The National Park Service celebrates 100th anniversary

The National Park Service is inviting people to take part in the celebration of its 100th anniversary on Thursday.

Since 1916, the federal agency has been entrusted with the conservation of the United States’ national parks, national monuments and other protected areas. More than 275 million people visit these breathtaking preserved places every year.

“One hundred years ago today, Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, which essentially established the National Park Service, and he did that explicitly to preserve and protect the natural resources of the country to make sure that future generations would be able to enjoy them,” Tom Crosson, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said in a phone interview with Yahoo News.

The Organic Act of 1916 clearly states the agency’s mission: “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and 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.”

To usher in the centennial, the service is offering free admission to all 412 national parks from Thursday until Sunday and holding special events across the country, including music performances, naturalization ceremonies, festivals and sporting events.

“There are events happening all over the park service system. Just about every park out there is having some kind of event, from guided walks to concerts,” Crosson said.

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Crosson, who is based in Washington, D.C., told Yahoo News that as he spoke roughly 1,000 people were gathering in the shape of an arrowhead at the base of the Washington Monument on the National Mall. The arrowhead has been the service’s official emblem since 1951.

To kick off the service’s second century, Yellowstone National Park is holding a sold-out event called “An Evening at the Arch” for 6,000 people on Thursday. The event will feature musicians such as Emmylou Harris and John Prine, as well as Teddy Roosevelt reenactor Joe Wiegand and various dignitaries. Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, is located mostly in Wyoming and actually predates the National Park Service. It was established in 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant.

On Aug. 25, 2006, the service’s 90th anniversary, then-Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne spearheaded the National Park Centennial Initiative. The initiative consulted with experts, citizens, park partners and others to learn about what people envisioned for the park service’s second century.

The National Park Service held a series of more than 40 sessions where the public’s vision for the parks was laid out. This helped to create five centennial goals, which were presented to then-President George W. Bush in a report titled “The Future of America’s National Parks.”

“In the years leading up to this, we had a concentrated effort to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to ‘find their park.’ You know, the park service has grown tenfold since its inception,” Crosson said. “We have not only natural resources that we’re responsible for but cultural and iconic resources as well, so there are a variety of different places that folks could go enjoy, learn. We just wanted to find new and creative ways to make sure people had an opportunity to do that.”

The centennial celebration has picked up speed in the digital realm as well. On Thursday morning, #Happy100th and #NPS100 were trending on social media.