883 brought settlers and others to the area and this caused more pressure on the wood. -
Dynamiting began
In 1890 people began to dynamite some of the preserved logs to get access to gems inside. -
Sequoia National Park
On September 25, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison established America's second national park. I was Created to protect the giant sequoia trees. Sequoia National Park was the first national park formed to protect a living organism. One week later, General Grant National Park was created and Sequoia was enlarged. -
Yosemite National Park created
United States Congress decrees that about 1,500 square miles of public land in the California Sierra Nevada will be preserved forever as Yosemite National Park. President Benjamin Harrison signs the bill into law. Today the park receives more than four million visitors annually. -
Mackinac Island State Park
Mackinac National Park is turned back over to the state of Michigan and becomes Mackinac Island State Park. -
Mount Rainier National Park
One of the world's most massive volcanoes, Mount Rainier can dominate the skyline for 100 miles before you reach the park named after it. At nearly three miles in height, Mount Rainier is the tallest peak in the Cascade Range; it dwarfs 6,000-foot surrounding summits, appearing to float alone among the clouds. -
Antiquities Act
June 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law. This gave the president or Congress the authority to designate national monuments. Devils Tower in Wyoming becomes the first national monument on September 24, 1906. -
Petrified Forest National Monument
On June 8, 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt made the Petrified Forest a National Monument in the southern portion of the current park, including only the Rainbow and Jasper Forests at that time. -
Organic Act of 1916
On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established. This "Organic Act" states that "the Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations…by such means and measures as conform to the fundamen -
Grand Canyon National Park
All at once an immense gorge a mile deep and up to 18 miles wide opens up. The scale is so vast that even from the best vantage point only a fraction of the canyon's 277 miles can be seen. Rock that dates back 1.8 billion years lies at the bottom. -
Hot Springs National Park
Most national parks cover hundreds of thousands of acres, are far from city streets, and keep natural resources away from commercial users … but not Hot Springs. This smallest of national parks borders a city that has made an industry out of tapping and dispensing the park's major resource: mineral-rich waters of hot springs. -
Hot Springs National Park
Hot Springs Reservation becomes Hot Springs National Park in 1921 making it the oldest protected area in the system. -
Arches National Monument/Park
Arches National Monument is established and is protected under the National Park system. -
Painted Desert and Blue Mesa
In 1932 the Painted Desert and Blue mesa areas were added to the monument. -
Executive Order in 1933
An Executive Order in 1933 transferred 56 national monuments and military sites from the Forest Service and the War Department to the National Park Service. This action was a major step in the development of today's truly national system of parks—a system that includes areas of historical as well as scenic and scientific importance. Monumuments and military sites include: Statue of Liberty, Abraham Lincoln National Park, and Gettysburg National Park. -
Mammoth Cave National Park
The worlds longest known cave system likes in Kentucky. Stephen Bishop, a young slave and guide described it as "grand, gloomy, and peculiar." He found and mapped some of mammoth's passages. Bishop died in 1857 and His grave is now part of Mammoth. -
Everglades National Park
A short parade of visitors follows a ranger on an Everglades nature walk. For more than an hour she has shown them the living wonders around them—butterflies and snails, alligators and fish, and bird after bird. Near the end of the walk, she gathers the visitors around her. She points to a string of nine white ibis coursing a cloudless sky. -
Fort Robinson National Park
Fort Robinson is a former U.S. Army fort.This historic outpost served from the days of the Indian Wars until after World War II. This was the site of the 1879 Cheyenne Outbreak and the death of famed Sioux Chief Crazy Horse. -
Petrified Forest now a National Park
On December 9, 1962 the Petrified Forest was finally made a National Park. -
The National Park Service General Authorities Act of 1970
The NPSGAA was ammendment to the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916. This Ammendment was created to require the National Park Service to be managed as a whole entity, and not as constituent parts. -
Endagered Species Act
The Endangered Species act of 1973, was signed by Richard Nixon into a law. tIt appointed the first head of the of the council of Enviromental quality. It chenged Enviromental conservation in the United States. -
Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act
The ANLICA was passed by congress on Nov 12, 1980. It was signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2. It granted protection to 157 million acres of land. It also created over 43 million acres of national parklands in Alaska. -
Women's Rights National Historic Park
Women’s Rights National Historical Park tells the story of the first Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, NY on July 19-20,1848. It is a story of struggles for civil rights, human rights, and equality. -
Tonto Natural Bridge State Park
Is a Natural arch in Arizona, that some claim is the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. It took over 30 years for Arizona to establish this park as a prtotected area. -
Saguaro National Park
The area was ruled by Mexico from 1821-1854. It was used by farmers, miners, merchants, and ranchers. The area became part of the United States in 1854. The monument was finally made the nation's 52nd national park in a bill signed by President Bill Clinton in October, 1994. -
Death Valley National Park
The largest national park south of Alaska, Death Valley is known for extremes: It is North America's driest and hottest spot (with fewer than two inches/five centimeters of rainfall annually and a record high of 134°F), and has the lowest elevation on the continent—282 feet below sea level. Even with its extremes, the park still receives nearly a million visitors each year.
