National Park Week, 1996

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 6870 of March 8, 1996

National Park Week, 1996

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

For millions of visitors every year, America's 369
national parks serve as living examples of the
diversity, history, and natural wonders that have
always defined this country. We owe a debt of gratitude
to the men and women of the National Park Service,
whose outstanding work to preserve and protect these
treasures ensures that they will be available to
educate and enrich generations of Americans to come.

The National Park Service also reaches beyond the
boundaries of our parks to share knowledge and
expertise with other nations, State and local
governments, American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives,
agencies, and thousands of organizations and
individuals. National Park Service programs are helping
community leaders to create green spaces in urban areas
from Seattle to Philadelphia; to rehabilitate the
historic canal in Augusta, Georgia; and to return grey
wolves to Yellowstone, red wolves to the Great Smoky
Mountains, big horn sheep to the Rocky Mountains, and
the peregrine falcon to parks nationwide.

Our national parks benefit from the work of many
citizens dedicated to environmental stewardship and
historic preservation. By working directly with the
National Park Service or through the National Park
Foundation, its congressionally chartered nonprofit
corollary, park partners sponsor educational programs,
raise funds, provide visitor services, and donate time
and materials to support our great public resources.
These partners include the Student Conservation
Association, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, and hundreds
of other interested organizations. Drawn from
corporations, associations, and communities everywhere,
over 100,000 Americans volunteer annually to keep our
park system strong.

This year, National Park Week is dedicated to
recognizing and celebrating the commitment of the
National Park Service and its partners to America's
unique historical, cultural, and natural heritage. I
urge all the people of the United States to learn more
about our national parks, the programs available in
their communities, and to seek out opportunities to
become a national park partner.

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 April 22 through April 28,
1996, as National Park Week.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.