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A national park is a nature park designated for conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protected and owned by a government. Although governments hold different standards for national park designation, the conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national prideEuroparc Federation (eds.) 2009, Living Parks, 100 Years of National Parks in Europe, Oekom Verlag, München is a common motivation for the continued protection of all national parks around the world. National parks are almost always accessible to the public.Gissibl, B., S. Höhler and P. Kupper, 2012, Civilizing Nature, National Parks in Global Historical Perspective, Berghahn, Oxford Usually national parks are developed, owned and managed by national governments, though in some countries with federal or Devolution forms of government, "national parks" may be the responsibility of subnational, regional, or local authorities.
The United States established Yellowstone National Park, the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people," in 1872. Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a "national park" at the time, in practice Report of the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park for the Year 1872 , 43rd Congress, 3rd Session, ex. doc. 35, quoting Department of Interior letter of 10 May 1872, "The reservation so set apart is to be known as the "Yellowstone National Park"." it is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve (in what is now Trinidad and Tobago; established in 1776) and the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Mountain (Mongolia, 1778), which were restricted from cultivation to protect surrounding farmland, are considered the oldest legally . Parks Canada, established on May 19, 1911, is the world's oldest national park service.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) have defined "National Park" as its Category II type of protected areas. According to the IUCN, 6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006. IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park.
The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974 and is in area. (1994). 9782831701905, IUCN/UICN. ISBN 9782831701905
In 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. These include:
While the term national park is now defined by the IUCN, many protected areas in many countries are called national park even when they correspond to other categories of the IUCN Protected Area Management Definition, for example:European Environment Agency Protected areas in Europe – an overview In: EEA Report No 5/2012 Kopenhagen: 2012 pdf doi=10.2800/55955
While national parks are generally understood to be administered by national governments (hence the name), in Australia, with the exception of six national parks, national parks are run by state governments and predate the Federation of Australia; similarly, national parks in the Netherlands are administered by the provinces. In Canada, there are both national parks operated by the federal government and provincial or territorial parks operated by the provincial and territorial governments, although nearly all are still national parks by the IUCN definition.John S. Marsh, " Provincial Parks", , in The Canadian Encyclopedia (Historica Canada, 2018‑05‑30), accessed.
In many countries, including Indonesia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, national parks do not adhere to the IUCN definition, while some areas which adhere to the IUCN definition are not designated as national parks.
Conversely, parks that meet the criteria may be not be referred to as "national parks". Terms like "preserve" or "reserve" may be used instead.
In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a "sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy." The painter George Catlin, in his travels through the American West, wrote during the 1830s that Native Americans in the United States might be preserved "(by some great protecting policy of government) ... in a magnificent park ... A nation's Park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty!"
John Muir is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" due to his work in Yosemite. He published two influential articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation.John Muir. "Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park" The Century Magazine, Vol. XL. September 1890. No. 5John Muir. "The Treasures of the Yosemite" The Century Magazine, Vol. XL. August 1890. No. 4
President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on 1 July 1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of (later becoming Yosemite National Park) to the state of California. According to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for "public use, resort, and recreation". Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation and improvement. A public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone was put under national control at its establishment six years later.Adam Wesley Dean. Natural Glory in the Midst of War: The Establishment of Yosemite State Park In: Abstract. Civil War History, Volume 56, Number 4, December 2010, pp. 386–419 | 10.1353/cwh.2010.0008
Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory. With no state government that could assume stewardship of the land, the federal government took on direct responsibility for the park, the official first national park of the United States. The combined effort and interest of conservationists, politicians and the Northern Pacific Railroad ensured the passage of enabling legislation by the United States Congress to create Yellowstone National Park. Theodore Roosevelt and his group of conservationists, the Boone and Crockett Club, were active campaigners and were highly influential in convincing fellow Republicans and big business to back the bill. Yellowstone National Park soon played a pivotal role in the conservation of these national treasures, as it was suffering at the hands of poachers and others who stood at the ready to pillage what they could from the area. Theodore Roosevelt and his newly formed Boone and Crockett Club successfully took the lead in protecting Yellowstone National Park from this plight, resulting in laws designed to conserve the natural resources in Yellowstone and other parks under the Government's purview.
American Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner wrote: "National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."
Following the idea established in Yellowstone and Mackinac, there soon followed parks in other nations. In Australia, what is now Royal National Park was established just south of Sydney, Colony of New South Wales, on 26 April 1879, becoming the world's second official national park. Since Mackinac lost its national park status, the Royal National Park is, by some considerations, the second oldest national park now in existence.Rodney Harrison, 2012 "Heritage: Critical approaches" Routledge Banff National Park became Canada's first national park in 1885. New Zealand established Tongariro National Park in 1887. Argentina became the third country in the Americas to create a national park system, with the creation of the Nahuel Huapi National Park in 1934, through the initiative of Francisco Moreno. In Europe, the first national parks were a set of nine in Sweden in 1909, following the passing of a Riksdag law on national parks that year. Switzerland became the second European nation with the founding of the Swiss National Park in 1914. In 1971, Lahemaa National Park in Estonian SSR became the first area to be designated a national park in the former Soviet Union. Africa's first national park was established in 1925 when king Albert I of Belgium designated an area in the east of what was then his personal domain of Congo Free State, now Democratic Republic of Congo as the Albert National Park, later renamed Virunga National Park. In 1926, the government of South Africa designated Kruger National Park as the nation's first national park, although it was an expansion and reorganization of the earlier government protected Sabie Game Reserve, established in 1898 by President Paul Kruger of the old South African Republic.
After World War II, national parks were founded all over the world. The United Kingdom designated its first national park, Peak District National Park, in 1951. This followed perhaps 70 years of pressure for greater public access to the landscape. By the end of the decade a further nine national parks had been designated in the UK.
Europe has some 359 national parks as of 2010. The Vanoise National Park in the Alps was the first French national park, created in 1963 after public mobilization against a tourism. in the Lahemaa National Park, Estonia, before sunrise]]In 1973, Mount Kilimanjaro was classified as a National Park and was opened to public access in 1977. In Rajasthan, India]]In 1989, the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (QNNP) was created to protect 3.381 million hectares on the north slope of Mount Everest in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. This national park is the first major global park to have no separate warden and protection staff—all of its management consists of existing local authorities, allowing a lower cost basis and a larger geographical coverage (in 1989 when created, it was the largest protected area in Asia). It includes four of the six tallest mountains in the world: Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, and Cho Oyu. The QNNP is contiguous to four Nepali national parks, creating a transnational conservation area equal in size to Switzerland.Daniel C. Taylor, Carl E. Taylor, Jesse O. Taylor, Empowerment on an Unstable Planet New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, Chapter 9
In 1993, the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park was established in Jamaica to conserve and protect 41,198 hectares, including tropical montane rainforest and adjacent buffer areas. The site includes Jamaica's tallest peak (Blue Mountain Peak), hiking trails and a visitor center. The Park was also designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.
Even with the creation of Yellowstone, Yosemite, and nearly 37 other national parks and monuments, another 44 years passed before an agency was created in the United States to administer these units in a comprehensive way – the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). The 64th United States Congress passed the National Park Service Organic Act, which President Woodrow Wilson signed into law on 25 August 1916. Of the sites managed by the National Park Service of the United States, only 63 carry the designation of National Park.'' in Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord, East Greenland. The site is now part of the Northeast Greenland National Park.]]
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