National Park Week, 1994

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Part V

The President

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Proclamation 6670--
National Park Week, 1994

Proclamation 6671--Death of Those Aboard American Helicopters in Iraq

Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 74
Monday, April 18, 1994

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Title 3--
The President
Proclamation 6670 of April 14, 1994

National Park Week, 1994

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Theodore Roosevelt once said that nothing short of
defending this country in wartime ``compares in
importance with the great central task of leav- ing
this land an even better land for our descendants than
it is for us . . . .'' In the movement to acquire and
preserve areas of outstanding scenic or historical
significance, Roosevelt blended science and morality in
a highly effective and nonpartisan way.

The idea of creating national parks first attracted
attention in the second half of the nineteenth century,
when America's receding wilderness left our natural
resources vulnerable to misuse and exploitation. The
Yellowstone National Park Act of 1872 set aside the
world's first national park and led the way for Federal
protection of exceptional lands for public use.

As the number of early parks increased, many recognized
the need for their collective management. The National
Park Service was created by an act of Congress signed
by President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916. Today,
almost 78 years later, the National Park Service
oversees 367 national parks, including historic sites,
monuments, parks, lakeshores, seashores, rivers, and
scenic trails. The growth of the park system is a
result of the American public's desire to protect the
best and most significant treasures of our Nation.

National parks across the country, from Denali National
Park in Alaska to Acadia National Park in Maine, allow
us to learn more about our environment; they teach us
to respect our lands and to care about endangered plant
and animal species. Their spectacular scenic beauty and
wide variety of wildlife link man and nature
intrinsically and universally. The cultural and
historic parks connect us with the spirit of our past
and form a national family tree, celebrating our
triumphs and remembering our tragedies.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim the week of May 23 through
May 29, 1994, as ``National Park Week.'' I encourage
all Americans to join me in making National Park Week a
truly American celebration of our heritage. We are
challenged to protect and preserve our parks, to
cherish them first, then to teach our children to do
the same, so that they, too, can give this gift to
their children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and eighteenth.

(Presidential Sig.)>