The (NPS) is the
United States federal agency that manages all
National Parks , many
National Monuments , and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on
August 25 ,
1916 by an act of
Congress in order to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." It is a bureau of the
United States Department Of The Interior , which is in turn an arm of the
Executive Branch . The NPS oversees 390 units, of which 58 are designated
National Park s. Other units are designated
National Monument s, historical parks,
National Memorials ,
Historic Trails ,
Outdoor Recreation Areas ,
Wild And Scenic Rivers ,
Lakeshore s,
Seashores , and
Battlefields . Not all NPS properties are considered to be distinct units. For example,
Ellis Island National Monument is not an NPS unit; it is a dependent area of
Statue Of Liberty National Monument which is one of the 390 units.
The
U.S. Park Police is a distinct
Law Enforcement division of the National Park Service, with
Jurisdiction in all NPS sites, but primarily utilized in large metropolitan areas as law enforcement services in rural, wilderness, and even some urban units are provided by National Park Rangers. Other special NPS divisions include the
Historic American Buildings Survey and the
National Historic Landmarks Program .
The is a term that describes the physical collection of parks and sites managed by the National Park Service. The system encompasses approximately 84.4 million
Acre s (338,000 km&
2), of which more than 4.3 million acres (17,000 km&
2) remain in private ownership. The largest park is
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park And Preserve ,
Alaska . At 13,200,000 acres (
53,000 Km&2 ) it is over 16 percent of the entire system. The smallest unit in the system is
Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial ,
Pennsylvania , at 0.02 acre (
80 M&2 ).
In addition to "units" and other properties that the National Park Service either owns or administers, it also provides technical and financial assistance to several "affiliated areas" authorized by Congress. The largest affiliated area is
New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve at 1,164,025 acres (4711 km&
2). The smallest is
Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at 0.00 acre.
