[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 17 (Monday, April 28, 1997)]
[Pages 557-558]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6994--National Park Week, 1997

April 19, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    One hundred and twenty-five years ago, America made a momentous 
decision: to set aside and protect in perpetuity an extraordinary part 
of our young Nation. With the signing of the Yellowstone National Park 
Act on March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant created the world's 
first national park, and the succeeding years have proved beyond all 
doubt the wisdom and foresight of that decision. Known throughout the 
world for its beauty and the natural wonders that lie within its 
boundaries, Yellowstone has inspired the creation of a multitude of 
other national parks, both here and in other countries, preserving for 
future generations the rich natural and cultural legacy of our world.
    Today, our 374 national parks protect America's unparalleled wonders 
and the history of those who have helped shape our land. Our national 
parks preserve both where we live and who we are. In America's national 
parks, we see Americans through their experiences--war and peace, 
tragedy and triumph, struggle and liberty. Our national park sites 
invite us not only to marvel at the grand geography of Yellowstone or 
the Great Smokies, but also to explore the innovative genius of Thomas 
Edison at the Edison National Historic Site in New Jersey, to visit the 
remains of an ancient civilization at Mesa Verde in Colorado, or to walk 
the hallways of the Kansas school where the struggle for civil rights 
ultimately led to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court 
decision.
    In addition to the parks themselves, the national park spirit 
thrives in thousands of communities across the country where the 
National Park Service provides support and technical advice to create 
close-to-home recreational opportunities and to honor local history 
through programs such as Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance, 
the National Register of Historic Places, and National Historic 
Landmarks. The National Park Service, in partnership with organizations 
and individuals dedicated to conservation and historic preservation, is 
ensuring that our national parks touch the lives of as many people as 
possible, while sparking an interest among our Nation's children in 
archaeology, ethnography, history, historic landscapes, and historic 
structures.
    Indeed, the national parks remain a magnet for the American public. 
Every year millions of visitors flock to them--270 million in 1996. 
Surveying our history and heritage, our national parks let us reach out 
and touch the past.
    As we observe this week, let us remember with gratitude all those 
who are and have been entrusted with the stewardship of these treasured 
places. As the parks and the mandate of the National Park Service have 
evolved, the demands on those who manage these resources have become 
more complex and the skills required of the National Park

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Service work force have become more sophisticated. These men and women 
are the guardians of our cultural and natural treasures, and, on behalf 
of all Americans, I express my deepest thanks.
    This year, National Park Week celebrates the strength of our unique 
and diverse system of national parks, and I urge all Americans to share 
in the wonderful experiences these places offer all of us.
    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 21 
through April 27, 1997, as National Park Week.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day 
of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11 a.m., April 22, 1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
23.