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A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. The United States established the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people", Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a "national park" in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. However, the
Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve Main Ridge is the main mountainous ridge on the island of Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago. It is a chain of hills which runs from southwest to northeast between the Caribbean Sea and the Southern Tobago fault system and reaches a maximum height of ...
(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 in order to protect surrounding farmland, are seen as the oldest legally
protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
s. Parks Canada, established on May 19, 1911, became the world's first national park service. An international organization, the
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...
(IUCN), and its
World Commission on Protected Areas The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is one of six commissions of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). History In 1948, the IUCN established a Committee on National Parks. Two decades later the IUCN had been ask ...
(WCPA), has 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. National parks are almost always open to visitors.Gissibl, B., S. Höhler and P. Kupper, 2012, ''Civilizing Nature, National Parks in Global Historical Perspective'', Berghahn, Oxford


Definitions

In 1969, the IUCN declared a national park to be a relatively large area with the following defining characteristics: * One or several ecosystems not materially altered by human exploitation and occupation, where plant and animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats are of special scientific, educational, and recreational interest or which contain a natural landscape of great beauty; * Highest competent authority of the country has taken steps to prevent or eliminate exploitation or occupation as soon as possible in the whole area and to effectively enforce the respect of ecological, geomorphological, or aesthetic features which have led to its establishment; and * Visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions, for inspirational, educative, cultural, and recreative purposes. In 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. These include: * Minimum size of 1,000 hectares within zones in which protection of nature takes precedence * Statutory legal protection * Budget and staff sufficient to provide sufficient effective protection * Prohibition of exploitation of natural resources (including the development of dams) qualified by such activities as sport, hunting, fishing, the need for management, facilities, etc. 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: *
Swiss National Park The Swiss National Park ( rm, Parc Naziunal Svizzer; german: Schweizerischer Nationalpark; it, Parco Nazionale Svizzero; french: Parc National Suisse) is located in the Western Rhaetian Alps, in eastern Switzerland. It is within the canton o ...
, Switzerland: IUCN Ia – Strict Nature Reserve * Everglades National Park, United States: IUCN Ib – Wilderness Area *
Koli National Park Koli National Park ( fi, Kolin kansallispuisto) is a national park in the municipalities of Joensuu, Lieksa and Kontiolahti in the North Karelia region of Finland. It covers of forested hills on the western shore of Lake Pielinen. The park wa ...
, Finland: IUCN II – Surface Area *
Victoria Falls National Park Victoria Falls National Park in north-western Zimbabwe protects the south and east bank of the Zambezi River in the area of the world-famous Victoria Falls. It extends along the Zambezi river from the larger Zambezi National Park about 6 k ...
, Zimbabwe: IUCN III – National Monument * Vitosha National Park, Bulgaria: IUCN IV – Habitat Management Area *
New Forest National Park The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
, United Kingdom: IUCN V – Protected Landscape * Etniko Ygrotopiko Parko Delta Evrou, Greece: IUCN VI – Managed Resource Protected Area 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 The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western ...
; 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. 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.


Terminology

As many countries do not adhere to the IUCN definition, the term “national park” may be used loosely. In the United Kingdom, and in some other countries such as Taiwan, a “national park” simply describes a general area that is relatively undeveloped, scenic, and attracts tourists. There may be substantial human settlements within the bounds of a national park. Conversely, parks that meet the criteria may be not be referred to as “national parks”. Terms like “preserve” or “reserve” may be used instead.


History


Early references

Starting in 1735 the Naples government undertook laws in order to protect Natural areas, which could be used as a
game reserve A game reserve (also known as a wildlife preserve or a game park) is a large area of land where wild animals live safely or are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; ...
by the royal family;
Procida Procida (; nap, Proceta ) is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a ''comune'' of the Metropolitan C ...
was the first protected site; the difference between the many previous royal hunting preserves and this one, which is considered to be closer to a Park rather than a hunting preserve, is that Neapolitan government already considered the division into the present-day wilderness areas and non-strict nature reserves. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the
Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or '' fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
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 The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
, 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!"


First efforts: Hot Springs, Arkansas and Yosemite Valley

The first effort by the U.S. Federal government to set aside such protected lands was on 20 April 1832, when President
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
signed legislation that the
22nd United States Congress The 22nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1831 ...
had enacted to set aside four sections of land around what is now Hot Springs, Arkansas, to protect the natural,
thermal spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by cir ...
s and adjoining mountainsides for the future disposal of the U.S. government. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no legal authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877. The work of important leaders who fought for animal and land conservation were essential in the development of legal action. Some of these leaders include President Abraham Lincoln, Laurance Rockefeller, President Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson to name a few.
John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...
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. President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
signed an Act of Congress on 1 July 1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley and the
Mariposa Grove Mariposa Grove is a sequoia grove located near Wawona, California, United States, in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park. It is the largest grove of giant sequoias in the park, with several hundred mature examples of the tree. Two o ...
of
giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...
s (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.


First national park: Yellowstone

In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States' first national park, being also the world's first national park. In some European and Asian countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed - though typically as game reserves and recreational grounds set aside for royalty, such as a part of the Forest of Fontainebleau (France, 1861). 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 The Boone and Crockett Club is an American nonprofit organization that advocates fair chase hunting in support of habitat conservation. The club is North America's oldest wildlife and habitat conservation organization, founded in the United Stat ...
, 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."


International growth of national parks

The first area to use "national park" in its creation legislation was the U.S.'s Mackinac National Park, in 1875. (The area was later transferred to the state's authority in 1895, thus losing its official "national park" status.Kim Allen Scott, 2011 "Robertson's Echo The Conservation Ethic in the Establishment of Yellowstone and Royal National Parks" Yellowstone Science 19:3) Following the idea established in Yellowstone and Mackinac, there soon followed parks in other nations. In Australia, what is now
Royal National Park The Royal National Park is a protected national park that is located in Sutherland Shire in the Australian state of New South Wales, just south of Sydney. The national park is about south of the Sydney central business district near the loca ...
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.
Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense conif ...
became Canada's first national park in 1885. New Zealand established
Tongariro National Park Tongariro National Park (; ) is the oldest national park in New Zealand,Department of Conservation"Tongariro National Park: Features", retrieved 21 April 2013 located in the central North Island. It has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a World H ...
in 1887. In Europe, the first national parks were a set of nine parks in Sweden in 1909, followed by the
Swiss National Park The Swiss National Park ( rm, Parc Naziunal Svizzer; german: Schweizerischer Nationalpark; it, Parco Nazionale Svizzero; french: Parc National Suisse) is located in the Western Rhaetian Alps, in eastern Switzerland. It is within the canton o ...
in 1914. Africa's first national park was established in 1925 when Albert I of Belgium designated an area of what is now Democratic Republic of Congo centred on the Virunga Mountains as the
Albert National Park Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from in the Semliki River valley to in the Rwenzori Mountains. From ...
(since renamed Virunga National Park). In 1926, the government of South Africa designated
Kruger National Park Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from e ...
as the nation's first national park, although it was an expansion of the earlier Sabie Game Reserve established in 1898 by President Paul Kruger of the old South African Republic, after whom the park was named. Argentina became the third country in the Americas to create a national park system, with the creation of the
Nahuel Huapi National Park Nahuel Huapi National Park () is the oldest national park in Argentina, established in 1934. It surrounds Nahuel Huapi Lake in the foothills of the Patagonian Andes. The largest of the national parks in the region, it has an area of , or nearly ...
in 1934, through the initiative of
Francisco Moreno Francisco Pascasio Moreno (May 31, 1852 – November 22, 1919) was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as ''Perito'' Moreno (''perito'' means "specialist, expert"). Perito Moreno has been credited as on ...
. 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 touristic project. In 1971,
Lahemaa National Park Lahemaa National Park is a park in northern Estonia, 70 kilometers east from the capital Tallinn. The Gulf of Finland is to the north of the park and the Tallinn-Narva highway (E20) is to the south. Its area covers 747 km2 (including 274.9&nbs ...
in Estonia was the first area to be designated a national park in the former Soviet Union. In 1973, Mount Kilimanjaro was classified as a National Park and was opened to public access in 1977. In 1989, the
Qomolangma National Nature Preserve The Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (QNNP), also known as the Chomolungma Nature Reserve (QNP), is a protected area 3.381 million hectares in size in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Located on the Roof of th ...
(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 being done through 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 Makalu ( ne, मकालु हिमाल, Makālu himāl; zh, t=馬卡魯峰, p=Mǎkǎlǔ fēng) is the fifth highest mountain in the world at . It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas southeast of Mount Everest, in Nepal. One of th ...
, and
Cho Oyu __NOTOC__ Cho Oyu ( Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the ''Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalang ...
. The QNNP is contiguous to four Nepali national parks, creating a transborder conservation area equal in size to Switzerland.


National parks services

The world's first national park service was established May 19, 1911, in Canada. The ''Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act'' placed the dominion parks under the administration of the Dominion Park Branch (now Parks Canada), within the Department of the Interior. The branch was established to "protect sites of natural wonder" to provide a recreational experience, centred on the idea of the natural world providing rest and spiritual renewal from the urban setting. Canada now has the largest protected area in the world with 450,000 km2 of national park space. 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 The 64th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., Washington, DC from M ...
passed the National Park Service Organic Act, which
President Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...
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.


Notable parks

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. The smallest official national park in the world is
Isles des Madeleines National Park Isles may refer to: Places *British Isles, often referred to as "the Isles" *Kingdom of the Isles, a medieval realm comprising the Hebrides, the islands of the Firth of Clyde, and the Isle of Man People * Carlin Isles (born 1989), American rugby ...
. Its area of just was established as a national park in 1976.


Economic ramifications

Countries with a large
ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
industry, such as Costa Rica, often experience a huge economic effect on park management as well as the economy of the country as a whole.Eagles, Paul F.J
"Trends in Park Tourism: Economics, Finance and Management".
In: ''Journal of Sustainable Tourism'' Volume 10, Issue 2, 2002, p. 134.


Tourism

Tourism to national parks has increased considerably over time. In Costa Rica for example, a megadiverse country, tourism to parks has increased by 400% from 1985 to 1999. The term ''national park'' is perceived as a
brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
that is associated with nature-based tourism and it symbolizes a "high quality natural environment with a well-designed tourist infrastructure".


Staff

The duties of a park ranger are to supervise, manage, and/or perform work in the conservation and use of park resources. This involves functions such as park conservation; natural, historical, and cultural resource management; and the development and operation of interpretive and recreational programs for the benefit of the visiting public. Park rangers also have fire fighting responsibilities and execute search and rescue missions. Activities also include
heritage interpretation Heritage interpretation refers to all the ways in which information is communicated to visitors to an educational, natural or recreational site, such as a museum, park or science centre. More specifically it is the communication of information ...
to disseminate information to visitors of general, historical, or scientific information. Management of resources such as wildlife, lake shores, seashores, forests, historic buildings, battlefields, archaeological properties, and recreation areas are also part of the job of a park ranger.U.S. Office of Personnel Management. ''Handbook of occupational groups and families''. Washington, D.C. January 2008. Page 19
OPM.gov
Accessed 2 November 2014.
Since the establishment of the National Park Service in the US in 1916, the role of the park ranger has shifted from merely being a custodian of natural resources to include several activities that are associated with law enforcement. They control traffic, manage permits for various uses, and investigate violations, complaints, trespass/encroachment, and accidents.


Criticisms

While national parks are often seen as positive environmental service, many authors have discussed the darker side of its history. National parks were created by individuals who felt that pristine, natural sections of nature should be set aside and preserved from urban development. In America, this movement came about during the Great American Frontier and were meant to be monuments to America’s true history. Yet the lands that were to be set aside and protected were already being inhabited by native communities, who were removed and set aside to create ″pristine″ sites for public consumption. Critics claim that the removal of people from national parks enhanced the belief that nature can only be protected when humans do not exist within it, and that this leads to perpetuating the dichotomy between nature and humans (also known as the nature–culture divide). They see creation of national parks as a form of eco-land grabbing. Others claim that travelling to national parks to appreciate nature there leads people to ignore the nature that exists around them every day. Some argue that tourism can actually negatively impact the areas that are being visited.


See also


References


Citations


Sources

* 320 pages. * 404 pages. * Sheail, John (2010) ''Nature's Spectacle - The World's First National Parks and Protected Places'' Earthscan, London, Washington.


External links

* * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Protected areas