Rethinking the National Parks for the 21st Century

December 2, 2001
by John Hope Franklin
Chair, National Park Service Advisory Board

In December 1999, the Director of the National Park Service asked the National Park System Advisory Board to "develop a report that should focus broadly on the purposes and prospects for the National Park System for the next 25 years." This is that report.

The Board is a congressionally chartered body of twelve citizens appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. Established under the Historic Sites Act of 1935, it is charged to provide advice on matters relating to operations in the parks and management of the National Park Service.

In developing this report, the full Board met five times and subcommittees of board members an additional eight times. The Board consulted with representatives of organizations concerned about national parks, academics knowledgeable about park issues, and National Park Service employees working in the parks and in park service administrative offices nationwide. The Board collaborated with the National Geographic Society to produce this report.

Though the world has changed profoundly since the first national parks were created more than a century ago, the national park idea continues to provide benefits of fundamental importance to the nation. So, too, does an array of programs now administered by the Park Service that extends these benefits to virtually every community in America. In looking to the future we must see to it as a nation and as a people that the National Park System and the national park idea continue to flourish.

read the Report from the NPS website.