National Park Service marks 110 years while facing staffing cuts and budget cuts

The National Park Service, created on August 25 1916 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, turned fragmented land management into a unified system that now oversees 433 sites spanning 85 million acres. Early director Stephen Tyng Mather added iconic parks such as Grand Canyon, Acadia and Denali, and later partnered with New Deal programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps, which built park infrastructure and aided disaster relief.

Historian Neil Maher noted the CCC’s lasting impact on park facilities and even backyard projects. Recent reports indicate the Service has lost almost 25% of its permanent workforce since January 2025, causing sanitation issues and longer visitor queues, while its discretionary funding request dropped to $2.1 billion for 2026 after peaking at $3.8 billion in 2024. Visitor traffic fell 2.7% to 323 million in 2025, and the NPCA organized a nationwide day of action on the Service’s birthday to draw attention to these challenges.