[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 15 (Monday, April 18, 1994)]
[Pages 813-814]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6670--National Park Week, 1994

April 14, 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 leaving 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

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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.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 9:11 a.m., April 15, 
1994]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
18.