[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 76 (Wednesday, April 21, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 19439-19440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10128]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 76 / Wednesday, April 21, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 19439]]

                Proclamation 7184 of April 15, 1999

                
National Park Week, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                America's national parks are truly America's national 
                treasures. Within their borders lie much of what is 
                most precious to us: the breathtaking beauty of 
                mountains, rivers, forests, and valleys; the 
                extraordinary richness and variety of plants and 
                animals; the places and artifacts of the special people 
                and events that have shaped both our history and our 
                destiny.

                This week we remember with gratitude one of those 
                special people who played a pivotal role in the 
                creation of our country's National Park System. 
                Conservationist John Muir emigrated to the United 
                States as a child 150 years ago this year. As a young 
                man, he experienced for the first time the high country 
                of California's Sierra Nevada and Yosemite, and for the 
                rest of his life he championed America's wild places. 
                ``Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,'' he wrote, 
                ``places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal 
                and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.'' 
                He became the driving force behind the creation of such 
                national parks as Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, 
                Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon, and was an early 
                advocate of an agency to manage them in a consistent 
                manner. Although he died two years before the 
                establishment of the National Park Service in 1916, 
                many still regard John Muir as the ``Father of our 
                National Park System.''

                Visitors to our Nation's wondrous national treasures 
                can still experience the scenic grandeur that so 
                inspired John Muir. In Washington State's Mount Rainier 
                National Park, glaciers radiate from the summit and 
                slopes of an ancient volcano, rising above dense green 
                forests and brilliantly flowered meadows. This year, we 
                celebrate the centennial anniversary of this cherished 
                national park, preserved because of the vision and 
                efforts of a coalition of mountaineers, geologists, and 
                conservationists, including John Muir.

                Today, the National Park System has grown to 378 sites 
                visited by more than 285 million people each year. Each 
                of these sites is interwoven with America's richly 
                diverse natural and cultural heritage to make up the 
                pattern of our past, the fabric of our present, and the 
                promise of our future. The two newest additions to our 
                park system reflect this grand tradition. Little Rock 
                Central High School National Historic Site in Arkansas 
                pays tribute to the courage and quiet dignity of nine 
                young African Americans who crossed the color line and 
                changed American society forever. Alabama's Tuskegee 
                Airmen National Historic Site celebrates the World War 
                II exploits of the all-black Army Air Corps unit whose 
                members prevailed over prejudice and discrimination in 
                the U.S. Armed Forces to compile a distinguished combat 
                record in defense of freedom.

                At these and so many other parks and historic sites 
                across the country, the dedicated men and women of the 
                National Park Service preserve America's heritage and 
                teach a new generation the importance of informed and 
                careful stewardship of our Nation's treasured places. 
                During National Park Week, let us give thanks for the 
                wisdom of all those who established our national parks 
                and for the hard work and generous spirit of all those 
                who continue to preserve them for our benefit. Because 
                of their efforts, Americans

[[Page 19440]]

                will always find in our national parks the beauty, 
                inspiration, knowledge, and renewal of spirit that have 
                blessed our national journey for so long.

                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 19 through April 25, 
                1999, as National Park Week.

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-10128
Filed 4-20-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P